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Recently, I've been doing bedroom productions as a personal hobby, and I've been thinking of buying a midi keyboard, a digital piano, or a synthesizer to help me produce songs.

Right now, I'm using only Launchpad to create music, which is quite a challenge.

This is why I decided to buy a midi keyboard, a digital piano, or a synthesizer, taking advantage of my experience of playing the piano in the past, but when I looked into it, I found that there are quite a few different types. Not only the number of keys, but also the presence or absence of pads, knobs, sliders, and so on, there are a wide range of differences.

So, after a while of research, I settled on one candidate. Since my room is not very big, so the number of keys is small, but I am thinking of Novation's Launchkey with 49 keys or 61 keys.

Not only because I use Novation's equipment, but also because from what I've researched it seems to fit what I want to do.

So my question is, is it better to have more keys, or is it okay with fewer keys for music production? How important is it when you are creating music?

Skye-AT
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  • FYI: I've removed the production recommendation part of your question. Product recommendations are off-topic on this SE. – Aaron Aug 25 '21 at 05:12
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    @Aaron Oh, thanks. I just read the Tour and was about to delete the last sentence when I realized that this was a bad idea. – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 05:13
  • The question for you is: are you a skilled pianist and can you imagine making use of the additional octave? Or do you think you can get away with using octave transpose buttons? It's a dilemma between convenience vs desk space and price. For some people 25 keys are enough. – user1079505 Aug 25 '21 at 05:14
  • I'm an experienced pianist, but no experience with production, so I can't give a good answer. It might help get you better answers, though, if you describe the kind of music you're working on. It's easy to imagine that something ambient and electronic just needs a single octave midi controller; whereas something Chopin-esque or orchestral might be easier with a full 88 keys. – Aaron Aug 25 '21 at 05:21
  • @user1079505 As for lessons, I've only done Burgmuller's 25 Easy Exercises, but from there I've been practicing various songs on my own and playing music from games and movies. I can't say I'm proficient, though. – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 05:23
  • FWIW, a search for [best keyboards for music production](https://www.google.com/search?q=best+keyboards+for+music+production) brings up quite a few ranking sites. I can't vouch for them, but.... – Aaron Aug 25 '21 at 05:31
  • Sorry, I didn't mean what kind of music are you practicing; I meant, what style of music are you producing. :-) – Aaron Aug 25 '21 at 05:33
  • @Aaron Songs made by Ramin Djawadi(I think he's famous for music producer of Pacific ​Rim, etc) or used in Ace Combat (like [Daredevil](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kVdCaczLE8)) are the closest. I don't know what to call this genre, especially latter - fans describe those as songs just for Ace Combat. It's mix of orchestral, electronic, and rock. – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 05:39
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    It’s easy to use fewer keys than you have. It only gets tough when you need more… I can’t subscribe to the idea that you can have ‘too many’ – Tetsujin Aug 25 '21 at 11:59
  • imo launchkey 61 is a bit silly. It feels terrible to actually try to play like a piano, the velocity sensitivity is nothing like even a very modest electric piano, it's like hitting a key shaped drum pad, and if you need that many midi control signals get an 8x8 pad. 25 keys is plenty for chording an arp, plunking melodies, etc etc in tools like ableton/bm3/etc. A launch-mini + basic 88 key electric piano isn't that much more money than a launch 61... – Affe Aug 26 '21 at 18:06
  • How can we say? What kind of music do you produce? Anything that requires that many keys? It's really about you and your music - we don't know what kind of music you make or how you like to produce it. – J... Aug 26 '21 at 18:34
  • @J... If you *actually* cared enough, you could find what kind of music I'm composing... It's at this exact comment section. :) – Skye-AT Aug 26 '21 at 21:30
  • @Skye-AT It was rhetorical - the point is that you know how many octaves you need to cover to play the music you want to produce. People on the internet can't know how many keys you need but **you already do**. Go through your repertoire and figure it out. Either you need those keys or you don't. How should we know how far apart the notes are in your pieces? – J... Aug 26 '21 at 21:58

4 Answers4

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An instrument is a set of easy-to-do vs. hard-to-do factors. The instruments and tools you use for composing and arranging - just like your personal skills as well - are bound to affect the actual content you produce, not only how quickly you get it done. If something is very hard to do with your tools, you may find yourself seeking to do something else instead, even if your music requires that hard-to-do element. And if something is very easy to do with your tools, you may find yourself doing that more than would be good for the end-result.

