I’ve been looking for a weighted-action controller for quite some time now. I ended up buying an Akai MPK88 sight unseen and I hat it – the action is terrible. A number of people on other forums have held that to get a really good piano action, you need to buy a nice digital piano or even a workstation (same if you want a synth action – you need to buy a synth). Even the Roland rep who I ran into lately agreed with this.
But my main question here is with regards to modulation control. I’ve been operating under the ASSumption that I need a controller that has a mod wheel, since I do a lot of work with sample libraries where the mod wheel controls various things – volume, attack, etc. The only two companies that still use mod wheels however seems to be Kurzwel and Yamaha.
My question to you is: do you think one can get the same functionality with a controller that uses a joystick, like the Korgs, or a handle-thingy, like the Rolands? I ask this because my two principle candidates at this point are the new Korg Kronos or a Roland RD-700
The S90ES is discontinued. IIRC the XS model replaces it.
I use neither. If I want a high level of “feel” in the part I’ll usually track it with a midi guitar controller to capture all the nuance … then edit to suit once in Cubase.
I use an old DX-7 as a controller. I find the key weighting and feel a good compromise between an organ keyboard and a weighted KX88 (which is still my dream). The DX-7’s are quite cheap at the moment depending on the condition.