If your MIDI controller can't take the abuse of touring, it's not a controller that will perform well in a live setting.Īnother facet of build quality is reliability. It means checking in expensive gear on flights.īuild quality, therefore, becomes paramount.

Performing live means carrying gear to gigs. So before you start the buying process, here are the top three things to consider: 1. If you're a producer or DJ, buy the best MIDI controller for live performance. If you're a guitarist, buy the best guitar you can afford. The more central the gear is to your performance, the more money and time you should spend on buying the right option. If you spend half the show tinkering with your gear, your audience will be out the door before you can even launch your DAW. There is no trial and error live once the show starts, the audience expects you to be professional and polished. Playing live is very different than producing in your home studio. Portability might be a virtue, but you don't want to be limited by key count or size in a live gig. Since we're looking at the best MIDI controller for live performance, we also prioritized a large number of keys and control options. This gives you a great deal of versatility. Or you can hook it up to the computer and use the software synth. You can create sounds from scratch with the MX49's built-in synthesizer. While you'd likely not use them with your DAW, they offer the kind of plug-and-play performance that's great for live settings.įor instance, the popular Yamaha MX49 synth has MIDI-out options. This includes stage pianos and synths with MIDI-out options. There is another class of MIDI controllers that we've considered for this list. You can also control different parameters, trigger clips, or control EQ with the built-in control options. They give you the best of both worlds in live settings. This allows you to control some parameters of hardware/software synths and DAWs and play melodies/chords right from the synth.įor most live performances, we recommend choosing hybrid controllers. A hybrid MIDI controller with both a keyboard and a set of control options (pads, knobs, faders).A pad-only MIDI controller without any keyboard.This is useful for controlling hardware or software synths A keyboard-only MIDI controller without any pads, knobs, or faders.This “other gear” can be hardware (such as a hardware synth) or software (such as a DAW/software synth).īut when we talk about music production and performance, “MIDI controllers”, colloquially, have come to mean one of three things: Different people think of different things when they think of it.Ĭategorically speaking, a “MIDI controller” is any equipment with a MIDI interface that lets you control other gear. The term “MIDI controller”, as we've discussed in the past, is a little tricky. The Best MIDI Controller for Live Performance.

Best midi keyboard for live performance