[LAU] recommendations for midi controller keyboard

[andy baxter]

Jamie McLaughlin wrote:
> Another vote for the Edirol PCR-800. It's brilliant. It also comes in in
> smaller sizes if that's more suitable:
>   

Does the extra money get you a better key action compared to cheaper 
keyboards? I'm not too worried about having loads of controls, as I can 
always buy (or make) a separate control surface for that.

Also I'm thinking that what I really want from a control surface isn't a 
load of pots - it's one or two rotary encoders with a load of push 
button switches to assign the encoders to different midi controllers, 
and a little screen so you can see what you're doing. That way you can 
switch to a different synth sound and have all the controllers pre-set 
to their default levels for that synth, which isn't really possible with 
pots unless they are motorised.

The idea is if you had a synth sound on the computer with 4 variable 
parameters, assigned to midi control messages 1-4, then to change the 
value of controller 2 using encoder 1 you would:
- press select button 2 (out of maybe 16 in a matrix).
- press assign button 1 (physically placed next to encoder 1). This 
would assign controller 2 to encoder 1.
- the name and current value of the synth parameter would come up on the 
screen (say a 2*20 character LCD) so you can see what you're doing.
- you could then turn encoder 1 to alter the value of controller 1. As 
you turned the encoder, the value on the screen would be updated, and 
the appropriate CC messages sent out.

If anyone knows of any products or free hardware projects like this, it 
would be good to know.

andy