Which controller keyboard is best suited for Cubase?

Cubase
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1

Hello,

I finally have time and space to create my dedicated home studio. It’s been 16 years since I last had one (so I guess I’m a newbie again!). I bought Cubase 13 Pro over a year ago, and have poked at it on a Macbook Pro laptop (16GB, 14” screen, standard mouse controller—far too fiddly). I’ll probably update to Cubase 15.

I’ve just bought a Mac Studio M4 Max 16-core CPU 40-core GPU 64GB/1TB (only use will be for Cubase), along with a huge (for me) monitor screen. I’ve found a computer keyboard and a couple of mice (roller ball and standard). I still need to buy a couple of backup TB drives, though I think I’ve located the right ones.

I now need to buy a piano keyboard controller. Some searching and reading suggests things have changed since I used an old Ensoniq Mirage, on a PC (with Audiophile 24/96 card) running Cubase VST, to send MIDI.

What do fellow Cubase users recommend? There’s a good post from April 2024 on this great forum, but have things changed? Also, as a second-time newbie, is there anything new I should pay attention to (MIDI vs Bluetooth/USB, etc.)?

I want a weighted 88-key controller keyboard (and maybe a small, lightweight one with just a couple of octaves—for when I’m travelling and plonking about on the laptop). I once had a wonderful moment in the mid 1980s with a well set-up Roland sampler (full of orchestral sounds) and a weighted keyboard (can’t remember its name, perhaps Rhodes) in a studio off Oxford Street in London. I want a 2020s version of this.

I’m looking at the Arturia Keylab Essential 3 88 Key: says it comes with ‘best-in-class DAW integration’, including ‘custom DAW scripts that bring pre-mapped controls … with any major DAW’. Is it worthwhile to have all the extras when I’d only be using it to trigger synths and samplers within Cubase? Also, how’s the reliability (random full-velocity notes and octave shifts, etc.)? The price of £400 is at the upper end of my remaining budget.

Any help much appreciated.

And then I’ll be seeking tutorials on how to set up the Mac Studio as a dedicated music machine …

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If you’re looking to start again, then you may want to adopt some newer standards.

MIDI 2.0 is a thing, especially on macOS. IIRC, Cubase 15 on macOS already supports high-resolution MIDI 2.0.

88 key controllers that support it include the Roland A88mkII and the StudioLogic SL88 mk2. The Yamaha Montage M synth workstation also supports MIDI 2.0 and could be used as a controller.

Pete
Microsoft

3

Thanks Pete. The SL Mk2 88 is the one within my budget. The 72-note version is considerably cheaper. Interesting stuff. I’ll now spend a while reading more. This item is as important as the computer and the DAW (feeling comfortable I’ve made the right choice with those two).

Again, many thanks for taking the time to reply.

Cheers,

Andrew

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I just bought the 73 key version myself. I haven’t had a chance to set it up yet, though.

Pete
Microsoft

5

I can highly commend adding to that the Korg Keystage https://www.korg.co.uk/products/keystage as a good small and handy keyboard controller. Apart from the annoying always blinking tempo light (that I covered) and the black-on-black text labels for buttons, it is a very nice and slim light-touch keyboard that does polyphonic aftertouch, supports MIDI 2.0, and works amazingly as a Cubase controller with this rather nifty script from a fellow forum user and midi-remote genius: Korg Keystage 49/61 - Custom MIDI Remote Script

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The Korg is a great controller.

But just to clear up the inevitable confusion, it supports only the Profiles and Property Exchange (MIDI-CI) aspect of MIDI 2.0. It doesn’t support the UMP format and protocol which enables higher resolution messages, new transports, etc.

What the MIDI-CI aspect enables is things like integration with the Korg synth apps which can exchange patch information with the controller so you know which patch you are on, etc.

Pete
Microsoft

7

Thanks for the additional clarifications, good to call that out. I had forgotten about the limits of the Korg there, though I remember diving into this when I first got it. In the end I don’t use the Korg Midi 2.0 features as you mention them (and lament the lack of higher resolution, would like to try that!) but all the instrument integration for VSTs is handled nicely by the midi remote script. So all my VSTs work as well as the Korg Wavestate etc. bundled with the keyboard, similar to if they were MIDI-CI integrated, showing on the 8 screens and affected by the 8 knobs. It’s far from perfect but still very good.

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Thanks for the tip about the Korg (and for including both the links!), along with your reply to Psychlist1972.

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Thanks to both for your helpful comments. Sorry for the delay in responding–I really shouldn’t have written that bit about having the “time and space”. Just tempting life’s gremlins.

Unless Xmas gets cancelled […] I’m hoping to have it all set up by 2026.

Very handy this forum!

2 Likes
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I think it might be wrong approach if you play keyboard. Pick the keyboard that has the best feel to play. (What that is dependent on you and your music). I for example need to play the white keys between the blacks so they should have a good separation. Do you want a piano feel or some classic synth feel? Are you a knob-player you maybe should look after midi2.0 or pick one that works with your plugin.

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