For some genres and types of music production, it's not important to have a keyboard at all, but for others it might be essential. Many hip-hop producers do everything with a 4x4 drum pad.

Do you want to play full-range piano? Then you need a full-range piano keyboard. But on the other hand, if you have a full-range piano, you may be tempted to play full-range piano, even if it is detrimental to your music. For a lot of types of pop music, it's better NOT to have a wide range, NOT to play too many notes simultaneously, and NOT to have velocity sensitivity for each note. Instead, have a very controlled number of elements, each with a very controlled range of pitches and dynamics. This might be perfectly doable on a 2-octave keyboard.

  • Backing chords: 2 octaves are enough
  • Lead melody: 2 octaves are enough
  • Drum pattern: 2 octaves are enough
  • Bass line: 2 octaves are enough

For sketching out a full chord progression with low bass and chords at the same time, 2 octaves is too narrow, 3-4 octaves are needed. But you don't have to do it that way, and there's a danger that you'll start making pianist-style things.

If you have too many keys, too many tracks, too many instruments, too many presets, too many plugins, too easily available, you might lose control and focus over what you're really trying to do.

Still, if you want to play a full-range piano part like a pianist, it's better to have a full-range piano keyboard. It's not the tools, it's what you do with them.

You could even look at your current situation as an opportunity. :) The Launchpad makes you think about the notes you play in a different way, doesn't it? Personally, I sometimes like to play new unfamiliar instruments where it's hard to produce notes, because then I'll have to think more about what notes to play and when. These notes are expensive, so I'll have to make every note count! If notes are cheap, you'll produce low-value music... right? ;)

piiperi Reinstate Monica
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  • Oh... Now I think I know why my friend has been composing songs with the OP-1 for so long. The last sentence you added is certainly understandable, and the spirit of trying to compose good music out of a difficult to use device is definitely in me. (or maybe the OP-1 just looks difficult to use to me, but is actually easy to use?) It's very gratifying to have these realizations. Thank you very much. – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 09:51
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    There are lots of interesting tools for writing music, and each one gives a different result. I've written chiptune music in assembly code, because I had read that Rob Hubbard used to do it that way. It takes a lot of time and focusing, but is completely doable and produces its own unique results. I added a remark about sketching bass+chords at the same time requiring more than 2 octaves, if that's a thing you want to do. – piiperi Reinstate Monica Aug 25 '21 at 10:21
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    I spent a year back in the day making what was in effect chip tune music for a living. . I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than go through that again;) – Tetsujin Aug 25 '21 at 11:57
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    @tetsujin A book! A book! – Tom Aug 25 '21 at 20:56
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    @Tom - this would not be an exciting chapter ;) – Tetsujin Aug 26 '21 at 05:12
  • “Drum pattern: 2 octaves are enough” — _if_ you've specifically set up a drum map/kit where everything you need fits into 2 octaves.  But many existing drum maps are _far_ longer.  The standard GM drum map stretches from B1 to A5 (almost 4 octaves), and the GS and XG ones are >5 octaves.  Many drum kits I've found cover that sort of range, and you need a long keyboard to audition them easily. – gidds Aug 26 '21 at 18:20
  • @gidds In this answer I'm trying to point out the benefits of keeping it clear, what the elements are in your production. No drum pattern in the world uses dozens of different drum instruments. Yes, there is cuica, timbales, bongos, vibra slap etc. in the same GM drum map, but for computer-technical or historical, not musical reasons. It's not a recommended set of sounds to use at the same time. Put in your music what you _want_ there, not what happens to be in a preset. A lot of music is produced even with 4x4=16 drum pads. Divide et impera. Two octaves can do most sensible instrument parts. – piiperi Reinstate Monica Aug 26 '21 at 20:30
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Regardless of the genre of music you’re interested in or your proficiency level on keyboard the difference between the two is 163mm or less than 7” in length. I’m pretty sure you will at some point wish you had the larger keyboard if you get the 49 key controller. You probably will never wish you had those 7 extra inches of space if you get the 61 key controller.

