I have a key station 49 es but I've seen some cool videos for the native instruments one which has light up key scales I think.. I need something to control my daw and assist me creating melodies and chords... I have my keyboard color coded for the different keys so I don't have to constantly look at my notes when I'm playing.. Is there one keyboard out there that is cutting edge for edm producers? Sorry my English is not that good

 

You can't go wrong with an MPK model: http://www.akaipro.com/category/keyboards . Color coding provided by NI is cool but will not help you in playing the keyboard as much as you'd think. Maybe in the future when the keys themselves will have LED lights things will be different.

 

Maybe look into MIDI note filters? All 'wrong' notes transposed to notes within a pre-determined scale.
Of course you will never be able to write songs where one of those 'wrong' notes can be perfect.

Learn triads and their inversions all on the white keys first.

 

I have the older version and I absolutely love it! It's great with Ableton Live!

 

2 important things? What's your budget? And how many keys?

I started out with 25, then had both 49 and 61 axioms. Sold the 25 and 49 and, now I want 88. I want to work the key switching in my kontakt libs properly.
As for a good but low cost model I've got my eyes on the Nectar Impact LX88

 

Uh the NI one has lights for the key switches. Dont think the scales light up like you imagine. Do you homework before you buy.....I could be wrong tho

 

Last edited: May 7, 2016

IBM made the best keyboard ever. best action ever on any keyboard, nothing else like. Many imitators but none are the real thing.

 

These are colour coded Good reviews

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81+TW06vCzL._SL1500_.jpg

 

lol a lot of popular producers do not even learn music theory.. At least I want to try

 

Ok the main thing the keystation 49es is having issues with is timing... Theres a slight pressure delay and I would immagine its because its made cheaply..

 

this makes me think, why isn't there a keyboard which light up in a manual selected key?

Edit: seems like it is supported
SCALES

The integrated scale mapping features give you instant access to a world of melody. See notes of the currently selected scale lit on the Light Guide, and set virtually any musical scale to the white keys. It will even re-map ‘wrong’ notes so you’re always in tun

 

best way to learn is to play. Pick one scale and try to play it in different keys

 

How easy is it to switch the Key of the scale ? If that is less easy it will be less fun since you could only play in one key ;)

 

If you truly want tackle music theory, stop looking for short cuts.
Learn your triads and their inversions on all white keys first. You should start hearing the difference between progressions with the same exact notes like: C - G - Am and C - G/B - Am.
It's all about choices.
Sometimes you want C G Am but other times C G/B Am, with its decending bass note, fits better with the rest of the song.
After a few days of triad/inversions start experimenting with Em/C, which is a cool way to remember Cmaj7. C/A is Am7 etc.

Pressure delay? you mean aftertouch?
If you mean the time it takes the note to fire after touching one of the keys, your buffer setting is too high. If it's higher than 256 you will hear a delay. I usually like it at 128. Ableton tells you how much delay your current buffer setting induces, in Preferences.

 

Steve my man, I thought you didn't do keyboards, only piano rolls

For DAW composition work I swear by my CME Xkey 25 in transpose mode, sticking mainly to the white keys as I told you before, i.e. C=I=Tonic and G=V=Dominant, then everything is always in the same position for every key

Fuck the flashing lights

 

Last edited: May 7, 2016

Come on, be serious!

Get a "normal" keyboard, and learn to play it, like everybody has done it in the past few hundred years!

 

I agree, except transposing is a massive timesaver if you are not a performance keyboard player, and for me personaly it produces higher quality compositions when I just focus on the tonic and dominant keys, without engaging in mental and dexterity gymnastics.

PS I use a keyboard to write music not perform, hence my observations

 

Last edited: May 7, 2016

Mr. Faoki, as others have tried to explain, the white keys on your existing keyboard holds all the answers.

Ionian scale starts with C and the next 6 white keys,
Dorian - start with D
Mixolydian - start with G
Aeolian start - with A

Most pop/rock/R&B/EDM songs use one of these scales. Great songwriters use a clever combination of several scales, which will involve the black keys too.

 

In all being serious I can only applaud you for wanting to learn the theoretical side and good for you man. I'm sure it will help your production in many ways. I can't play piano/keyboard at all but know a little theory.
I'm not sure about the color coding and whether that helpful or counter productive. If it helps then it helps I guess.
Quality wise I don't think there much out there better than the NI range at the moment as far as controllers in that price bracket but is that really going to help with the theory side
As you are into EDM then obviously certain chord progressions work better than others and are used more in EDM. So if you get to know the chord structures and outlines & just doing that alone it's going to help you with scale theory as that's all chords are really.
I guess you can do whatever suits your needs but is it to help with the compositional/theory side or to help with live performance?
If it's just say for composition then your just as well of reading a book or studying a few tutorials.
Colour coding can be helpful I guess but it's only a shortcut that in the long run may be counter productive.
I could relate it to say the dots on a guitar fretboard. Sure the dot's guide and help and ultimately for live performance than anything else but they do little to help you understand the theory behind "connecting the dots". In the end you know where the notes are without looking and that only comes through years of practise.
I personally am not aware of any keyboard that is cutting edge for EDM because much EDM is produced in a studio to a formulated plan and not really concerned so much with the performance aspect. I mean what does an EDM keyboard player need that any other keybord player doesn't
At the end of the day it's all part and parcel of the same theory and like Rhodes said the best way to learn that is to spend time studying books, tutorials lectures and study.
For me personally colour coding helpful maybe for certain things but I can't see it being helpful much at all in the theoretical aspect.
However u gotta do whatever you gotta to do to get there and like I said I can only applaud you for wanting to extend the range of your musical vocabulary so good for you and best of luck with it

 

If you compose 4/8 bars at a time you can do any kind of magic, you don't have to be no Liberace