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This is a controller for a music making software called FL Studio (a DAW or digital audio workstation).
In FL studio, you pick the instrument you want to play, whether that's bass, drums, piano, or whatever. Then you'd have to play what you hear in your head. Simple beats might be simple. Difficult music might take a lifetime to learn to play unless you program it one note at a time (sequencing).
If you like the idea of programming in one note at a time, the Polyend Tracker is a neat tool for that, and I was able to create songs on it without ever looking at anything.
The reason I'd advise a beginner against getting this is that it is isolated to FL Studio for native control. There are competitors like Ableton, Garageband, and others you might prefer. Most people agree that it doesn't really matter what you choose for the software, but you pick one, stick with it, and learn it. You might be able to get some free versions to demo even without a MIDI controller.
There are some controllers like the M Audio Oxygen Pro line that allow you to pick from many softwares and natively control them. It also comes with licenses for Ableton, FL Studio, MPC Beats, and some other things. I recently picked up the Oxygen Pro 25 for $85 on an Amazon warehouse deal when that Slicldeal was posted for it a few months back.
For more instant gratification, I'd look for a cheap synth with a sequencer, and a bunch of knobs or sliders so you can "DJ" beats you make. Something like a Behringer TD-3 would do that. The only problem with this is it's very limited in it's sounds even if it does do them well.
With added software, you can make an attempt to get there. The keyboard itself does not contain sounds. The keyboard interacts with software that has virtual synthesizers and sounds, so you can play them with the keyboard.
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Quote
from boball
:
If I have a tune in my head, can I use this to transform the tune into actual sound? What else will I need apart from this?
With added software, you can make an attempt to get there. The keyboard itself does not contain sounds. The keyboard interacts with software that has virtual synthesizers and sounds, so you can play them with the keyboard.
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank
Quote
from boball
:
If I have a tune in my head, can I use this to transform the tune into actual sound? What else will I need apart from this?
This is a controller for a music making software called FL Studio (a DAW or digital audio workstation).
In FL studio, you pick the instrument you want to play, whether that's bass, drums, piano, or whatever. Then you'd have to play what you hear in your head. Simple beats might be simple. Difficult music might take a lifetime to learn to play unless you program it one note at a time (sequencing).
If you like the idea of programming in one note at a time, the Polyend Tracker is a neat tool for that, and I was able to create songs on it without ever looking at anything.
The reason I'd advise a beginner against getting this is that it is isolated to FL Studio for native control. There are competitors like Ableton, Garageband, and others you might prefer. Most people agree that it doesn't really matter what you choose for the software, but you pick one, stick with it, and learn it. You might be able to get some free versions to demo even without a MIDI controller.
There are some controllers like the M Audio Oxygen Pro line that allow you to pick from many softwares and natively control them. It also comes with licenses for Ableton, FL Studio, MPC Beats, and some other things. I recently picked up the Oxygen Pro 25 for $85 on an Amazon warehouse deal when that Slicldeal was posted for it a few months back.
For more instant gratification, I'd look for a cheap synth with a sequencer, and a bunch of knobs or sliders so you can "DJ" beats you make. Something like a Behringer TD-3 would do that. The only problem with this is it's very limited in it's sounds even if it does do them well.
Last edited by Selman January 10, 2024 at 10:28 AM.
This is a controller for a music making software called FL Studio (a DAW or digital audio workstation).
In FL studio, you pick the instrument you want to play, whether that's bass, drums, piano, or whatever. Then you'd have to play what you hear in your head. Simple beats might be simple. Difficult music might take a lifetime to learn to play unless you program it one note at a time (sequencing).
If you like the idea of programming in one note at a time, the Polyend Tracker is a neat tool for that, and I was able to create songs on it without ever looking at anything.
The reason I'd advise a beginner against getting this is that it is isolated to FL Studio for native control. There are competitors like Ableton, Garageband, and others you might prefer. Most people agree that it doesn't really matter what you choose for the software, but you pick one, stick with it, and learn it. You might be able to get some free versions to demo even without a MIDI controller.
There are some controllers like the M Audio Oxygen Pro line that allow you to pick from many softwares and natively control them. It also comes with licenses for Ableton, FL Studio, MPC Beats, and some other things. I recently picked up the Oxygen Pro 25 for $85 on an Amazon warehouse deal when that Slicldeal was posted for it a few months back.
