MIDI Keyboards

Beat makers always have a need for speed when inspiration hits. This is why one of the first investments any beat maker should make is to buy a MIDI keyboard.

MIDI Keyboards are piano style keyboards that can hook up to your computer and help you enter notes and other performance data into the DAW that you use. Assuming you have some basic playing ability and music theory knowledge, you can bang out a drum pattern, bass line or melody very easy with a MIDI keyboard.

For example, say you wanted to play a chord progression. Without a MIDI keyboard you would point and click your mouse on the notes and set the length of those notes. With a MIDI keyboard however, you just tell your DAW software to record what you play.

MIDI keyboards usually don't produce the sounds. There are keyboards like Casio and Yamaha and others that do make sounds and have MIDI capability. Well discuss some of these keyboards in future articles.

For beat making there are a few not so obvious advantages that I'd like to point out. Depending on the MIDI controller you can use drum pads insteadof the keys to make your drum beats. This is similar to having an MPC type of device.

Also you can use features of the software better with a MID keyboard. Most DAW software will let you record not only the keys you press but the value of buttons, knobs and sliders. Say you wanted to make an echo on the last word of a recorded vocal. Using the MIDI keyboard controller you can set up the DAW to turn the echo on and off depending on a button press.

Another trick I have seen used by beat makers, is the addition of pitch bends after the initial recording. in other words the recording is made with no pitch bends. Then an automation layer is added to add the performance of the bends. This allows a novice player to sound more professional because no one will know they didn't play the pitch bends real-time.

This is really the tip of the iceberg. You will probably use the basic note entry of the keyboard 95% of the time, but these extra features can really help you get creattive and increase your beet making workflow. After all time is money!