In the following workshop, Mark Cousins takes back control…. During our last two workshops — exploring Studio Strings and Studio Horns — we saw just how important MIDI CC continuous controller messages are in fully extracting the expressive range of many software instruments. The exact effect of the modulation wheel will depend on how the instrument has been configured, but the process of recording, editing and manipulating MIDI CC data is important to your work inside Logic Pro X.
Other controllers exist, although their effect will always depend on the software instrument that receives them. Here, the use of parallel track is useful as a means of distinguishing between note data and MIDI CC messages, allowing you to keep the two forms of information separate from one another.
Instead, studio speakers, also known as monitor speakers, accurately reproduce sounds without any additional information, so you can monitor any volume or tone changes in your mix. Some monitor speakers plug in via USB or the headphone jack on your computer, and others can connect to your audio and MIDI interface with quarter-inch or speaker cables.
Your audio interface typically includes a separate channel to plug your headphones in and adjust their volume separately from the volume of your monitor speakers. Logic Pro X has lots of really cool built-in software instruments of all types, from percussion and drum loops to vintage synthesizers and samplers. Thanks for the question! This is still a great controller.
It should work just fine with Logic as well. Your email address will not be published. MIDI Controllers. By Chris Senner March 15, 3 comments. View Price At Sweetwater. Which variant you buy and how you use it will vary a lot. A lot of producers I know use the 8 fader variant as a makeshift mixer. Others use the key variant as a highly portable keyboard. Given the price, you can even buy all three and change them around based on what you need at the moment.
There some obvious flaws on the Nanokey. The silicone buttons tend to get stuck. And the faders are plasticky. But it will complement one nicely. But it if you want something highly portable, or if you already have a full-sized keyboard and want something to complement it. Namely, have good and the right number of keys, have plenty of controls, and integrate well with Logic Pro. Keyboard controllers are great for composition.
You get full-sized piano keys that makes it easy to play chords and melodies. Pad controllers are great for launching clips and creating spontaneous compositions. If you want to hammer out a few drum patterns or take control of your music on the fly, you should choose this option.
There is no sessions view like in Ableton, which limits what you can do with pad controllers. Hybrid controllers offer the best compromise between controls and composition. A good hybrid controller would give you between pads as well as full-sized keyboards.
This way, you can launch clips, hammer out drum patterns, and compose entire tracks — all from the same controller. Unless you have extensive piano playing experience, I would recommend that you stick to hybrid controllers. Another option — which a lot of pro producers follow — is to get a regular keyboard controller and pair it up with a dedicated pad controller. Think of a setup like this:. This would give you the best of both worlds — a full-sized keyboard for composition, and a pad controller for controlling your DAW.
Your best option is to spring for semi-weighted keys. These tend to be on the expensive side but offer better playability and comfort. If your goal is to just enter MIDI notes and play out a few chords or melodies, synth-action keyboards will work perfectly fine.
MIDI keyboards come in a range of key sizes, going all the way from 25 keys to full-sized key keyboards. Anything beyond 32 keys makes it difficult to keep the keyboard size and weight low enough for lugging around. But portability comes with its own compromise — smaller keys. Most portable keyboards reduce the width and length of keys to fit them into a small form factor.
This greatly impacts their playability, especially if you have fat fingers as I do. I usually recommend people to get a regular 49 or key keyboard for their main studio use, and buy an additional mini keyboard for carrying around. If you have a smaller desk, it could completely ruin your setup. So before you spring for a larger keyboard, measure out your desk.
You should at least have 3 feet of extra space before you even think of getting anything beyond 49 keys. As much as the idea of a full-size key keyboard is appealing, it is just plain overkill for most musicians. Nor will the EDM or hip-hop pieces they produce ever involve complex melodies that require simultaneous bass and tenor keys.
Plus, larger keyboards are plain intimidating. On the flip side, anything below keys also impacts playability. For most people, keys represents the ideal size. It gives you access to four octaves of range. If you plan on playing slightly more complex pieces, you can upgrade to a key keyboard.
But otherwise, 49 keys is more than enough. Learn More. App Store Preview. Screenshots iPhone iPad. Oct 18, Version 1. Ratings and Reviews. App Privacy.
This works extremely well with Logic Pro and it is fully compatible as well. Note: You can read my full thoughts on the Mini MK 3 here. It weighs less than 2 lbs and it fits right into your backpack making it easy to travel with. The Nektar Panorama T6 is personally one of my favorite controllers available. It has 8 pads and 8 faders and a nice LCD screen in the middle that really allows you to increase your workflow.
For a full breakdown of this keyboard , click the link. Most controllers aim towards having all of the features such as pads as faders, whereas the A MK II was aimed towards having a great key-bed along with streamlined functionality. As mentioned above, the key action is my favorite action for a MIDI controller. There is a piano app that you can use with your controller in order to fully assign any parameters.
It has 8 pads, 8 knobs and it also comes with a ton of bundled software. One of the best things about this controller is the ease of use. As soon as you take it out of its box it is ready to play.
The pads on the MPK are perfect for laying down beats and using samples. Many Logic sessions are at least 2GB, depending on how many tracks, instruments, and plugins you use. The more RAM you have, the easier it will be to multitask without running into latency or playback errors in your session, which could cause delays while recording or distorted audio. Most interfaces have XLR and quarter-inch inputs, so you can record vocals or instruments such as guitar or bass.
