[KevC]

Heya,
I have an upright piano at home, it's nice and heavy (keys). However, I want to buy a small cheap keyboard to "jam" for fun with my friends (i know a guitarist, bassist, vocalist...). Of course they could always come over to my living room but I don't think my family would appreciate that =)

Anyway since this is just for fun, I'm looking for the cheapest thing possible. I have found this:

M-Audio Keystation 49e. Powered by USB. Volume slider, octave+/-, pitch bend wheel and modulation wheel. Looks just right. Thoughts?

What do I need to output to an amp? I'll bring my laptop, no problem. Should I bring my DAC and a RCA to 1/4th adaptor to output to a guitar amp? What software should I use to just "play"?

 

[Land]

Well the E-mu Xboard49 is pretty cheap, the only thing I hate about it is the cheap buttons on them (well you get what you pay for I guess).

You could use any audio program that supports VST (Ableton Live, Fruityloops, Cubase etc)

Or if you don't like VST you can use Reason which has a nice amount of samples and presets that you get in the standard package.

Overall I think a standalone module like Native instruments Akoustik piano would be the best for you. That is if you only plan to use it for jamming and nothing else.

 

[CSMR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevC What software should I use to just "play"?

I had trouble with this question a while ago. I found a free piece of software called "minihost" which worked very well. It outputs asio so if you don't have an asio soundcard you need asio4all.

 

[Jahn]

Get a Keytar. Get a Keytar NOW.

Ebay has a few under $100 shipped as we speak. Rock on!

 

[vapman]

I personally like my MicroKORG, but I've also been looking at the Alesis Micrion, they both seem like cool little keyboards. I don't know muchabout plain MIDI keyboards (though both the microkorg and micrion have midi support)