hello! I am in search of a midi keyboard for the A4, so I am looking to invoke your knowledge on the subject. first an AK is not an option, I’m looking for a standalone keyboard with midi din output, velocity and aftertouch, three or four octaves. For the moment I have found two options under 200 usd, the arturia keystep and a second-hand roland a-500 pro. I would like to know your opinions on this subject and recommendations on keyboards with characteristics such as those already mentioned.
I use a keystep with mine. It fits nicely in front of my A4 and works well. For a small fairly cheap keyboard it has a surprisingly nice feel imo. Obviously the small size means it’s a bit limited compared to a bigger keyboard with more octaves and full size keys, but for playing stuff on the A4 it’s perfect (for me)
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I’ve just bought a Keystep 37 for my DT and Micromonsta 2. Took me ages to decide.
It is great, really wish I’d bought it sooner.
Really easy and good quality. Just remapped a couple of the encoders using the super simple MIDI utilisation software, easy. Plug it into the computer to change deeper stuff, plug it into DT/MM2 and play…
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had a roland a-800 pro, would not recommend it if you want to use aftertouch.
no matter what settings it took a stupid amount of force to activate it.
novation sl mk II keyboards have a good keybed and aftertouch, not too expensive used.
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I like the Keystep 32 I just got for my A4. Inexpensive, very compact, built like a tank, and playable and easy to use. (Also the aftertouch is fairly well-tuned, maybe starts triggering a bit too soon but it has a gentle curve from there.)
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thanks for the answers guys, how sad to hear that the aftertouch of the roland works so badly, in itself what attracts me most to the roland and keeps me away from the keystep is that the pitch and mod weel are tactile and not mechanical, in that sense I am looking for something similar to roland to do experiment stuff in the style of omar souleyman, and well the fact that the keys are larger, thanks again for your comments.
I have tried every midi keyboard in existence and none of them are that great IMO, all seem pretty cheaply made and a lot of them (for example every arturia one I owned from the keystep 37 to the keylab 88 mkII) had a hardware failure after not much use. I ended up settling on a novation 61sl mkIII, but they also have a 49sl mkIII if you don’t want as many keys. Works decently for both hardware and software and keys are OK. A LOT of leds though.
I wish someone would come out and make a really nice synth action midi controller though. I have a kawai es920 digital piano I use for piano pieces and the quality is soooooo much better than any midi controller. And I am not talking about the action. On the es920 all the keys are evenly spaced and at the same height and don’t look like some hillbilly’s f*ed up teeth. No midi controller I have ever used has had the keys at an even height, there is always a gentle bow or some random keys higher/lower than the rest. And the plastic the keys are made of on the es920 is WAY better. I probably use it a couple of hours constant playing every day and the keys look brand new, not a scratch or fingerprint on them. But as soon as you touch a midi controller keyboard it is scratched to hell. And the velocity response is way more controllable as well. I just don’t like piano action for playing synths and the thing is huge and won’t fit at my desk and it doesn’t have aftertouch. Otherwise I would just use it lol.
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I’d generally second this sentiment, except that my Keystep 37 is holding up well under light use, and I’m the second owner after @Airyck, who probably used it more actively than me.
Outside of the KS37 (which I strongly recommend if you don’t mind the small keys), I would usually prefer to just buy a used synth that already has a nice keybed. Old workstations are often ideal for this, since the 88s often have nice hammer action keyboards, and all sizes usually have nice master keyboard options.
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Some say “not enough knobs”…to which I say “I’d rather have space for a tabletop device or 2 on the controller than somewhere else and have to map static controller knobs in some way that makes sense for multiple devices (which change all the time anyway”
You also might wanna look at the studiologic SL’s
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Thanks for the link, I had not seen this! It is out of stock but I signed up to the email list. Ive tried the studio logic sl88 but didnt like the tiny joysticks (and it is also hammer action).
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I have thought a lot about buying a workstation, but now that fatar is making poly aftertouch keybeds I am probably just going to wait until a nice 61 key synth using one of those comes out 
.
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Yeah the map knobs are also a plus on a midi controler but i feel more confortable whit the encoders of the A4 over the linears one who comes on all midi controlers, for example on the perf mod and the page paramtrs, thinking on the use of various patterns and the manipulation of those, thinking that way for me a midi controler for the A4 just need a confortable keys whit good response and a pitch/mood who make everthinh more ergonomic.
