USB/MIDI Keyboard / interface help....

[Ancient Astronaught]

So I found my wifes old netbook (dell mini 9) that I got her that had the SS hardrive crash and since i had given up on it someone found a fix that doesnt require a new drive so I'm gonna fix it this weekend. And what I want to do is use it to run ableton with samples and softsynths live so I'm looking for a 25 key usb / midi keyboard that has a built in interface so that its super minimal setup but I'm having difficulty finding one with everything I'm looking for (most don't have a built in interface, which I REALLY want). So I'm turning to you guys!!!!

Here's what I want it to have:
25 Keys
USB
atleast 1in / 1out 1/4 interface built in
sample trigger pads
mod / pitch wheels

Suggestions?!?!

[sonidero]

There are a ton of options but the 1/4'' in and out is gonna kill 'em all... You need a controller and an interface and I will have to think about that...

[Ancient Astronaught]

There are a ton of options but the 1/4'' in and out is gonna kill 'em all... You need a controller and an interface and I will have to think about that...

That's what I've found, yet if I go to 49 keys theres a plethora of options (like the m-audio venom which is dirt cheap used). But I really wanted to keep it small enough to throw in a backpack to take back and forth to gigs.

[01010111]

It seems like it would be much easier to get a USB interface and USB midi-keyboard separetly. And in the thought experiment I just carried out in my mind, using a standard USB 2.0 port as both an audio interface and midi controller would lead to larger lag-times.

Also, would the dell9 even be able to run ableton? I'm pretty sure it needs at least 2gb of ram and the dell mini9 stock only has 1gb total. I think it would need a faster CPU too. It does depend a bit on which version of ableton you're running, though.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

this is all i could find.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UMA25S.aspx

[Ancient Astronaught]

It seems like it would be much easier to get a USB interface and USB midi-keyboard separetly. And in the thought experiment I just carried out in my mind, using a standard USB 2.0 port as both an audio interface and midi controller would lead to larger lag-times.

Also, would the dell9 even be able to run ableton? I'm pretty sure it needs at least 2gb of ram and the dell mini9 stock only has 1gb total. I think it would need a faster CPU too. It does depend a bit on which version of ableton you're running, though.

Yeah that's most likely what I'll have to do. I found the M-Audio Ozone which is 25 key midi plus a 2x2 interface but it has no sample pads for triggering. We used an M-Audio venom 49 as audio interface / midi keyboard in my last band over USB 2.0 and had no lag issues at all.

Upgrading the RAM on that thing is really really cheap and I believe I can up it to 4gb for like 20-30$, the CPU should be fine though it won't be the fastest but the most I'll be doing is running 1 sample at a time and one soft synth at a time, I doubt i will run both a sample and SS together but I still think it'll be fine. I'll most like likely be using an early Ableton 8 version, if I do a hackintosh mod to the dell then I will def be running 8.14 but if I go XP I will have to see what I can get.

[Ancient Astronaught]

this is all i could find.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UMA25S.aspx

Still no sample pads. Right now its between this and the Ozone it seems.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

oop. didn't see that. yea its a shame they didn't just add a interface jabber on that m-audio for ya. my friend has one of those, it seems very solidly built.


why do u want an audio interface? r u going to be recording into alot?

[Ancient Astronaught]

oop. didn't see that. yea its a shame they didn't just add a interface jabber on that m-audio for ya. my friend has one of those, it seems very solidly built.


why do u want an audio interface? r u going to be recording into alot?

It's all good!

No for output only! When setting up for a gig having one piece of usb gear and one cable to worry about would be alot easier when I'll also have a full guitar rig to set up. So I can just plug the keyboard into the netbook and take a 1/4 out of the keyboard into a DI for FOH. Make sure one device is connected / working (the keyboard) and BOOM done.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

cool cool. yea i totally understand! have u considered just using the headphone out on your laptop? and skewing the interface entirely then?

lots of kids hate on it, but i've played shows w/ a lot of cats who just use that shit and it sounds fine. hell even great.
if your sounds coming out of ableton are good, they will come out good out of the HP.

[Ancient Astronaught]

cool cool. yea i totally understand! have u considered just using the headphone out on your laptop? and skewing the interface entirely then?

lots of kids hate on it, but i've played shows w/ a lot of cats who just use that shit and it sounds fine. hell even great.
if your sounds coming out of ableton are good, they will come out good out of the HP.

Yeah I've thought about it but I just really don't trust 1/8 cable connections on stage, maybe I'm just paranoid


*edit* Did a lil googling and found a way to run a softsynth without using a DAW so I wouldn't be able to do straight up samples but I could run a softsynth if for some reason I can't get ableton to run on it.

[Dr. Sherman Sticks M.D.]

as someone who plays out alot w/ 2 gameboys, theres nothing you should worry about 1/8" connections...what about it that u don't trust?

i think u should be fine running ableton. i made a ton of tracks on ableton 8 on a super old dell for mad long. less than 1gb of ram if i remember correctly (756mb?).
ableton only gets real CPU intensive when u gots tons of shit flying around.

[Ancient Astronaught]

as someone who plays out alot w/ 2 gameboys, theres nothing you should worry about 1/8" connections...what about it that u don't trust?

i think u should be fine running ableton. i made a ton of tracks on ableton 8 on a super old dell for mad long. less than 1gb of ram if i remember correctly (756mb?).
ableton only gets real CPU intensive when u gots tons of shit flying around.

It's that most of the computers I've had the headphone port seems to break fairly easily and on a cheap netbook I'm even more weary of it. I just like the solidity of a 1/4 connection, but if I get a good quality 1/8 to 1/4 cable it really should be fine like your saying, especially if I can get the 1/8 in right angle so its not sticking straight out.

I think so too, I've run ableton on all kinds of machines and like you said until you get into 8+ tracks all with different delays and verbs you don't really need a lot of RAM. I really hope that I can get it up and running on there to run samples out of though. If I can use the headphone out of the comp then I can get a decent 25key controller with sample pads and be good to go.

[odontophobia]

I forgot that Pads were a prerequisite.... Otherwise the Line 6 Pod Studio KB37 may have been worthy of looking at as it's USB and i/o as well. A lot of bells and whistles you don't need, though.

[sonidero]

I forgot the Ozone had all that, sold it so long ago... The Axiom is very awesome and sturdy and except for the 1/4'' in/outs it's got what you need... It feels way better then the Ozone and looks cool too...