Piano

Hi, i just purchased ewsql silver and it is on its way to me! YAY! In celebration i was toying with the idea of purchasing a midi piano to assist me with composition rather than using piano roll i use in fruitloops. I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions or comments

do you mean a controller keyboard or an a electronic piano?? There are a ton of models available for either. I just use an el-cheapo 61 key controller I got off ebay for 70 bucks... It does the job, but you can get a lot more bells and whistles if you pay more. If you are composing for orchestra, then it would probably be nice to have 76 or 88 keys... weighted keys are nice if you are a pianist. If you are going for an electric piano then I don't know any specific models, but Yamahas seem to be recommended quite a bit. I think it comes down to how much you want to spend, which features you want, and how the piano feels when you play it.

These are the three i am looking at. Any ideas?

1. M-Audio Oxygen 61 61-Key Mobile USB Controller
2. M-Audio Axiom 25 25-Key USB MIDI Controller
3. M-Audio Oxygen 8 v2 25-Key Mobile USB Controller

Out of those 3 I'd definately go the 61-key model. I think M-Audio is a decent middle of the range brand which is good quality at a reasonable price. If you're doing orchestral stuff don't even consider a 25-key model... you'll hate having to change the octave range all the time. If you can afford it I'd probably consider the Keystation 88es. What is your budget? And are you a pianist? you might prefer something with weighted keys. I think the difference between the Oxygen and the keystations are that the oxygen models have quite a few midi mixing knobs, but the keystations don't and they have semi-weighted keys. I am not sure that mixing knobs are that useful when doing orchestral stuff - they might help with the mix-down maybe, but people who write techno or electronic music are more likely to use them I think. If I were you I'd shop around on ebay - there are some decent second hand models around too, and you can sometimes get new stuff cheaper than at a music store.

go for the m-audio 49e keystation, no hassle with all those useless controlers. octave range probably isn't a factor for you when you're considering both a 61-keys and a 25-keys, 49 should be the right size.

oh and it's cheap too since it has no crap on it.