You can easily layer different parts or even assign them to multiple instruments. So what kind of speakers should you get? Home stereo speakers often color the sound slightly by adding more bass or boosting certain frequencies to make the music sound louder. Instead, studio speakers, also known as monitor speakers, accurately reproduce sounds without any additional information, so you can monitor any volume or tone changes in your mix. If you want to hammer out a few drum patterns or take control of your music on the fly, you should choose this option.
There is no sessions view like in Ableton, which limits what you can do with pad controllers. Hybrid controllers offer the best compromise between controls and composition.
A good hybrid controller would give you between pads as well as full-sized keyboards. This way, you can launch clips, hammer out drum patterns, and compose entire tracks — all from the same controller. Unless you have extensive piano playing experience, I would recommend that you stick to hybrid controllers. Another option — which a lot of pro producers follow — is to get a regular keyboard controller and pair it up with a dedicated pad controller.
Think of a setup like this:. This would give you the best of both worlds — a full-sized keyboard for composition, and a pad controller for controlling your DAW. Your best option is to spring for semi-weighted keys. These tend to be on the expensive side but offer better playability and comfort. If your goal is to just enter MIDI notes and play out a few chords or melodies, synth-action keyboards will work perfectly fine.
MIDI keyboards come in a range of key sizes, going all the way from 25 keys to full-sized key keyboards. Anything beyond 32 keys makes it difficult to keep the keyboard size and weight low enough for lugging around. But portability comes with its own compromise — smaller keys.
Most portable keyboards reduce the width and length of keys to fit them into a small form factor. This greatly impacts their playability, especially if you have fat fingers as I do. I usually recommend people to get a regular 49 or key keyboard for their main studio use, and buy an additional mini keyboard for carrying around.
If you have a smaller desk, it could completely ruin your setup. So before you spring for a larger keyboard, measure out your desk. You should at least have 3 feet of extra space before you even think of getting anything beyond 49 keys.
As much as the idea of a full-size key keyboard is appealing, it is just plain overkill for most musicians. Nor will the EDM or hip-hop pieces they produce ever involve complex melodies that require simultaneous bass and tenor keys. Plus, larger keyboards are plain intimidating. On the flip side, anything below keys also impacts playability.
For most people, keys represents the ideal size. It gives you access to four octaves of range. If you plan on playing slightly more complex pieces, you can upgrade to a key keyboard.
But otherwise, 49 keys is more than enough. In my case, I rely minimally on keyboard controls. I use my desktop keyboard shortcuts for most things. The keyboard is used mostly for entering notes, practicing melodies, and playing chords. A MIDI controller with more than a handful of control options is just overkill for my taste. Great for people who like a more intuitive approach to their music production. But production styles evolve.
You might think that your style requires minimal use of controls, but that might change a year down the line. If it has DAW control options built in, even better. This will give you enough room to adapt new playing styles. As a general rule, your budget will impact your choices as follows with respect to 49 key controllers :.
Go for this range only if you want a secondary controller that emphasizes portability. Look for semi-weighted keys since this will improve the playing experience substantially. That said, there are some controllers that are designed for specific DAWs such as Ableton Push — designed for Ableton.
Just keep this in mind when you make a purchase. If the controller specifically says that it supports a specific DAW, it might be a good idea to pick something else. I can understand the confusion — MIDI isn't a specification you're likely to encounter if you're new to music. I'll answer some brief questions about MIDI controllers and keyboards below to help you figure out this product category better.
The early s was exciting time for electronic music. The big names you know and recognize today — Roland, Akai, etc. The major synths and devices that shaped music in the 80s and 90s were invented around this time, including the Roland TR drum machine, the Juno synth, etc.
Think of the way Apple creates its proprietory connections and imagine an industry filled with dozens of such companies. The founder of Roland, Ikutaro Kakehashi, knew that for electronic music to advance, there was a need for devices to talk to each other. So working with other manfuacturers, including Yamaha, Korg, etc.
MIDI 2. For instance, you might have a MOOG synth. If you want to play music using this synth, you need to connect it to a keyboard. MIDI makes it possible for the two devices to talk to each other.
MIDI controllers can be in any shape or form. They can be in the form of a guitar, a wind instrument, a drumpad, or most popularly, in the form of a keyboard. While each form might be designed to replicate a particular instrument, they all do the same job: pass MIDI instructions from one device to another. Just as you have everything from computer mice and keyboards to speakers and fans powered by USB, you also have a range of instruments that use the MIDI protocol to pass instructions from one device to another.
This information only tells the device in our case, a computer running a DAW like Ableton what notes it has to play, and how long it has to play them. There is no audio information yet — that has to be supplied by the other device. This essentially means that your C chord can take on any sound the other device is capable of. It can sound like a guitar, a piano chord, an electronic synth, a ukulele, etc. It gives a great deal of flexibility and power to musicians.
In a DAW, for instance, you might have two tracks. You can then copy-paste the note information created by your MIDI keyboard on both tracks. This will instantly give you a bass track and piano track. In fact, most of the time, I'm making music on the go my day job involves a lot of traveling. I don't have any hardware with my except for a pair of headphones.