Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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Nestor
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

Hi Bud
Very interesting explanations about the Fatar models, cheers, I was not aware of this at all. I’m basically a bass player that composes with a keyboard. If you give me a keyboard that is just so so, I will be happy and not even notice I guess.

Well, the news about Jimmy saddened me much, and to top it all, the Impulse25 just arrived while I was talking to you with “two” of the pads broken…, unfortunately. I have to mention it was a used keyboard nevertheless, so no blame on Novation here. The owner never registered it, I did, but there was no solution. One of the pads was dead and the other would send random midi messages without any order or control, there was no way to disable them by software or hardware means.

I tried the Impulse controller for no more than two minutes and I was done, got the thing in a very sad mood into my hands and send it back immediately, the seller too gave me the money back immediately, so it’s ok.

I have to say that the NOVATION support team is the very best support I have ever contacted, even if I registered a rather old hardware. They were: fast, knowledgeable, tolerant with my arguments and explanations, perfect I could say, so thank you very much for that Novation. The Impulse looked to be very well constructed, solid in general, a very good piece of hardware, just happened this to me but they have great general quality in what they do, so, I would not like to mislead anyone here, it is just my bad luck, not bad quality from Novation.

As I have little money, I am again on the search for another controller, I will save some more and buy something new in state. Changing my avatar again...
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astroman
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by astroman »

Sorry to read about the failed controller :(
At least now you know what to look for and there are lots of these on market.

Sending a smile across the ocean, Tom :D
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Bud Weiser »

Nestor wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:26 am As I have little money, I am again on the search for another controller, I will save some more and buy something new in state. Changing my avatar again...
Hey, s##t happens !
I also buy used gear on occasion,- but my friend/tech and me, we also do inhouse repairs.

Some time ago I bought a Roland A-800 Pro for 160 bucks incl. shipping, mint condition and in original box.
When it arrived, one of the sliders was broken.
Some tiny piece of plastic inside the fader broke during transport, it seemed.
Because Roland doesn´t sell parts to end-customers anymore (f##k Roland !) it was very hard to find replacement sliders w/ soldering lugs in the right position,- but w/ some patience we did.
Not enough, we found better BURNS sliders which, in opposite to the Roland sliders, are dust protected.
AND,- they also fit into Edirol PCR300, 500 and 800 controllers, so I was able to replace all the sliders in my aged PCR300 too.

I also bought an excellent conditon Edirol PCR-500 (4 octaves) for 60 bucks.

The Edirol (by Roland) PCR 300, 500 and 800 are almost identical w/ the A-300, 500 and 800 Pro,- except the 8 pads,- and they have better actions than most other controllers.
I recommend the PCR-500, https://www.roland.com/global/products/pcr-500/ which has a better action than the 300 and is cheaper than the 800.
The Roland/ Edirol advanced MIDI drivers are excellent,- low latency and jitter and MIDI Sysex transfers aren´t corrupted.
There are connectors for sustain pedal and MIDI CC foot pedal and a mergable MIDI IN as well,- so adding a pad-controller or other toys is easy.
There´s also asingle, dual and split keyboard modes transmitting MIDI on 2 different channels.
Drivers officially work up to Win 7, but other users got ´em to run in Win10 and w/ a trick too.
The editor program officially works in WinXP and Vista,- but here it also runs in WIn7 (64 and 32Bit).

With luck, these are available used in good condition and relatively cheap (see above my bargain for a PCR-500).

:)

Bud
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

astroman wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 1:39 pm Sorry to read about the failed controller :(
At least now you know what to look for and there are lots of these on market.

Sending a smile across the ocean, Tom :D
Thank you Tommy, you're always such a nice guy with everybody, yeah..., I will. I am already into this investigation.
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

Bud Weiser wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 5:54 pm
Nestor wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 11:26 am As I have little money, I am again on the search for another controller, I will save some more and buy something new in state. Changing my avatar again...
Hey, s##t happens !
I also buy used gear on occasion,- but my friend/tech and me, we also do inhouse repairs.

