Master Keyboard

[Karl Giesing]

> I'm now looking for a Keyboard Midi Controller.
>
> Do you thing that a Alesis q25 would do for us ubuntu users?
The IO/2 has MIDI ports, so I'm assuming you're just looking for a MIDI keyboard, right? (Not, say, a USB keyboard?)
If so - pretty much anything will do. Frankly, it depends on your budget, and what you actually want to use the keyboard for.
Are you going to be playing Beethoven? If so, get an 88-key controller with hammer action. (Almost all of these are also digital pianos.) The cheapest of these that I've seen is the Williams Allegro (~$300).
Are you going to be doing basic melodies and bass lines, and controlling soft synths? If so, then you would need something with a lot of knobs. For the same price as a Q25, you could get an M-Audio KeyStudio 25, which (in addition to the two-octave keyboard) has eight programmable knobs and one slider. Or, if you also want drum pads, the Akai MPK Mini seems like a good deal: 8 knobs, 8 pads, and a mini two-octave keyboard for ~$100. M-Audio also makes the Axiom, which has all the MPK features, plus DAW controller keys (play/stop/rec/etc).

Really, at this point you just need to shop around.

-Karl.