John Belzaguy
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  • I did say that I don't have a lot of space, but this question is less about space and more about if the number of keys is important, why is the number of keys important? That's what I'm wondering. If you think that if I buy a 49-key keyboard in the future I will wish I had bought a 61-key keyboard in the future-future(?), why did you think I would think that in the future-future-future(???)? – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 07:20
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    61 keys gives you more range for playing. You have access to more notes without having to press an octave transpose button. It especially comes in handy when you are playing with both hands. It sounds to me by your comments that you’re interested in playing the keyboard, not just producing music. The more you play the more you will discover the limitations of 49 keys. For example, if you want to practice scales in both hands you can only play a C scale for 2 octaves. Any other key you will run out of notes trying to play 2 octaves. – John Belzaguy Aug 25 '21 at 07:41
  • @Skye-AT If you already have 8x8 pads and your goal in expanding to a controller with keys includes to do piano lesson books and develop keyboarding skills I would really consider a midi keyboard with weighted keys and continue to use the Launchpad as controller. If you just want to be able to add chords and melodies while DJing from an all-in-one unit, people do amazing things on 25. – Affe Aug 26 '21 at 19:32
  • @Affe I do have plans to use Launchpad in the future. That's also why I chose Launchkey in the first place. If it's made by the same manufacturer, I can use it with some understanding of its peculiarities. Well, now I'm thinking of another midi keyboard based on the ideas I got here... but that will be another story. – Skye-AT Aug 26 '21 at 21:24
  • @Skye-AT understood, just saying, as a Launchkey user myself, I think of it more as a controller with key-shaped pads than a piano that also has controller features, and always go back to my actual piano to do any piano practice/keyboard playing :) – Affe Aug 26 '21 at 21:38
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As an erstwhile pianist, you will probably regret not having a full size keyboard for when you decide to be a pianist again. Trouble is, there aren't that many controllers that have weighted keys, which narrows the field even more!

If all you'll be doing is production, then a range of 4 octaves will do for most, but you'll be using the octave shift button quite a lot. There's also 76 key controllers, which might fill the compromise. But from my prespective, I'd be moving furniture round to accommodate the most keys possible, making it more future-proof.

Tim
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  • Hmmm. Actually, there's a possibility that I'll be moving to a larger room in the near future, due to work. Maybe I should wait a little longer and think about this after I've decided whether or not I'm going to move. Actually, there are a few 88-key ones that I like. I decided not to buy one because of the size issue, though. – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 08:43
  • I used to have a 61-key midi keyboard, and when it died I bought a full 88-key version. I used the 61-key one to compose all the time, but now I do 97% of my compositions on the guitar because the 88 is just too bulky to keep it set up all the time. I now find it's easier to pick up a guitar and start jamming than it is to pull a 5 ft long instrument out of the closet, set it up, play with virtual instrument settings for 30 minutes to find something that sort of matches the sound in my head, etc... – dissemin8or Aug 25 '21 at 16:02
  • @dissemin8or There may be a way to do that, but I don't think stringed instruments are for me... I tried many stringed instruments in the past, but none of them worked out. Well, I can't argue if you say that piano is technically a string instrument. I wish you all the best on your path to success with stringed instruments! – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 18:18
  • @Skye-AT I wasn't suggesting that you take up guitar, just offering a contrasting view to Tim's answer that more keys = better doesn't always work out, especially with space constraints or where you don't have a permanent music setup. – dissemin8or Aug 25 '21 at 18:20
  • @dissemin8or I see. If so, I don't see a problem with that. While composing music is my personal hobby, but my job itself is to contribute articles to music-related magazines and occasionally DJ on live streaming sites, so I have a room for music. Right now, that room is a bit small, but I may be moving to the bigger room in the near future, so I'll think about it again then. Thanks for giving me another perspective. – Skye-AT Aug 25 '21 at 19:08
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Although I'm more of a "performing" pianist/keyboard player than producer-of-tracks, etc., my long-ago self-delusion that cheaper-and-smaller keyboards would "be perfectly fine", especially since full keyboards, and touch-sensitive ones, were much more expensive... proved indeed to be that: delusional.

Even though piano music, whether Beethoven-Brahms or Tatum/Peterson, doesn't so often go to the extremes, sometimes it does. Also, a person who semi-seriously studied piano with the full 88 will have acquired some sense of that, and will expect those extreme keys to be available when desired, even if rarely. When playing on shorter keyboards, and accompanying, I've found my fingers hitting outside the keyboard for quite innocent reasons... and it's distracting.

And having weighted keys, although a further expense, is another thing a person will be thankful for, years and years after the investment. "For just pennies a day", as they say.

On the other hand, if you really are not thinking of yourself as a keyboard person at all, and truly never want to be, then, yeah, a keyboard is just yet-another controller, and need not conform to any sort of performance issues... Still, you might change your mind later...

paul garrett
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