Midi keyboard for DAW with silent keys

[Mikey]

Hello,

I am about to take the plunge and invest in my first midi controller keyboard for working in Ableton Live, it won't be used for live performance or gigging. One of my absolute pet hates is a noisy key action, I presume it's more an issue with cheaper and unweighted plasticy keys but the "thunk" of a key "bottoming out" and the "thunk" as it returns is like nails down a chalkboard to me. So do you have any suggestions on keyboard controllers that would be suitable for sequencing that as closely fit the following parameters as possible, I can then narrow down to ones to try in person.

1) Budget up to £1500 max
2) Silent key mechanism (or as near as possible)
3) Semi weighted keyboard preferred (I am not trained on a piano so find weighted keys too heavy and tiring, however I am not above learning to use a weighted keyboard should the benefits outweigh the drawbacks)
4) Solid construction (I want something that will last years and is a quality build)
5) Controlling Ableton from the keyboard is not a necessity above maybe tweaking a few current instrument parameters and the normal pitch bend and modulation.
6) Anything 49 keys and above.
7) As I will be doing all my work through Ableton, I don't need fancy arranger functions built into the keyboard.
8) Velocity sensitive.
9) After-touch would be nice.

Thanks for your help.

 

[SeaGtGruff]

I've never touched one, but one controller that I've had my eyes on for a few years is the Novation Impulse:

https://us.novationmusic.com/keys/impulse#

Three of the things I like about it are that it has plenty of controls, nine sliders (instead of just eight as on many other controllers) that can be used as organ drawbars, and assignable after-touch.

But as I said, I've never touched one, so I don't know how noisy or quiet the keys are. And you should definitely try out any contenders before you buy, because one person's "quiet" might be another person's "noisy," so it's not a good idea to go with something just because someone recommended it.

EDIT: The Novation Launchkey also looks good, and has twice as many pads as the Impulse:

https://us.novationmusic.com/keys/launchkey#

But the Launchkey has synth-style ("diving board") keys rather than piano-style ("box") keys, and it doesn't have after-touch.

 

[happyrat1]

I agree with Michael.

Your best bet is to make a tour of your local music stores and try out what they have available.

There's no objective way to rate how noisy the keys are otherwise.

Generally speaking Studiologic makes some top of the line controllers but every keyboard makes some sort of tapping noise when you play and as a rule the sound always gets louder the older the board is and how much you play. It's just simple wear and tear.

Other top brands include Novation and Akai MPK series.

If key noise bothers you in the studio I'd suggest wearing some isolating headphones while you compose and the key clicks won't bother you as much.

Gary

 

[SeaGtGruff]

With regard to key noise, it's my impression that keyboards with synth-style keys tend to be quieter than keyboads with piano-style keys-- at least, this is the case with my synth-style Yamaha keyboard instruments and piano-style M-Audio keyboard controller. Also, I don't think there's such a thing as a semi-weighted synth-style keyboard (but I might be wrong about that); so if you're looking for the quietest keyboard possible then you'll probably want to focus more on those that have synth-style keys [EDIT: and forego the semi-weighted option].