When performing live however, that’s a different story. We personally don’t really care about any of that when we’re making something in the studio. We say “need” because buying a keyboard with a bunch of encoders, knobs and buttons may sound cool and fun, but try to think if you’d actually use them. If you want to get a little more expensive, you can look into fully-weighted MIDI keyboards, which are extremely nice and mimic pianos keys.Īside from key count and make, keep in mind the extra ‘controls’ you absolutely need. Most majority (and affordable) MIDI keyboards have something called “synth-action keys” which are a higher-grade plastic that are a bit “springy” that are similar to synthesizers. The price will start to really get higher if you go for a higher key count, as well as the actual material the keys are “made” of. Keyboards can span across from 200$ all the way up to the thousands. With any MIDI keyboard guide, we like to ask what your budget is. When it comes to choosing a MIDI keyboard, it may seem a bit daunting at first.

With that being said, let’s focus on our topic today - keys. This guide specifically is focused on keyboards so it doesn’t get too crazy, but they have actual “ Ableton Controllers” (a lot with out keys and a bunch of buttons, knobs and encoders instead) that you may be interested in. However, depending on what you’re looking for, with Ableton Live it’s a completely different beast (when it comes to actual controllers at least, not just keyboards). Usually if we’re asked by some of our readers about a software and gear combination, we’ll typically say “most will be fine, considering nowadays all gear is compatible with pretty much every software out there in this day and age”. When it comes to writing guides for specific software and certain music equipment, there are always a few details to keep in mind when decided why it’s best “for” a certain software. We found a few models to be the best MIDI keyboard for Ableton below.

If you’re in the market for a MIDI keyboard either to upgrade to a new one or buy your first keyboard altogether, you’ve come to the right place. It’s one of the most widely recognized music software in the business, and countless musicians we both know and larger ones we’ve read about use Ableton (Tame Impala, Flume, Skrillex, Calvin Harris to name a few). A home studio without a MIDI keyboard controller is empty to us, especially if you’re using one of the best DAW out there in Ableton Live.

Best midi keyboard controllers