That Eighties feeling …
I’ve been in the market for a MIDI controller. I decided that, if I really wanted to record entire songs at home, I was going to need a MIDI controller.
A MIDI controller would allow me to place subtle strings under a songs. It also means I would be saved from the tedious task of clicking a drumtrack together, beat by beat (pun intended).
So, off I went for a MIDI controller hunt. As usual, I started checking the internet. I found a lot of controllers, ranging from some 50 USD to well over 1000 USD. I checked Ebay, I checked the local used-goods websites and I checked the cheap-with-disappointingly-expensive-shipping webstores. It all boiled down to the same thing: a simple controller is cheap, afterwards you pay for every little but of luxury you want added, like, say, more than 24 keys.
Then it struck me: my brother, as a little kid, had a synthesizer which might very well have had a midi-out. So I rang up my parents and my brother and, sure enough, my parents still had it lying around, and my brother hadn’t even looked at the thing for years. So, very soon, I will be the proud second owner of a spanking Yamaha SHS-200.
It has 4 full octaves (52 keys – count ‘em) and a lot more. The sound is rather terrible, but it has a MIDI-out which is what I need. It’s also a bit of Eighties nostalgia. It’s smaller cousin, the SHS-10 is reaching prices as high as 150 USD on the internet. And that one has less keys and less options.
So, yes, I’m very happy. Now there’s only one slight problem: getting it here
- as fast as possible;
- as cheap as possible;
- in as little a number of pieces as possible (1 would be fantastic).
Next stop: a firewire-based mixer.
