The functionality of Impact LX25 is different from the “average” MIDI controller for beginners. KordBot is a MIDI controller with a keyboard vibe made especially for coming up with chord progressions. Our most recent article challenged us to pick out a beginner’s training tool for under $150, which was no small feat. If you’re wanting to use a MIDI keyboard/controller to mix more than compose, you’ll want something with plenty of faders, knobs, and buttons. Akai MPK249 is the best choice for producers who take music production seriously! You’ll also get VIP (Virtual Instrument Player) premium software that integrates all MIDI controller features into your PC for free! If you are on a budget, midiplus AKM320 is the best choice for you! First of all, let’s talk about assignable elements – there are more than I’ve ever used in a session. You can also buy a case for it, which can be quite handy if traveling. The defining feature of this keyboard, and what I think makes it worth buying, is the fact that there are multiple banks for the drum pads and 10 memory locations for saving custom settings. Below are some of my tops favorite ones designed for beginners: 1. Midiplus is the cheapest MIDI keyboard on the market! Keys are non-weighted and velocity-sensitive, so you can add your personal touch to each melody and chord progression you play. Let’s look into the features of this particular MIDI keyboard for beginners. It’s definitely a fantastic choice for a starter MIDI keyboard and I highly recommend it. In my opinion, 49 keys are the most beginners with no experience playing the piano should go for. Well never fear, I have your back through this process. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. I personally own an Alesis V49 and couldn’t be happier with my MIDI controller. As you would’ve guessed from V49, this Alesis MIDI keyboard for beginners has 49 keys, which are non-weighted and velocity sensitive. by Jordan Lent Last Updated January 6, 2020. I could’ve easily been satisfied with a much smaller 25 key MIDI keyboard. Therefore, multiply your 16 pads by 4. WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN CHOOSING Best Midi Keyboard For Beginners. The CME Xkey Air also has function buttons that change octaves, bend pitch, change modulation, and add or hold sustain. That’s the input you’ll always have. The VI49 also features pitch and modulation wheels, 12 assignable knobs and 36 assignable buttons for manipulating plugin effects and instruments, tweaking parameters, modulating filters, and changing volumes. The Novation Launchkey line is one of the best out there. M-Audio is one of the biggest producers of professional gear for professional and amateur musicians all over the world. From Yamaha’s arsenal, P-45 is one of the best affordable digital keyboards for beginners that comes with an optional upright wooden stand and with fully weighted hammer action keys. The Novation Launchkey line is one of the best out there. Isla Instruments is a fairly new company but their MIDI controller KordBot is becoming popular at a steady rate. If you’re a guitar player who wants to learn piano or start making music with a MIDI keyboard, a Seaboard Block seems like it would be the easiest to learn with considering the five dimensional touch provides an experience similar to bending notes and using other expressive techniques on a guitar. The Alesis VI49 is one of the more expensive MIDI keyboards on this list, but for good reason. The Seaboard Block comes with software (included are Noise, Equator Player, and Blocks Dashboard) and you can purchase different instruments and sounds to play with the Block through your phone or computer, or you can use it as a MIDI keyboard with your DAW and bypass the included sounds. A feature that we haven’t seen yet on the MIDI keyboards on this list is aftertouch. I’ve used it with Logic Pro, but since it’s made with Ableton in mind, a few of the features (mainly the drum pads) are disabled when connected to DAWs other than Ableton. Make your workflow in the piano roll window a lot easier and smoother with this MIDI controller for beginners. There are 8 buttons for navigating through the main functions of your DAW, like recording and skipping forward and back. M-Audio Oxygen MIDI controller for beginners also integrates seamlessly within your DAW and lets you modify various instruments’ and plugins’ settings in-real-time with the knobs, switches, and pads! An added feature of these drum pads is that they have LED lights in them and they light up in correspondence with Ableton Live’s performance mode. This keyboard is loaded with a ton of features including a MIDI out. by Thomas Rudy April 13, 2018 • 2 min read A MIDI keyboard is essential for anyone looking to produce music and break into audio engineering. MIDI out is what allows you to control a