Some time ago I bought a Roland A-800 Pro for 160 bucks incl. shipping, mint condition and in original box.
When it arrived, one of the sliders was broken.
Some tiny piece of plastic inside the fader broke during transport, it seemed.
Because Roland doesn´t sell parts to end-customers anymore (f##k Roland !) it was very hard to find replacement sliders w/ soldering lugs in the right position,- but w/ some patience we did.
Not enough, we found better BURNS sliders which, in opposite to the Roland sliders, are dust protected.
AND,- they also fit into Edirol PCR300, 500 and 800 controllers, so I was able to replace all the sliders in my aged PCR300 too.

I also bought an excellent conditon Edirol PCR-500 (4 octaves) for 60 bucks.

The Edirol (by Roland) PCR 300, 500 and 800 are almost identical w/ the A-300, 500 and 800 Pro,- except the 8 pads,- and they have better actions than most other controllers.
I recommend the PCR-500, https://www.roland.com/global/products/pcr-500/ which has a better action than the 300 and is cheaper than the 800.
The Roland/ Edirol advanced MIDI drivers are excellent,- low latency and jitter and MIDI Sysex transfers aren´t corrupted.
There are connectors for sustain pedal and MIDI CC foot pedal and a mergable MIDI IN as well,- so adding a pad-controller or other toys is easy.
There´s also asingle, dual and split keyboard modes transmitting MIDI on 2 different channels.
Drivers officially work up to Win 7, but other users got ´em to run in Win10 and w/ a trick too.
The editor program officially works in WinXP and Vista,- but here it also runs in WIn7 (64 and 32Bit).

With luck, these are available used in good condition and relatively cheap (see above my bargain for a PCR-500).

:)

Bud
Yeah…, hehehe, s##t happens…, it is true.

Well, if you can find the right used gear for you, why not, it is great to be able to have what you need when you don’t have enough to pay it new, nothing wrong with it.

Yes, I follow you about this Roland thing, but you know what? I love when I see creativity facing up the problems you eventually find in life as a human being. Right now I’m living in Mexico, I am no longer in Argentina, in these countries people jump onto anything with a piece of wire and fix anything that could be broken, I call it the MacGyver effect, hehehe, you need to be imaginative and inventive, that is human nature and I love it. I sow a guy fixing a broken pitch bend wheel with the incrustation of another wheel into the keyboard, very ghetto like, he made a hole into the keyboard itself and put in another wheel, very funny too, and it worked :lol:

Prices in USA are sooooo cheap in comparison with many other places in the world, :o including Mexico by the way. It is so easy and accessible to get used gear, but if you live abroad of the USA, it is a mess when you go through customs, I mean, with used stuff, it is so complicated that it is not worth the try sometimes. Not the same with new products, you are covered then.

Thank you Bud, yes, there are many of those PCR-500 on ebay USA right now, I made a search, but I think I want something different, let me think a bit for now. Cheers many! :D
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by valis »

Nestor if you need something from stateside just let me know.
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Bud Weiser »

Nestor wrote: Thu Feb 09, 2023 9:35 pm
Thank you Bud, yes, there are many of those PCR-500 on ebay USA right now, I made a search, but I think I want something different, let me think a bit for now. Cheers many! :D
Just a note:
When buying used gear,- take care for it can be repaired !
There should be enough used items out there to cannibalize (also proprietary) parts in future.
A lot of modern gear isn´t serviceable at all,- unfortunately.

I often avoid buying new because I´d have to ship to an expensive authorized service center for the simplest repair jobs like exchanging a pot or such.
Lots of new products are cheap and don´t last for long.
When a repair shop is asking between 50 and 100 bucks per hour, you´l often get just only a message "repair costs exceed value of the item" and you´ll have to pay for a return of a still broken toy.

:)

Bud
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

valis wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 1:43 am Nestor if you need something from stateside just let me know.
This is such a nice offering brother but it is complicated. You can find something great through ebay USA second hand or even new, no problem, prices can be great, but then when you try to send it to Mexico problems start. Let's talk real: Mexico's Customs is about the most corrupt Customs in the entire world! They have a lot to do with the drug's cartels, unfortunately, that's the truth. Recently, my wife got some nice tea from England, she loves good tea, Customs wanted to charge about 17 times the price of this tea... what? Crazy, so we gave up, and so on, there are many problems with Customs here. The only thing that works great is traveling with the goods by plane, this method works fine.

