[To follow the story better or if you’re not familiar with music technology terms, you may want to read the previous part of the saga]

So I’ve got my electronic keyboard! I’ll describe the full package shortly. The path I’ve taken is getting a MIDI controller and a software DAW and soft synths. Before I actually got the keyboard, I upgraded my PC memory (to 3 GB). I also do graphics design work, so, it’s actually a benefit for my graphics design activity and also to support using large soft synths. As a side benefit, task switching between resource hogs also feels snappier.

I got myself an M-Audio Axiom (61 keys). In the list of accessories, it’s said that they have a piano-style sustain pedal (M-Audio SP-2). However, all the music stores I visited didn’t have it in stock. I later found out that the keyboard can use Roland-compatible pedals, so I got a Roland DP-8, a pedal that I firstly used more than a decade ago, and it feels good. I got all the hardware from Billy Hyde. If you browse their website, you’ll see that their stuffs are overpriced. But if you visit their physical store and ask nicely, you can get significantly lower prices. The only trouble that I had with keyboard was that it wasn’t recognised as a MIDI device by Windows XP. But after I restarted Windows, bang! I was also confused why Windows repeatedly asked to reinstall the driver. I found out later that if I unplug the USB cable from a port and replug it to another port, that would happen. I was trying to tidy up and make space for the keyboard, that was why I switched ports repeatedly.

The keyboard shipped with Ableton Live Lite. I got an old version, but after registering, they offered a free upgrade to the latest Live Lite (it’s version 8 currently). So far, it does its job well, and I could easily connect the software with the keyboard. It’s just that I must remember to switch on the keyboard before firing up the software. I haven’t got a strong reason to upgrade to the full version or switch to any other software DAW.

That said, I feel that the collection of soft synths that ship with Live Lite is very limited. They offer free download of more soft synths, but I’m not too impressed. So, I use IK Multimedia Sonik Synth 2, which I find excellent and easy to install. Another advantage is that since Sonik Synth comes in various formats which can be used by many software DAWs, if I switch to another DAW, I can still use it (hopefully).

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to play my keyboard.