Recommendation for MIDI keyboard to use in FL Studio

[Edmer]

I have difficulty choosing a MIDI keyboard controller for FL Studio to replace a Novation Impulse 61 that I was never really satisfied with because of the lack of integration to FL Studio.

The replacement controller should integrate to FL Studio as much as possible. At least have controls that can be mapped easily (no dead controls). Transport keys should work.
I am not a keyboard player but prefer semi-weighted keys over synth action.
Prefer 61 keys over 49 keys.
Prefer a modern over >10 year old controller.

Here is some that have piqued my interest but don't know much about:

• M-Audio Oxygen Pro 61

• Alesis Vi61

• AKAI MPK261

• Arturia KeyLab 61 Mk2

Another option I was considering is to buy separate components like M-Audio Keystation 61 mk3 and Arturia Beatstep.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[GratuiTous]

Hey there!

So you may not need to upgrade, as FL Studio announced MIDI Scripting.. so no more problems with transport buttons (as long as there's a script!).. and typically FL Studio requires manually mapping for the most part (which sometimes gives even more control.. but knowing the set-up etc.. can be tricky)

If you're still wanting an upgrade anyways, I can speak on the Oxygen Pro 49! (I am not sure if the 61 differs in any way other than having more keys.)

I just released on a review on it strictly for FL Studio usage (only DAW I use).

It was quite hard to set up, but I can verify this works well with FL Studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udotp2z9eWg


I also have an in-depth written review with lots of images/videos to help you along the way.. overall I'm happy with the purchase:
https://itsgratuitous.com/reviews/m-aud ... 49-review/

Let me know if you have further questions on it..

[Edmer]

Hey there!

So you may not need to upgrade, as FL Studio announced MIDI Scripting.. so no more problems with transport buttons (as long as there's a script!).. and typically FL Studio requires manually mapping for the most part (which sometimes gives even more control.. but knowing the set-up etc.. can be tricky)

If you're still wanting an upgrade anyways, I can speak on the Oxygen Pro 49! (I am not sure if the 61 differs in any way other than having more keys.)

MIDI Scripting for me is not the answer. Support is still not the for the Novation Impulse.
BTW In your 5 years of searching did you consider Novation Impulse?

[chk071]

Does FL Studio support Maeckie HUI? Novation Impulse got a firmware upgrade which makes the controller support the Maeckie HUI protocol, which maps the transport controls and the knobs and faders to DAW controls (like pan, track volume etc.). Works nicely in Studio One and Cubase, but, I couldn't get it to work in Cakewalk by Bandlab and in Mixcraft.

Oh, and if you want to apply the firmware upgrade, make sure that you know what you're doing. It's a bit fiddly...

Edit: Quick Google search revealed that FL Studio seems to support Maeckie HUI. So, that would be the first thing for me to check. Maybe you will have more fun with your Impulse with that.

[sjm]

FL Studio's hardware "support" is pretty terrible; it's not properly MIDI compatible, so expecting all additional features to work is probably a pipe dream. Your best bet is probably to look through the list of supported controllers, figure out which of them might meet your needs, and then do a search to see how the experience is for other users with the controller. But don't expect full integration.

I have got the transport controls to work on several bits of equipment - my H&A mixer's custom keys can be mapped to transport controls and are handled by FL Studio. My old Alesis QX49 would also work if I chose the right controller (I can't remember what exactly I chose, the QX49 isn't in the list), but the pads were not mapped quite right. I think record was play and fast forward was play. But I could live with that personally.

I have an Impulse 61, but have never tried to get the transport controls to work. I gave it a quick test to see if they work out of the box, but switching from CC to MC in the setup for the transport controls didn't seem to make any difference. I dunno if you can do anything other than the type of message (like map the buttons to custom messages), having had no need for it.

A lot of this is - I believe - a legacy of gol not understanding the point of protocols like MIDI and coding a system where each individual controller needs to have its own support hand-coded. Instead of getting MIDI support yadda yadda so everything just works, we got a half-arsed mish-mash of MIDI combined with FL's internal protocols which makes it really hard for third parties to integrate.

You might want to look into the Mackie support as suggest above. I don't know if this has changed, but several years ago you were limited to only controlling the first 8 mixer channels using the protocol. You should probably check the forums in this regard. But aside from that limitation, it did seem to work (at least with my BCF 2000).

Personally, I've given up on expecting new hardware to integrate properly with FL Studio, given that this has been an issue - and raised multiple times - for decades now. While there has been some movement on this issue, the team has still not really understood the full extent of the malaise; focussing on things like controller scripting when simple MIDI commands are not forwarded to plugins by default is putting the cart before the horse, at least IMO. These issues are presumably buried very deep in the code base, and a lack of understanding regarding musician's needs from the devs doesn't help.

[GratuiTous]

...In your 5 years of searching did you consider Novation Impulse?

No I didn't.. I just looked, and it looks like an awesome MIDI Keyboard, and semi-weighted keys!

But I promise you, MIDI Scripting is the solution to get you up and running!

I thought it was tricky at first, too.. but everything that we are talking about here in regards to FL Studio not integrating well with MIDI hardware.. MIDI Scripting can let you set it up!!

You can set up the transport buttons with any midi keyboard now!

You literally just enable a small script (no performance hit) and you're set! Don't have to do anything else anytime you start up FL Studio!

Let me know if you need help or have questions about it.. it's really powerful stuff they allowed us to do now!

[Passing Bye]

Nektar have good DAW integration, Impact GXP series have semi-weighted keys.

https://nektartech.com/impact-gxp88-gxp ... -keyboard/

[hoxclab]

M-Audio Keystation 49es for me. I had a KeyLab 49 MKII before that. Keep it simple.