hardware synthesizer. All you have to do is to plug it into your Mac or PC and you are set! electronic keyboards with weighted keys or semi weighted keys. Even though it’s tiny, Akai MPK Mini comes with more than a handful of features. You might also need to change the audio input settings in your DAW to make sure everything is connected properly. Your fingers will get used to the feeling, and you won’t have to worry about anything anymore! There are so many MIDI keyboards and controllers out there that are suitable for people of any experience level. When I was searching for a MIDI keyboard when I was first getting started making music, I had a fairly decent budget, less than $500. You can switch the octaves with a press of a button, which lets you work on any scale you’d like without any tweaking in your digital audio workstation software. An Introduction to MIDI Controllers. If you are looking for a light, portable, and budget MIDI keyboard – Keystation Mini is the best one for you! KordBot has a key area that spans over 2 octaves, 12 memory pads, an SD card slot for saving chord progressions, a chord dictionary that helps you learn new chords and their inversions by lighting up the correct piano-like keys, and it even will suggest what chord to use next in your progression. It works with every major DAW for beginners, and you don’t have to “force” your computer to find Arturia KeyStep. It has 25 real size keys and is ultra sensitive thanks to polyphonic aftertouch and 128 levels of sensitivity for velocity responsive playing. Akai MPK Mini is the best keyboard for smaller studios! Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are as essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. KordBot allows you to connect through MIDI, USB, or Bluetooth, so you’ll be able to use it with all your devices and DAWs. Keep in mind that the learning curve is quite steep! To me, this gives it as much functionality as a bigger MIDI keyboard that has way more drum pads, knobs, and buttons. This alone will help you improve the quality of your drum lines and rolls. It takes some time to learn how to use the knobs to generate some cool sounds, but you’ll be amazed by the results! However, if you’re more set on composing in a studio, it might be better to get a bigger MIDI keyboard and not worry about having something portable if you don’t plan to compose on the go. The MIDI controller actually overdelivers for the price you pay. However, if there’s a very expensive keyboard that has all the features you’d be needing to use, try to find one that’s cheaper that covers all those bases. might not care too much about having faders and drum pads and knobs. Have you ever used 360 encoders? To finish up, Nektar ImpactLX25+ is a fantastic MIDI keyboard for beginners if you are reasonably proficient in working with sound generators. Assignable XY pad is used by professional producers all over the world. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. It’s compact and incredibly light, weighing under 2 pounds! It is an extremely affordable option that still manages to pack in all the features you need to get started. Clearly, the choice is up to you. The keys feel nice and the drum pads are sensitive. The keyboard has 49 keys which are semi-weighted! Most of them are bus-powered which means they work when you plug them into your desktop or laptop computer. The small footprint and portability of this compact MIDI keyboard makes this an ideal MIDI controller for writing music on the go and the intuitive design makes it easy to use for beginners. It’s not the fanciest MIDI keyboard on the market, but it’s an excellent choice for beginners who don’t need a lot of features in their MIDI controller! Moreover, you get 8 knobs, faders, and switches, and 3 banks for each. Overall, Alesis V49 is one of the best and more reliable MIDI keyboards for beginners on the market! Besides the 2 wheels and 8 drum pads, it has a lot of more advanced functions some amateurs would love! It also comes with 8 customizable faders. Other types are MIDI keyboards for beginners that need more than a small power supply of your computer. In total, you get 64 assignable drum pads, 24 control knobs, 24 faders, and 24 switches! They will sound a lot more natural and groovy because they won’t be set perfectly on the grid, which is the trend these days. Midiplus AKM320 integrates perfectly with every DAW and doesn’t require any power supply to work. Most producers don’t need this many! It’s about 3 feet in length, and that’s something to keep in mind when building a music studio. View it on Amazon here. If you are not a fan of Launchkey MK2 or don’t use Ableton as your primary DAW, then you should look into M-Audio Oxygen MIDI controller for beginners. The Launchkey series has been a bestseller for a few years now as they offer high-quality keyboards and a comprehensive range of control options all packaged in a sleek easy to use lightweight design. Unsure on The Best Keyboard for a Beginner? To keep it short, some MIDI keyboards for beginners need external power sources, and others don’t. The MIDI controller has 8 trigger pads that sound louder or quieter depending on the pressure you’ll apply. Depending on what you’re used to, if you’ve already been playing piano for many years, you might want to go with a MIDI keyboard that has weighted keys. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. I decided to put KordBot on this list even though it doesn’t have fully functional keys like a MIDI keyboard, but it’s extremely similar to one and has a similar setup as a MIDI keyboard. Will anyone ever need more than that? Most MIDI keyboards use USB, which means you can just plug the included cable into the USB port of your computer to connect it and start playing; most DAWs are intuitive enough to detect new MIDI hardware. Do you like the feel of weighted keys? Weighted keys are a deal breaker to some people, so let me give you a piece of advice. Roland’s A-88 MIDI keyboard is arguably the best 88-key model available and comes with the Roland PHA-4 keyboard. Also featured are octave up and down buttons with LED colors that change to show the status of the keyboard. The Best Beginner MIDI Keyboard Controller In 2020. All of them are assignable, and you can use them with any plugin in any DAW. It offers a lot of functionality without being too confusing to use and set up. Higher-priced MIDI keyboards will be ones with 49 to 88 keys, ones with LED screens, instrument presets built in, and an extensive amount of knobs, faders, and drum pads. Best MIDI Keyboard for Beginners. Alesis VI49 USB MIDI Keyboard & Drum Pad Controller It is in this paragraph that we will try to understand the necessary criteria that should be considered when choosing a device. It integrates with every DAW for beginners so you shouldn’t worry about that at all! These cookies do not store any personal information. Do you want to compose with it, or do you just want to use it to control your DAW? There are 8 assignable knobs and dedicated navigation and control buttons as well. Definitely try to get your hands on one of these, if not to buy, then at least to try. At just 0.5 kilograms, it is one of the lightest keyboards available in the market. Most of the time you will only have a USB output that connects your MIDI keyboard for beginners to your DAW. I didn’t care too much about portability, and I wanted something that wouldn’t require me having to constantly be hitting the octave up and down buttons while performing and producing, so I wanted something with more keys. Another cool feature is a set of drum pads that light up when you press them. The Really this is a preference type thing. Producers and DJs who tour and travel a lot prefer smaller MIDI keyboard controllers, while beatmakers who work out of their music studio sometimes go for a bigger one with up to 88 keys. Whether you're a beginner or a pro, selecting the right gear is paramount. Consordini is a participant in the Amazon.com Services LLC Associates Program. The Impact GX49 features a 49-note synthesizer style keyboard, a pitch bend wheel, a modulation wheel, and an input jack for a sustain pedal or other foot switch. The keyboard also features pitch and modulation wheels, transpose buttons, octave up/down buttons, and a volume slider. The Impact GX49 is very portable and connects easily to an iPad or smartphone, and only weighs 4 lbs, which is quite light for having 49 keys. This MIDI keyboard for beginners is only 22″ in length, so you’ll never have to worry of not having enough space on your producer’s desk! What We Liked. However, you should think twice before scrolling further if you are on a low budget and looking for a quality MIDI keyboard for beginners! Some DAWs (Logic Pro X and Ableton Live for example) do allow you to use your computer keyboard as a MIDI keyboard, but usually in these cases, they only function as the keys of the keyboard and octave up and down buttons. Akai MPK Mini features 16 drum pads and 16 knobs to use for your tracks! However, it’s a bit different from the previous two. A MIDI keyboard inputs MIDI information into your DAW while composing. The keys are velocity sensitive, so your melodies won’t sound robotic. The PSR EW-300 can be considered as the best cost-effective Yamaha keyboard for beginners. Which one to pick when you don’t know much about the MIDI controllers but want to pick the very best one without getting ripped off? Actually, it’s more of a must-have piece of your music studio if you are a music producer or a DJ. You are able to take ultimate control over numerous filters and parameters of your DAW up to your liking with faders, knobs, and