For more instant gratification, I'd look for a cheap synth with a sequencer, and a bunch of knobs or sliders so you can "DJ" beats you make. Something like a Behringer TD-3 would do that. The only problem with this is it's very limited in it's sounds even if it does do them well.
Thanks. If I wanted to make , or lets say replicate, a regular song (non-EDM) , ....... lets pick a song for example Michael Jackson or Katy Perry (without their vocals of course) , is that something I can do by myself using gadgets like these, or does that require a whole team of people doing different things?
Quote
from vatoloco4ever
:
With added software, you can make an attempt to get there. The keyboard itself does not contain sounds. The keyboard interacts with software that has virtual synthesizers and sounds, so you can play them with the keyboard.
I just got my daughter a AKAI Pro MPK MINI PLAY MK3 for Christmas. We've played around with it a bit and I'm hoping we just haven't discovered everything it does yet. I chose that one because we're big fans of the Kiffness and read that he uses that. How would y'all rank this one to what we have? I'm thinking this one probably does more. My biggest thing is that I'd really like to have a looper, and maybe the one we have does but I haven't found it just yet. Thank you
Thanks. If I wanted to make , or lets say replicate, a regular song (non-EDM) , ....... lets pick a song for example Michael Jackson or Katy Perry (without their vocals of course) , is that something I can do by myself using gadgets like these, or does that require a whole team of people doing different things?
You could get very close if you were a skilled musician, or if you learned the software enough to sequence the music. If they use an analog synth, you could play a virtual rendition of it with a very similar synth, but it wouldn't be exact, and it would probably take you years of learning if you aren't already a musician.
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I just got my daughter a AKAI Pro MPK MINI PLAY MK3 for Christmas. We've played around with it a bit and I'm hoping we just haven't discovered everything it does yet. I chose that one because we're big fans of the Kiffness and read that he uses that. How would y'all rank this one to what we have? I'm thinking this one probably does more. My biggest thing is that I'd really like to have a looper, and maybe the one we have does but I haven't found it just yet. Thank you
The MPK Mini is comparable to this. With only 25 keys the Mini isn't as useful for two handed playing as a midi keyboard with 37 or 49 keys. In general the drum pads will be mapped to work with most DAW (digital audio workstation) software and whatever knobs and sliders will only be plug and play with one flavor of audio production software.
FL Studio and Ableton Live Lite are both good at making loop-based music, as are Logic Pro X for MacOS or Cubase for Windows. It's not a looper you want though: all DAW software can loop any number of bars. midi keyboards or drum pad controllers like this only trigger note events. The keyboard doesn't have a looper per se because it doesn't record anything and can't distinguish between a organ, bass, or drum track in the open project of your DAW software.
You'll be able to use the various controls on your little Akai to input whatever note or drum triggers using any software and finding your way around the software will constitute the learning curve. You can watch some videos on Garage Band to learn the basic workflow if your daughter has a Mac. You create tracks for different virtual instruments and use any midi controller as a music-specific replacement for your QWERTY keyboard if that makes sense.
And while Akai makes their own DAW software, it's not as popular as Ableton Live, made by Novation. So this controller would come with a free download of Ableton Live Lite and likely have more controls that worked plug and play provided you used daw software made by your midi controllers manufacturer.
Last edited by bozekitty January 11, 2024 at 03:29 AM.
Thanks. If I wanted to make , or lets say replicate, a regular song (non-EDM) , ....... lets pick a song for example Michael Jackson or Katy Perry (without their vocals of course) , is that something I can do by myself using gadgets like these, or does that require a whole team of people doing different things?
Technically, yes, in the same way somebody could design an entire video game on a consumer computer or shoot a movie on an iPhone. Just like anything, it's the hours of practice and learning that will allow you to do that, not the tool.
I picked up the non FL version of this a few months ago and have been very happy with it- great MIDI controller for the price.
I tried both the smaller and larger versions (25 key and 49 key) and settled on the 37 key as I believe it is the best balance of functionality and portability.
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In FL studio, you pick the instrument you want to play, whether that's bass, drums, piano, or whatever. Then you'd have to play what you hear in your head. Simple beats might be simple. Difficult music might take a lifetime to learn to play unless you program it one note at a time (sequencing).
If you like the idea of programming in one note at a time, the Polyend Tracker is a neat tool for that, and I was able to create songs on it without ever looking at anything.
