Some have arrays of drum pads echoing the classic AKAI MPC hardware others have the faders and knobs you'd typically find on a studio mixing desk. There are full-sized MIDI keyboards that feel like properly weighted piano keys. This means MIDI controllers can vary wildly.

A MIDI controller is a piece of physical hardware with keys or buttons, that sends and receives MIDI signals.

In case you are new to MIDI, here's a very quick, two-sentence primer: MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface is the standard by which electronic musical instruments and computers talk to each other. So if you are a beginner hoping to get into music production, this review might give you a unique perspective on how the controller and the software interact from a learner's perspective My impressions of this controller come hand in hand with the FL studio workflow it is designed around. While DAWs are just tools, FL Studio isn't the tool I've had in my hands for years and use naturally. I've used pretty much every DAW over the years for certain projects, but I haven't used FL studio frequently since I made the switch to Ableton Live over 15 years ago. Here's the real key though-despite my experience with controllers, production, and formal musical education-I'm an FL Studio noob.

I learned to play instruments long before I got into digital music production, and it was the use of MIDI controllers that bridged the gap between my live, out-of-the-box experience and the focused, software-driven, in-the-box production that dominates modern music now. Throughout this time, I've used a variety of controllers, and have even built a couple of my own. In terms of digital music production, I've made beats, produced and remixed albums, contributed music to television and games, and briefly taught production classes using Ableton Live. I did a degree in music and I toured playing instruments and as a DJ for several years. Before I worked as a writer, I was a professional musician. It's a fair question-this is a tech website after all. The Novation FLkey 37 and FLkey Mini are MIDI controllers designed to make creating music easier for beginners and experienced FL Studio users alike.

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