Guys,
I'm cross-posting this to a few lists, as I've never really had anyone
in the blind community bring up this topic, and I think it's honestly
one worth exploring.
When it comes to the side of keyboards now adays, we have entry level
keyboards, middle of the road, (no pun intended,) and finally higher-end
level systems.
My question really is, as long as the keyboard supports basic
necessities like pitch bend/mod wheels, midi in/out capability via USB,
and feels good to the touch to play, is it then really worth spending
thousands of dollars literally speaking to get something like a motif,
or a montage, or a Nord Stage, etc.
Yeah, I get that built in sounds if any could be a factor hugely for
some people, depending on how realistic they are, but here's my take.
You've got a DAW, say Reaper, Logic, ProTools, whatever. I mean $69 for
Reaper, $200 for Logic, or something as dirt cheap as $39 a month for
ProTools for a perpetual monthly license. Then, I could get a really
decent, and good feeling midi controller for around $300. OK, I get if
you want weighted keys, and something with a full sized 88 key setup,
then you add on the aftertouch feature, you may be looking at upwards of
a grand, maybe a bit more, take something like the Native Instruments
S88, but at the end of the day, that's still cheaper than a $4000 nearly
workstation keyboard.
I also totally get that some keyboards are designed more to be
arrangers, like the Tyros/GNos, and by the way, I'm not just speaking
here of Yamaha products, as much as those are the first coming to my
mind. I mean this more for any brand/model more generally. But I'm
talking about more workstations here, not arrangers.
Most DAW's can do literally everything those workstations can do, I'd
think. You can mix, edit, add effects, multi-track both audio and midi,
plus, with actual software driving the DAW part of the system, you can
expand. Again, no pun intended off of Xpand2. LOL! You can get more
instruments, more plugins, etc. Yeah, you can kind of do that to some
extent with hardware workstations, but that's just it... to some! extent.
Plus, you have to normally memorize who knows how God many menus, scroll
this way then that, push this then that, then eat your green orange and
yellow crapping dinosaur, while at it spinning around in circle while
standing on your head. My point is, can you produce a full fledged
production with just one of these type workstations, Vocals, music, and
all? Granted, I've never heard anyone sighted or not do it, but I feel
like certainly, yes. It could theoretically be done. But, is it more an
accessibility thing that would make one choose a less higher end
keyboard, then get the higher end stuff from the DAW, as then they could
use their screen reader to do all the advanced functions, or are there
actually more reason than that for choosing one over the other way of
doing this. I just personally these days don't see the point in spending
thousands. I'm constantly hearing people say, for example, Yeah, I got a
Motif, or yeah, I got a Montage, yeah, I have a really high end Roland,
you know, whatever, but I don't even know 98 percent the things it'll
do, nor how to do them. I just use Reaper, or Logic, or whatever. This
has me thinking, well then, why the hell did you get such a high end
system, if you aren't going to learn to take advantage of it.
It would be like me needing to rent a car for my wife and 3 little girls
for the weekend for a vacation to the beach. We only need a rental for a
matter of maybe 3 days, just something to transport us around. So, do we
go with the crown vic ford, or do we go with the ferrari/lamborghini? Oh
sure, the latter could do it, easily, but is it worth spending all that
for only 3 days when all we need is just something to get us around? I'm
not saying go dirt cheap and sacrifice good quality, but don't kill the
wasp with a sledge hammer!
You guys are welcome to write privately, in case you deem this off
topic, which a few of these lists I'm sending to, it's probably
borderline, and I get that. So, feel free to take this off list if you want.
My e-mail is:
clgillan...@gmail.com
I really would though like to know yall's thoughts on this. Have you
ever considered this question?
Chris.
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