I'm looking for a MIDI controller with built-in sounds. I want to control Reason, Sonar 6 w/soft synths, and if it had MPC-style drum pads, that would be a plus.

The reason I want some built-in sounds is because sometimes I just need to throw a quick piano or string part down without hooking it up to the computer.

Any suggestions?

The Roland Fantom series would be perfect for your application. It's got very good sounds, drum pads and expandibility. The weighted versions have quite a good feel too, but you may not need that.

If you only want a piano sound it might be cheaper to get a controller and a used Kurzweil Micro Piano, 1080, or something. Plus there'd be more options as far as controller features.

I saw a cool Novation controller a NAMM. It has templates for Reason, Logic, PT etc. It also has touch pads, although they were rather small and laid out in one row.
http://www.novationmusic.com/product.asp?id=30&Type=1&bArchive=False

M Audio, Korg etc also have controllers with touch pads.

I would think that you, Mr. Drummer, would have some stick pads for that sort of thing....TrapKat, Pad 8, whatever...... Those are way better than a keyboard for drum programing, while touch pads are just a little better.

Yeah, I've got the V-Drums, but some programs like Kinetic have an mpc-style grid, and it would be easy to program with touch pads. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll be checking them out after th session.

I like the idea of a more comprehensive controller with an outboard sound module, too, that makes sense. It just add to the cost....

What about something like this? Maybe with a sound module?

Korg Kontrol 49

Or this?
Behringer U-Control

I love this, but it is a grand:
Fantom-XA 61 key synth

and how good are these as controller for Reason?

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but a keyboard with no sounds is weird to me. I might want to take it to another room, and have a band member use it in the live room while tracking. Or take it into my office for some writing, and I'd have to be able to hook it up to a compatible computer everywhere I went.

I like the Yamaha Motif Series. Any size.. great all around sound..
J

Yeah, the Motif is awesome. More than I want to spend, though.

Hey Sean, there's no shortage of keyboards on the market. My suggestion is to poke around AudioMIDI.com or Musicians Friend and see what's out there.