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John Mike, this the one I been waiting for lol I went ahead and purchased the Keylab Essential this morning (about an hour before this dropped). The one I really want (Hammer 88 Pro) is out of my price range for now. Anyway, I really appreciate you doing these. We thank you!
I've been checking out a ton of videos on MIDI keyboards to help me decide. I gotta say, you're are great. Full of details and real-world experience. Keep it up!
Well I guess it will be the Nektar! Cheap and better feeling keys, sounds good to me! Salutations from almost sunny and still sorta weirdly not back to normal Ireland! ☘️☮️🤘🏽🤠👍🏽☮️☘️
I ordered the Nektar Gxp 88 and returned it same day bcos of the keys. I preferred the Nektar Lx 88 which previously used. I bought the keystation and it felt better than both but it's extremely noisy keys.. There's no perfect semiweight 88 controller out there in my opinion.
Awesome video, John! Thanks for uploading it! You're always giving me food for thought! :) If you were to chose 1 single MIDI controller to play your piano and synth pieces, also to gig and travel around with for the next, say, 1 year - would you go for 61 or 88 key ? And why ? Based on your vast experience with MIDI controllers, which models would you be looking at?
thank you for this, really what I was looking for I am a guitarist and producer and I am looking for something that I can learn on and that is not so expensive !
The M Audio software bundled tells you how cheap the piano is. If you take that bundled out, the controller is probably $150 Arturia cheap keybed is a joke. Nectar has the best keybed out of these 3. Most likely all Fatar keybeds.
The keybed in the Arturia KeyLab Essential 88 is the same as the Arturia KeyLab 49/61 Mkii controllers. Agreed the Essential 49/61 feels cheap, but the 88 is on a different level. Nektar feels decent but it’s not made by Fatar. None are at this price point.
Man, I'm regretting my purchase of that Arturia Keylab 88 Essential. Eeesh, that sluggish keybed is not for me. I purchased after your original review, but the day after it arrived you posted an update that dished a dose of reality (came too late for me).
What do you mean by sluggish? Key presses too deep? Comes up too slow? I've heard MKii had that heavy and slow thus sluggish fatar action, but the I don't get how this keyboard can get 'sluggish'. Could you explain how? I was getting close to getting this so it would be great if u could reply. Thank you.
@@DM-lv7tl Yes, like you say, the bounce of the key seems slow, not like the bounce of a real piano action. This is perhaps compounded in my system by latency. It seems there is maybe 50 ms of delay between keydown and the start of the tone. I've applied the firmware update, but no joy resulted.
@@Chris.Brisson Thanks for the reply. Do you have an audio interface? Because usually that helps. 50ms delay is not normal and I saw John mike play this in a video and didnt seem that slow!
The Nektar at 18 lbs is easily transported from home to gigs or within the studio. The Arturia, in my opinion, weighs too much at 32 lbs to be easily portable.
Hey John Mike, any hands on with the Roland A 500 or A 800? I have an A 800 and having problems with getting the USB connection to work. I have switched it on in the edit section.
What about the Nektar LX88+? It is in the same price range with more built DAW control for all the major platforms. At $319 with Cherry Audio & Bitwig thrown in, it's a superior choice to the Impact GXp88. Please let me know what your thoughts are. Blessings.🎼🎹😇
I’ve never played the LX series by the Nektar website does note the expressiveness of the GXP line. I have played the GXP and it feels good playing both organ and piano sounds expressively. The after touch is a plus also. I wish the LX model had the GXP keybed and features combined. It would be a killer controller. I also prefer the pads on the left or possibly middle like Novation.
Hey John, could you recommend me a 88 key, hammer mechanik, built-in speaker Keyboard with good Sound Quality and some fancy options like record and play etc. Should be in the price range or a bit cheaper than the Alesis Recital Pro
Would you know which has wider keys the impact for the M-Audio. I bought the M-Audio and the keys feel very thin, I have large hands very uncomfortable to get between the black keys
I’m more concerned with the action I have another controller I need one that I can rlly play piano dynamically on. In terms of sounds I have all the vsts I need. I mean these are conpatible with whatever vst right ? Just run it through my daw?
I’m a beginner in music producing. I’m looking for a midi controller/keyboard. But I don’t have any clue which one to get… There are so much midi controllers. I’m working with Cubase pro 11. I’ve a digital piano (Roland fp30) so I’m looking for a midi controller that feels close to a piano.
Jimmy, I am completely unfamiliar with the FP30 but judging from pics on the web it seems to have a USB plug. If you have not tried yet to "plug" your FP30 into Cubase that would be my first go.
@@VishalNehra I just bought the LX88+, it works fine, it has a bit of a plastic feel, it's light but knobs are pretty decent. The space between the keys are a bit off here and there which looks crooked if you're the sort of person who pays attention to that (two particular white keys are almost touching each other).
@@Rick-zw7zv that's okay.. they can't be perfect on any keyboard. Even I picked one last evening. I'm really liking the feel. Arturia had bit of sluggish synth like feel but Nektar has much better than that. The only issue that I have with Nektar lx88+ is the black keys have different sensitivity than white. It's only minor but black feels to be engaged harder even when I press them relatively lighter. After exploring their midi values, I can see it's much harder to get the black keys between 20-50 level, while white ones have no issues. For now I have changed the velocity to soft and that seems to have improved. It's only very minor but I think this keyboard is worth the price. I've kept it for now. Software was never an issue for me I already had VSTs so I'm not missing Arturia software bundle.
@@Rick-zw7zv there was difference in older LX88 model but they say they've fixed it in LX88+ but I still notice it just a little bit. Without looking at the midi values it's really difficult to notice just by ear. Just check on your DAW what values each keypress has.
