Midi Controller recommendations?

Just got my new soft recording studio set up and now I need something at the cheap end of the Midi Controller keyboard scale to run soft synths from and various other bit and pieces. I have noticed quite a few companies with the small Midi Controllers, what's the consensus on the best of these?

And the five other threads on this very topic *THIS WEEK* were too hard for you to find?

B>

Having been at these forums 3 years longer than yourself I did actually perform a search first with no results ... I also checked the first three pages of this forum to see if anything else was there.

Failing that I asked ... NEXT!

Behold the fruits of a hobbled search system: Repetitive questions.

I've heard good things about the Novation Remotes, I've been coveting one of those lately.

USB MIDI controllers suck as a general rule. But as these things go, the Novation Remotes are pretty good. I have a Remote SL61 that I am happy with, however it was $600 and the sliders still feel like chiclets. Everything else is pretty nice, and I actually love the action. It's also packed with features which you may or may not use.

On the cheaper side, I've heard decent things about the E-mus. From personal experience I would say run, don't walk from the Edirol and M-audio boards. I've heard bad things about evolutions, too. CME is supposed to be pretty decent, if a little bulky.

Thanks gents ... what's the word generally on any of the ESI stuff also?

The word is: "Unfamiliar".

The new Roland PCR-800 looks pretty good.

Despite having been in these forums three years less than you, I can actually read. No fewer that three threads on *this very topic* were in the first two pages when you posted this, and I'd posted in two of them.

How anyone could use this forum for more than a few weeks and still believe that search was useful is also puzzling.

B>

They all suck except for the Novations.

This is somewhat related to the fact that I have a Novation Remote SL 61 to sell you.

M-audio Axiom 61 gives you lots of realtime control options. The interface is pretty intuitive and it is pretty inexpensive. I own one and I'm reasonably happy with it but can't give it a ringing endorsement because I don't think the action is great. Novation are better boards with a better user interface but probably twice the money. If I were doing it over I would spend the extra $300.

So, you spend possibly thousands on computer gear but won't devote any money to the only musical aspect of your setup (computers don't make music)? What are you making? Music or a great computer?

I can recommend you the E-mu Xboard - I've got a 49-key version and like the keys a lot.

Prog : the controller is something you can easily upgrade; the computer not really (because usually by the time you do that you'll have to yank out everything).

Does the Xiosynth use the same action as the Remotes?