"Airplane" keyboard advice

[mostapha]

I've never played piano or keyboard, so getting the meodies out is allready a big challenge. I hope to eliminate at least the challenge of the button finding. Also some limited kind of velocity sensitivity will help.

Honestly, Maschine is a decent choice for that. The chord shapes are completely different, but if you're learning from scratch anyway, it seems to require less dexterity at the cost of being limited to 16 notes.

[boarderbas]

Sure!, but not on the plane. I travel light and economy.

[mostapha]

Agreed. I'm not aware of a keyboard that would work on a plane and actually be better than a laptop keyboard + drawing in velocity & after-touch automation……or just using it as a sketch and playing it later.

Personally, if I were composing on a plane, I'd be drawing notes on a staff or using a step sequencer. But it's usually a lot more fun to talk to people or listen to music & read.

[boarderbas]

But being a fresh dad, my weekly flight hours are precious time I can spend learning how to make music...

I get around making beats in the evenings when my gf watches TV, but for melodic content I really like to be undisturbed and concentrated.

To sum it up, you all have been a great help for sparring about this. I've adjusted my expectations to suit. I bought a LPD for €25 unused secondhand and if it is useless I'll keep it for triggering stuff through Midi.

The central message to people at respected hardware manufacturers is that there are allready enough semi-useless toy keyboards around. Make something small and useful. NI; make a calculator sized Maschine with just the minimum of functions (you can click all you want on the computer) but the same great expression (cant mouseclick expression). Akai; make an LPD with pitch and modulation. Maybe sacrifice a few keys for better velocity sensitivity...

[MrPopinjay]

make a calculator sized Maschine with just the minimum of functions (you can click all you want on the computer) but the same great expression (cant mouseclick expression). Akai; make an LPD with pitch and modulation. Maybe sacrifice a few keys for better velocity sensitivity...

Check out the maschine ios app.

I disagree with the sacrifice keys for better velocity sensitivity. The only reason you'd want better velocity sensitivity is so you can play it but the keyboard is already unplayable due to the mini keys and tiny range. Losing more would just make it worse.

[epikeddie]

Check out the maschine ios app.

I disagree with the sacrifice keys for better velocity sensitivity. The only reason you'd want better velocity sensitivity is so you can play it but the keyboard is already unplayable due to the mini keys and tiny range. Losing more would just make it worse.

I agree with this.

Velocity sensitive keys would only be an essential for someone that's playing live which is going to be difficult with that setup anyways.

I use an MPK Mini and literally just use it for piano roll editor and writing in notes. I think the laptop midi keyboard will work just fine for what you're using it for. What DAW are you using? My little Akai makes my workflow much quicker and I can control hundreds of unique sounds and synths.

There are lots of good soft synths and drum synths out there that'll put that laptop keyboard to good use!

[botstein]

Check out the maschine ios app.

iMaschine doesn't control a computer at all. It's definitely worth the price, though.
There are bunch of apps that do control DAWs, synths, and engraving software, though.

I disagree with the sacrifice keys for better velocity sensitivity. The only reason you'd want better velocity sensitivity is so you can play it but the keyboard is already unplayable due to the mini keys and tiny range. Losing more would just make it worse.

Oh really?

But being a fresh dad, my weekly flight hours are precious time I can spend learning how to make music...

Congratulations!

The central message to people at respected hardware manufacturers is that there are allready enough semi-useless toy keyboards around. Make something small and useful. NI; make a calculator sized Maschine with just the minimum of functions (you can click all you want on the computer) but the same great expression (cant mouseclick expression). Akai; make an LPD with pitch and modulation. Maybe sacrifice a few keys for better velocity sensitivity...

THe CMC-PD is really small.
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CMCPD/

I don't like the Mikro much, and would not be too too in to a smaller controller in the Maschine family UNLESS it was some ingenious box that featured 16 full sized mkii pads edge-to-edge, and some scheme to control the whole software - maybe buttons on the side, midi-fighter 3D style? If iMaschine saw a major update to coincide with the 2.0 software, I would have a parade.

The M-Audio products with mini-keys actually has a reasonably nice velocity sens, and a cute way to change both the velocity curve and what the encoder(s) do on the fly and from the hardware.

[MrPopinjay]

iMaschine doesn't control a computer at all. It's definitely worth the price, though.
There are bunch of apps that do control DAWs, synths, and engraving software, though.

Oh really?

I know, but it seems to tick a lot of boxes for producing on a plane. Create some beats and then export them for use in your DAW.

I say that reducing the number of keys to less than 2 octaves would make it even more unplayable, so you post a video of someone using 3 octaves...?

[botstein]

I know, but it seems to tick a lot of boxes for producing on a plane. Create some beats and then export them for use in your DAW.

I say that reducing the number of keys to less than 2 octaves would make it even more unplayable, so you post a video of someone using 3 octaves...?

You wrote that mini keys were unplayable.

[MrPopinjay]

I wrote that 2 octaves of mini keys is unplayble and that removing more would just make it worse. You post a video with 3 octaves. More keys, more playable. Less keys, less playable.