MIDI/USB keyboards?

[Mark Lavelle]

As an aside to the gear thread, what are people using & liking for keyboard input (i.e., controller only) in their home studios?

I've got an M-Audio Keystation 49e (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Keystation49e-main.html), which is OK in terms of the feature list but has super weak springs and, in general, feels like a toy. So I'm looking for something that's a little better...

My wish list:
* quality construction
* 3 octaves (I play 1-handed, and often with the kbd on my lap)
* LCD (or other improved indication of current local settings)

The Line 6 TonePort KB37 (http://line6.com/toneport/keyboards.html) looks like a good match in physical terms (although I haven't felt the key action), but I really don't need the audio input or processing capability. I also have some reservations about how nicely it'll play with Sonar.

Any thoughts?

[Amp Kat]

Well sorry but no expert here Mark as I'm just starting with Cubase and computer recording myself. I asked this question awhile back to some of the great people at http://www.audiominds.com and they gave me some great recommendations and suggest you go there too as I was going to get a Yamaha MOTIF and just use it straight in but after learning and experimenting I found that all I really need was a decent low budget KB that of course had USB outs and just use the VSTI's and or any of the infinite programs out there. One function that is pretty nice to have is a weighted/unweighted KB to switch back and forth from. Piano is just hard to beat weighted and synth needs to be unweighted. The other thing you'll run into is latency which can be fixed after the fact but most like the feel of real time recording not having that 25 to 50 ms of latency when tracking and there are some ways to cut the latency down to about 10 to 15 ms. I would go to whatever music store that's around you and try some KB's out and feel what's right for you. What I might like might not be right for you. My friends tell me that the Rolands for what you pay for them are excellent and I'm switching from a Roland VS-880 recorder to computer and Roland makes great stuff and very reliable. Just need more tracks ya know ! Hopefully somemore will chime in as this is more of an amp hangout so do check out the website at audiominds and feel free to register. Let me know what you decide.