I have spent most of my life playing “semi-weighted” keyboards, a family that sits between the plastic all in one “fun machines” that you find at Best Buy and the high end “weighted” keyboards that tip the scales both price and weight wise.
Once the dawn of the midi controller came to pass (ie. no sounds in the unit) , I couldn’t wait to turn my next keyboard’s numerous buttons, faders and switches into a Virtual Mega Synth, one to rule them all!
Of course, that never happened. Keyboard after keyboard let me down, each one with its own quirks and clunkiness. And every keyboard player who sat down to my “semi-weighted” controller had a terrible experience (and let me know it) with the “un-piano” feel. I chalked it up to “diva-ness” and a touch of snobbery on their part.
But I was working on a project recently where the artist asked me to play some piano and organ parts and we were recording into Pro Tools. Midi in Pro Tools is (for me) about as fun as doing my taxes so I recorded Audio Only. The studio had a beautiful weighted keyboard with great internal sounds and I was sold.
That was it for me.
My Studio Logic 73 Weighted Keyboard in combination with the Garritan CFX Grand Plug In has made me a convert.
