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.

That's what I'm doing right now, and that's the problem, there's so many. Some have sounds, some don't. Some have drum pads, faders, touch pads, some don't. Since I'm not a keyboard player, I thought someone might have experience with a particular controller.

I like what I see. I really like the Fantom, but I don't need the sequencer. Tim's link opened up a whole slew of Novation stuff that looks very hip, and Korg, Alesis, and M-Audio have interesting stuff, too. I like the automap feature some of them offer.

But I really like zum's controller the best.

Or find a cheap used keyboard like a Roland XP-10 and velcro something like a Novation Zero, or M-Audio trigger Finger (or both!) to it.

The green key accesses Har-Bal.

Well, I use a Kurzweil K2500X as a controller. I haven't used its sounds for a few years, but the keyboard is quite good. It uses a Fatar action. And it doesn't have cheesy drum pads on it.

Do you want a weighted or unweighted controller?

I have an M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 for a controller Sean. Think these are a real bargan for the $$.
Weighted action is a tad inconsistent... my only complaint. More assignable knobs, faders and switches than you can shake a stick at.
Comes with pre-programmed templates for working with Reason, B4 etc.
Doesn't make noise though.
Brent

I should qualify my remark about cheesy drum pads by saying that some of them don't let you do rolls with your fingers - they require a real tap to make a sound. For me that defeats the whole purpose - I need sensitive pads. That's my problem with the drumKAT, which I'm kinda ready to replace (even though I play it with sticks).

I just tried the Zendrum controller at NAMM and really like it. But it's expensive.

How about a Roland XP-80. You can find it for about $500 or so and it is somewhat expandable. It has ok sounds and you can add more. It has some sliders you can use for midi and it is 76 keys..

J

Well, what I'm finding is that there is no perfect controller/synth with everything I want at a low price. Duh.

The controllers with no sounds have the best integration with the computer, while the best sounding synths are not comprehensive controllers.

I think I'll go the controller route, and get a sound module. That way I'll have Reason and soft synths licked, and still be able to use it without a computer.

As far as weighted keys, that may not be important except to the real keyboard players that come through here, and they usually have their own keyboard. Thanks!