Nevertheless, I am so grateful for your offering, thank you so much, it's very nice of you!
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

Bud said: A lot of modern gear isn´t serviceable at all,- unfortunately. Lots of new products are cheap and don´t last for long.
Definitely! I had a Korg M1, long ago, there it is in the hands of a friend, working like new. Then I had a Korg X5 that I sold when traveling to Mexico, again, there it is in perfect use after about 20 years… New stuff, as I mentioned before, it is built under the “programmed obsolescence” philosophy, which is a dirty bit of thought to me, because we forget “nature”. Everything we do that in a short period of time becomes a waste, harms nature.

Well, there is something else I am assuming that I don’t like but must admit for my own wellbeing: I’m getting older. I don’t feel to any further extent being in a perpetual fight against technology, like I used to be years ago. I was so enthusiastic I would fight against all odds and find a compatibility way no matter how, at the end, I always did and perhaps in the most daring ways. Not now. I want straight forward solutions that work, at least, for a few years, but out of the box. I want to compose without the hassle.

In that regard I have to say that modern technology do make things very easy to use, even if hardware is weaker than ever. For instance, I am paying attention right now to a company I have never considered before, I never had anything from them, which is Nektar Tech. These guys are creating new ways of controlling your DAW and VST plugins which is pretty neat. Integration with many DAWs is so simple, yet, so effective, I like that.
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by valis »

At least he's marked it as a fridge magnet, there are often people who resell this crap at a high price hoping the purchaser won't notice.
Nestor wrote: Fri Feb 10, 2023 11:21 am Look at this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/272738976605?h ... SwO-hcJqrt
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

This guy seems to have 100% good feedback nevertheless, so it should be find.

Well, these are the kind of keyboard I will be after I think, the Nektar brand and integration.
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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Hahahaha, hehehehe, what? I didn't realise that Valis! :lol: I was pointing to the kind of keyboard I want from Nektar.
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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I would like to get this one here. This guy gives an excellent review of the strengths of the unit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIfKz55En_k
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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Another aspect of the Impulse I did not like, (my fault for it), was the 25 keys... I was in front of it and..., well, no..., it doesn't feel right at all, soooo small. It could be great to have two keyboards, of course, one for traveling with 25 but to play?, you need more. Actually "playing" with 25 keys, if you are so used to 49 or more like me, it s a real pain, it kills you. I didn't know this would happen until I was in front of it.

Well, I've been watching for MIDI controllers in general, and the general conclusion is that there are four mayor contenders in this 49 keys category for best DAW control, the Komplete Kontrol 49, (mainly for NI Komplete software) the Aruturia Keylab Essential 49, (mainly used to control Anologlab V), Novation Lounchkey 49, (mainly to be used with Live and with a very good integration with it), and then, the Nektar LX49+, to which I never gave much attention.

The Lounchkey is the most expensive, then the Komplete Kontrol, then the Arturia, and the cheapest is the Nektar LX49+. The best keys, taking into account all the reviews read, is the NI, the second is the Arturia, the third it is in the same category for Novation and Nektar.

The best integration for Cubase, (I have returned to Cubase finally, because of the MIDI options), is the Nektar, this is indisputable and proven in the market, and this is what I want.

So yes, the more I go with it, the more I study and read tutorials and watch reviews, the more I'm convinced this is the one I want. Here you have the official site for it:

https://nektartech.com/impact-lx49-61-plus/
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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I guess it is time for an Avatar change tho! 8)
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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Guys, if you pay attention to these two photos, you will see a difference in the layout of the keyboard. In the first keyboard there isn't any written indications about what the keys do, which are instructions for the programing combinations. Then, when you see the second picture, you'll se there are written instructions instate. So it seems there are different versions of this very keyboard, or perhaps, like it happens with motherboards, they have their own revisions, like Rev1, Rev2, etc. Am I right? What do you think?

Image

Image
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

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Here you can see it very clearly:

Image
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by astroman »

They may have added the (key) functions in a later revision, but probably you can update the firmware so an older version only lacks the labels...
A search with „revision update key function“ (or similar) may reveal details.
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Re: Got a new midi controller keybord, period!

Post by Nestor »

Thanks Tom
Nektar answered me, they told me these differences do not exist. The picture without the indicators is a "virtual" construct of the keyboard before they released it, that is why it did not have the actual layout. All LX 49+ come with their respective written instructions, this is what they have gently explained me.
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