MIDI controller/software

[xslimmiejimmiex]

Basically looking for realistic acoustic drums and high quality piano sound. orchestral and etc... i also want a good MIDI controller with an excellent price/performance ratio and that has the same number of keys as a piano (61?).

Software (my idea):
-Propellerhead Reason 3.0

MIDI controller (ideas thus far):
-MAudio Keystation 61es http://m-audio.com/products/en_us/Keystation61es-main.html

-MAudio Radium 61
http://m-audio.com/products/en_us/Radium61-main.html

Just lemme know what you think, anything else you recommend. Thanks in advance -peace

PS: My sound:
-post hardcore/alternative/awesome drums/and piano for fun (but professional quality sound)

[Det_Nosnip]

Reason's a good program, as is Cubase. However, these programs are designed mainly to run other programs that plug in to them, and these are what produce the sounds you are looking for. You'll need to find a good VST instrument package that includes what you are looking for. For orchestral instruments, nothing can beat Synful Orchestra.

By the way, most pianos have 88 keys.

[xslimmiejimmiex]

Reason's a good program, as is Cubase. However, these programs are designed mainly to run other programs that plug in to them, and these are what produce the sounds you are looking for. You'll need to find a good VST instrument package that includes what you are looking for. For orchestral instruments, nothing can beat Synful Orchestra.

By the way, most pianos have 88 keys.

thanks for the reply. so you're saying that i don't need Reason, i just need to get some VSTi packages for my Cubase LE software? If so, what are some good packages for:
- Realistic Acoustic drums
- Piano/top quality pro instruments

88 keys, any MIDI controllers you recommend?

[bball_1523]

Reason 3 and a keystation 61es will be fine if you don't care about having a full size piano with weighted keys, since the keystation has lightweight synth feel keys, but I have a 49 key version and it works out fine for me.

For acoustic drums they have a drum refill package you can buy or you can find your own samples and load them into reason's own sampler. Reason has good enough piano's IMO, unless you are a careful pianist that has an ear for tiny sounds in real pianos.

If you don't want reason, there are other VST's that are more costly and you have to purchase extra sounds that cost a lot too, such as Gigastudio and it's sound packages or Native Instruments VST's. I'd just stick with reason, but that's just my taste.

If you want an 88 key midi controller, I'd suggest staying away from M-audio's keystation because the keys feel ugly. I've always heard good things about Yamaha's controllers, but they cost around $1000.

[dru]

Hey thar,

I just bought a 61es yesterday, and the keys are actually semi-weighted; not open-face synth keys. bball, I'm not sure if you have a Radium, but they have full synth keys.

The 61es's keys are a little springy, but I prefer them to the synth keys.

Slimmiejimmie, you'll also need to consider your sound card/drivers when using software midi sources - you'll often run into problems with rather excessive latency (delay), up to a full second between hitting a key and the note coming out of your speakers. What sound card do you have? If you've got a recent Soundblaster card, you can get drivers that'll get around the latency problems quite well.

[xslimmiejimmiex]

i got Creative X-Fi Platinum Soundcard

[dru]

http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1

kxproject have made ASIO drivers for many soundcards, and plenty of creative soundcards.

Try your native drivers, and if you have problems, download their drivers.