New midi controllers

Midi-Fighter

DJ Tech Tools
techtools.myshopify.com
US$125

Who says music can’t be button mashing? The 4×4 Midi-Fighter matrix is a perfect first DIY controller project – it’s easy to assemble, easy to customize, and gives you satisfying-feeling arcade buttons. There are great pre-mappings if you DJ with tools like Traktor, or you could easily adapt them to Ableton, Renoise, Maschine, and other tools.

Akai LPK-25

Akai Pro
akaipro.com/lpk25
$70 street

Ultra-compact keyboards on the go or in tight spaces are fantastic, and the LPK-25 from Akai might just have the edge. Derek Morton writes: “I know I am bit of an eccentric gear-oholic. I tend to favor instruments or software that is a bit different, innovative or just helpful in some way. This little cheap USB midi keyboard controller is not the perfect controller by any means. It lacks pitch and mod wheels and the keys are quite tiny which makes it difficult to perform anything complex. THE BIG HOWEVER is… this little guy has a super fun built-in arpeggiator and latch. Bring up a drum machine instrument or samples and the fun begins here! I don’t know any MIDI Key controllers that have this feature. You can spend upwards of a half of a grand on ultra-programmable controllers that have knobs, dials, faders and LCD readouts without a basic arpeggiator.”

Alternatively, consider the Korg nanoSERIES microKEY — as reader Greg puts it, “So I can do some sequencing at Starbucks.” Just try not to spill your Gingerbread Spice Latte on it, okay?

Now, it doesn’t have a MIDI DIN port, which brings us to…

Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard

Harmonix / Mad Catz
rockband.com/games/rb3
US$130 street with Rock Band 3 game, $80 for just the keyboard

A keytar for a game may not seem a serious music tool, but make no mistake about it. The Rock Band 3 keyboard works with hardware using standard MIDI DIN output, has a great-feeling keybed for the price, and finally gives you a “keytar” that’s light, ultra-compact, portable, and battery-powered. As a mini keytar, it’s unparalleled. (No word yet on using its wireless Bluetooth features, as works with the Xbox.) Bonus: get the game for fun, and discover something you can actually practice with. That means a serious tool that a musician might game with casually, or a serious game accessory that might convince your friend/family member to explore music production.
(BY PETER KIRN - createdigitalmusic)