The reason I'd advise a beginner against getting this is that it is isolated to FL Studio for native control. There are competitors like Ableton, Garageband, and others you might prefer. Most people agree that it doesn't really matter what you choose for the software, but you pick one, stick with it, and learn it. You might be able to get some free versions to demo even without a MIDI controller.
There are some controllers like the M Audio Oxygen Pro line that allow you to pick from many softwares and natively control them. It also comes with licenses for Ableton, FL Studio, MPC Beats, and some other things. I recently picked up the Oxygen Pro 25 for $85 on an Amazon warehouse deal when that Slicldeal was posted for it a few months back.
For more instant gratification, I'd look for a cheap synth with a sequencer, and a bunch of knobs or sliders so you can "DJ" beats you make. Something like a Behringer TD-3 would do that. The only problem with this is it's very limited in it's sounds even if it does do them well.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank
Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank
In FL studio, you pick the instrument you want to play, whether that's bass, drums, piano, or whatever. Then you'd have to play what you hear in your head. Simple beats might be simple. Difficult music might take a lifetime to learn to play unless you program it one note at a time (sequencing).
If you like the idea of programming in one note at a time, the Polyend Tracker is a neat tool for that, and I was able to create songs on it without ever looking at anything.
The reason I'd advise a beginner against getting this is that it is isolated to FL Studio for native control. There are competitors like Ableton, Garageband, and others you might prefer. Most people agree that it doesn't really matter what you choose for the software, but you pick one, stick with it, and learn it. You might be able to get some free versions to demo even without a MIDI controller.
There are some controllers like the M Audio Oxygen Pro line that allow you to pick from many softwares and natively control them. It also comes with licenses for Ableton, FL Studio, MPC Beats, and some other things. I recently picked up the Oxygen Pro 25 for $85 on an Amazon warehouse deal when that Slicldeal was posted for it a few months back.
For more instant gratification, I'd look for a cheap synth with a sequencer, and a bunch of knobs or sliders so you can "DJ" beats you make. Something like a Behringer TD-3 would do that. The only problem with this is it's very limited in it's sounds even if it does do them well.
In FL studio, you pick the instrument you want to play, whether that's bass, drums, piano, or whatever. Then you'd have to play what you hear in your head. Simple beats might be simple. Difficult music might take a lifetime to learn to play unless you program it one note at a time (sequencing).
If you like the idea of programming in one note at a time, the Polyend Tracker is a neat tool for that, and I was able to create songs on it without ever looking at anything.
The reason I'd advise a beginner against getting this is that it is isolated to FL Studio for native control. There are competitors like Ableton, Garageband, and others you might prefer. Most people agree that it doesn't really matter what you choose for the software, but you pick one, stick with it, and learn it. You might be able to get some free versions to demo even without a MIDI controller.
There are some controllers like the M Audio Oxygen Pro line that allow you to pick from many softwares and natively control them. It also comes with licenses for Ableton, FL Studio, MPC Beats, and some other things. I recently picked up the Oxygen Pro 25 for $85 on an Amazon warehouse deal when that Slicldeal was posted for it a few months back.
For more instant gratification, I'd look for a cheap synth with a sequencer, and a bunch of knobs or sliders so you can "DJ" beats you make. Something like a Behringer TD-3 would do that. The only problem with this is it's very limited in it's sounds even if it does do them well.
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FL Studio and Ableton Live Lite are both good at making loop-based music, as are Logic Pro X for MacOS or Cubase for Windows. It's not a looper you want though: all DAW software can loop any number of bars. midi keyboards or drum pad controllers like this only trigger note events. The keyboard doesn't have a looper per se because it doesn't record anything and can't distinguish between a organ, bass, or drum track in the open project of your DAW software.
You'll be able to use the various controls on your little Akai to input whatever note or drum triggers using any software and finding your way around the software will constitute the learning curve. You can watch some videos on Garage Band to learn the basic workflow if your daughter has a Mac. You create tracks for different virtual instruments and use any midi controller as a music-specific replacement for your QWERTY keyboard if that makes sense.
And while Akai makes their own DAW software, it's not as popular as Ableton Live, made by Novation. So this controller would come with a free download of Ableton Live Lite and likely have more controls that worked plug and play provided you used daw software made by your midi controllers manufacturer.
I tried both the smaller and larger versions (25 key and 49 key) and settled on the 37 key as I believe it is the best balance of functionality and portability.
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Join The Conversation
Share your experience with the Slickdeals community
Share information with the community. Please follow our Community Guidelines and be kind!