Just got mine. It’s the ultimate key controller
Someone who used the ultranova?, im curiousabout the quality of the keyboard and velocity/aftertouch. To take as a midi controler and as a layer of sound.
Sold my Rev2 Keyboard version to swap it for a desktop module. Initial thought I would use Rev2’ really nice keys as a master controller. In the end I rarely used it because of its size and using as master controller while wanting it to be sequenced is also not ideal.
So I am looking for a small keyboard with 49 keys and aftertouch. I don’t need any knobs, arpeggiator etc. since I have all of that on my synths. Any recommendations? I am not a keyboard player and keystep 37 keys are fine for me, small footprint is the focus.
Anyone ever tried the Nectar Impact GXP 49?
looking for a 49 keys MIDI keyboard with aftertouch and possibly MIDI in and out.
deciding between the Novation Impulse (been around for a while now) or the M-Audio Oxygen Pro/any other keyboard which only has a MIDI out port. don’t really need a lot of extra controls
the Impulse has both MIDI ports but the Oxygen Pro doesn’t. i can’t find any specific info on whether the messages received by the Impulse on MIDI in are merged with the ones on MIDI out
anyone knows if that’s possible? 
thought i would give an update on this one in case anyone is looking for a MIDI keyboard and maybe thinking of getting specifically this one (this is a rather long post…)
i ended up getting the Novation Impulse 49 and i’ve to say…i’m a bit disappointed i’m afraid 
i actually got two: the first one had a non-working master fader and the other faders were not stable meaning that they would randomly send values out even without touching them; random as in: if the fader was at a specific position, values would jump between say 50 and 53/54…usually when the faders were about half way and not just one, but any that would be in that position; so back it went and after some time i got a new one bbut…
this time the master fader was working just fine but the randomness remained. searching the web for answers i actually found that this is a known issue that’s been there since day one, but apparently Novation hasn’t done much to sort
after some time of use i also realized that the modulation wheel would behave the same way as the faders and would randomly send values out when in a specific position
furthermore, messages on MIDI in are not merged with the MIDI out, making it somewhat useless to have a MIDI in port, for me at least…i mean, i can sync the internal arpeggiator to external MIDI clock but that’s about it i think (unless there’s a way of doing that and i have not been able to figure it out). my old Yamaha CBX-K2 would merge MIDI in to MIDI out, sure no bells and whistles there, but it has never given me issues…other than a bunch of keys accidentally damaged (not working anymore that is) when soldering some ermm…external wires on the PCB… 
…and just to add up to the above, now i’ve found that using an expression pedal also affects faders values: if any of the faders is around a specific position, moving the expression pedal would actually increase/decrease the fader’s value of about 2-3 values, which isn’t really something one might want, especially if the faders are controlling parameters other than just volume in a DAW
i’m not sure this has to do with the firmware or maybe some board design issues (EMI maybe?) but i would have not expected such a thing from Novation, especially from a MIDI keyboard that’s been out there for more than a decade.
i initially decided to get it because of the MIDI in port and the endless encoders…but this way isn’t really making much of a difference, the Oxygen Pro would have been maybe a better solution, with more pads->more steps for the arpeggiator, extra features like chords/scale modes
i do like the keybed though, which for a keyboard of this price i think is ok. aftertouch is nice to have, although i now find myself using it almost every time i’m trying preset sounds
so, if you got to the end of this long post (sorry about that), i would suggest looking elsewhere for a MIDI keyboard, unless Novation decides to fix things at some point. don’t know, maybe i’m one of the few people with these issues, maybe others haven’t noticed or don’t care about them? either way…
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i also have a Keystep37 no complaints, plays well with my Roland and Elektron gear.
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Just to offer a counter example, I had an Impulse 49 for years, without issue. My mod wheel did start to send random midi eventually though. It was after the warranty expired at that point but I got in touch with Novation and they sent me a replacement mod wheel assembly in the post, which fixed it. I’d still have the keyboard but I ran out of space. I never used it with an expression pedal so can’t comment on that part.
I bought this because of your post. No regrets.