Indeed. Soundwise.
But keep in mind the (midi) looper stops triggering the DX tone generator the moment you switch “local on” to “local off”.
So…
“Local off” means: You can’t record a loop, play the loop and use the keyboard to trigger external midi devices.
“Local on” means: You can record a loop, play it and use the keyboard. But the keys are going to trigger the internal tone generator as well as the external device.
Might not be a problem if you are using a DAW and a proper midi routing.
I’ve been using the QuNexus to play the A4 but I would like more than 24 keys but I also want something portable.
The new Arturia Keystep looks interesting.
I’m enjoying mine as a controller for the A4 (as well as its own sounds). Shame about the lack of modwheel and aftertouch though.
My experience is that my live playing style is often not well recorded by a step sequencer. I seem to be too groovy and it happens regularily that I play two notes into one slot of the step sequencer, which causes the second event to overwrite the first and this kills the musical idea instantly.
This said, I would recommend to check out with another external keyboard first that your playing is well recorded before swapping the A4 to the more expensive gear.
To play the AK live, the keyboard and the joystick are great and I don’t want to miss them :D[/quote]
Thanks!
I guess one question is - how easy is it to transfer stuff over to A4 for gigging if I were to have both A4 and AK, but left the AK at home?[/quote]
Try and hunt down something like a Novation X-Station. Can pick them up cheap second hand and they act as great controllers for the A4. Cant remember from memory if you can use the joystick on it in the same way as the AK but you can certainly map a whole lot of shit to the knobs and faders. And it works fine with an OT chucked in.
As for transfering stuff between the two. From my experience (a complete A4 backup and loading into the AK) it was a little on the slow side but worked fine so with a bit of prep you wouldnt have a problem there.[/quote]
You can’t map breath control to the joystick on the X-Station IIRC. There’s always the X/Y pad…kinda shitty in actuality, but it would get the job done.
In some ways I wish I’d gone for the A4 just for the form factor, as I don’t feel like I’ve spent enough time exploring the AK just because it’s not as convenient to cradle as the boxes. That said, as I’m just starting down my modular journey I’m really glad I went for the Keys, as having the keyboard and joystick is a huge plus.