I’m looking for a small reliable midi keyboard to play my DN and A4, but I need a real MIDI Out, can’t stand the small delay that comes from playing via USB midi…
And I need aftertouch, to not have aftertouch playing the DN, I really lose a lot of expression since there are so few modifiers without external LFOs.
So I guess it boils down to these two right? Anyone with experience of both? I know the Keystep is a cornerstone for many, but I know less about the CME stuff. Any advice appreciated!
PS. I know of the NI and larger Arturia stuff, but they are a bit too big, and just a bit over my budget i think.
I have CME XKey 37 - not the LE version, but the regular one that comes with a Midi connection cable in addition to the USB cable (two different out ports on the keyboard), and I have been using it with my Analog Four by using that Midi connection vs. trying to use the USB. I’m not sure the LE version will work, as you need to provide power to the keyboard, and when I tried it using just the USB cable to the back of the A4 (it’s a different USB port on the A4 than the cable end on XKey - but I have an adapter) I didn’t seem to get power to the keyboard from the A4. Admittedly, this might have been something I did incorrectly.
So - my setup is that I use the USB cable from the XKey directly to a power outlet (could also be to a computer as well as this does provide power) and then I use the Midi adapter provided by CME with a Midi cable to plug into and play the A4. Actually works quite well I think. One thing that is kind of nice - with the related CME software, you can set the keyboard up so that you can change Midi channel with a couple of key presses (i.e. don’t have to use a computer to do this) - so you can set up each track on A4 with different Midi channel and then easily move back and forth between them with the keyboard.
The 25 key XKey only has the one out port - for the USB cable. I have one of these too for my iPad apps - but I’m just not sure a USB only XKey (whether 25 key or LE version) will work.
Should have added - the XKey does have aftertouch, and uses buttons for “pitch up down”, “modulation”, and “sustain/hold”. All work fine with my Tetra (I love to set it on Hold and just manipulate the sounds/sequences, etc. inside the Tetra - great), but with the A4 the Sustain/Hold function doesn’t seem to work as it does on the Tetra. I posted here a while back on this, and the replies I got seemed to indicate that the A4 (and AKeys) didn’t really have a Sustain/Hold function - so that may explain why the XKey button for that doesn’t get it done with the A4.