buttons. The prices can vary from a hundred bucks to well over a thousand! midiplus, 32-Key Midi Controller, 32-Key (AKM320), Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII | 25 Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller With 8 Drum Pads and Pro Software Suite Included – Limited Edition White Finish, Alesis V49 | 49 Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with 8 Backlit Pads, 4 Assignable Knobs and Buttons, Plus a Professional Software Suite with ProTools | First Included, Akai Professional MPK249 | 49 Key Semi Weighted USB MIDI Keyboard Controller Including Core Control From The MPC Workstations, M-Audio Code 61 | 61-Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with X/Y Touch Pad (16 Drum Pads / 9 Faders / 8 Encoders), VIP Software Download Included. If you’ve never had a MIDI keyboard before and have your way of doing things without one, consider changing your mind. Speaking of fully-weighted keys, there is only a handful of MIDI controllers that offer such feature – it’s not in demand among producers. M-Audio Code 61 is a power horse and will be the best investment you’ll ever make! If you’ve already found your perfect workflow, then all these knobs, switches, and buttons can help you to speed everything up. A nice thing about this keyboard is that you don’t have to use it in just your DAW; you can use it with standalone instruments and it’ll still work fine and you should be able to configure the buttons just fine. If you are looking for a less intimidating MIDI keyboard, Arturia is your perfect choice. My main MIDI keyboard is a Launchkey 49. If you are looking for the best beginner MIDI keyboard controller but never produced before, then there is no need to go for the top-of-the-line product! If you don’t like the feel of a button, it does have an input for a sustain pedal as well. It’s incredibly light for its size and the number of features it comes with. The Axiom AIR Mini 32 has 32 mini synthesizer style keys (velocity sensitive, of course) and 8 drum pads. I personally would suggest starting out with a 25- or 32-key MIDI keyboard that you can learn on first. In this post, I want to break down the best Yamaha keyboards for beginners that will be suited for all ages of musicians. If you choose to get a bigger version (Launchkey 49 or 61), another feature available to you are some faders for volume control straight from your MIDI keyboard as well as modulation and pitch wheels. With so many chords, voicings, and a plethora of functionality, if you struggle to come up with chord progressions, the KordBot is a very smart purchase to make, although you might struggle to navigate through all its functions a bit at first. Not a game changer, but something different. In hindsight, it was a poor decision for me to have made, because although I loved the keyboard and it played really well, I didn’t end up using many of the features, mainly the volume faders and knobs. They can be used for real-time EQ, compression, reverb, and a lot more! M-Audio Code 61 has more potential than 95% of MIDI keyboards for beginners out there! The Launchkey Mini is a smaller version of that. They’ve got some really solid products. Did you know that Akai has been around since the late 1920s and made MIDI keyboards since the 1980s? As you go, you’ll “feel” the key velocity, and this will develop your piano skills! The 8 knobs on this one are to be used with synth, bass, and other generators mostly. Because if you happen to use FL Studio, Logic, or Pro Tools, you’ll be more flexible with one of these bad boys! For being as small as it is, it has some clever features that make it have a lot more functionality that you would be more likely to see in a bigger MIDI keyboard. This question is probably being asked the most when it comes to MIDI keyboards for beginners. The VI49 is a plug and play USB MIDI keyboard so you can easily connect it to your favorite DAW. Akai MPK249 semi-weighted keys will help you train your fingers! That’s something everyone should look into, especially if you are producing hip hop and EDM. It lets you switch the octaves and modulate the input signal. There are many MIDI keyboards on this list. If you don’t have a DAW yet, you get Pro Tools First bundled in with your MIDI keyboard, so you can try it if you happen to own a Mac as your computer for music production! The Komplete Kontrol MIDI keyboards are an industry standard and favorite among producers, and understandably so. If you like to experiment, Nektar Impact LX25+ is your best bet! Sure, it doesn’t have the best of keys, but it is affordably priced enough to be considered “cheap”. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Novation Launchkey Mini MkII. Everything Native Instruments comes out with feels like a quality product and there’s nothing by them that has disappointed me.