Best Keyboards For Fl Studio (2024 Updated)

I bought this because it was meant to be a clean integration into FL Studio. I have the new M1 Mac Mini and I had a heck of a time getting this to connect to FL Studio. I know it’s only 25 key, but my gosh it’s small.

I guess I expected it to be bigger than my typing keyboard. I’ve have had tons of MIDI controllers, and they nearly ALL were Plug and Play on my Mac Computers. I actually had to YouTube how to get this thing to work properly.

At this point, It works, but not properly. Some of the keys are not reading in the software, and the Pads seem to do different things when I change instruments (which MIGHT be a good thing). I’m not saying its a bad product, I’m just a bit taken back on how it doesn’t seem to JUST WORK, being that its made specifically for FL Studio.

For the price, I didn’t expect the key bed to be the best. It’s not. Very flimsy, very toy like. Pads are solid, though, and I usually don’t care for pads. Overall, i’m counting on it becoming what i need it to be, but for now, well below expectations.

From the second I saw the release of this midi controller I knew I was gonna get my hands all over it. I am currently learning FL Studio and wanted something that was easy to plug and play. The FLKEY 37 is just that! You plug it in and can start getting your song ideas and production down right away.

The actual keyboard itself is of great quality and I can’t complain compared to what I had before (Nektar SE25). You seriously can’t go wrong with this if you are a FL Studio junky. So just buy it!.

This is the best thing that happened to FL studio since the akai fire. The simplicity of use and build quality are perfect for beginners and pros. Would Definitely recommend to anyone using FL who wants to speed up their workflow and get more creative producing.

I had bought a Launchkey Mini Mk3, but got one of these the day it was available. Different as night and day, I was plugged in and playing in 5 minutes. Still complex in overall terms of managing flows and working in FL but so much easier.

Just getting my head around this piece of kit, all good so far, I’m liking the Fruity Loops 6 month free trial so far, not sure if I will stick to it or switch to Ableton though. Last time I bought a Novation item was 1994, super base station, glad to see the build quality is still the same.

I bought this because it was in my budget and because it is compact and easy to travel with, but I was pleasantly surprised with the software that came with it and the overall feel of the keys. I also think it looks rather nice on my white desk.

The controls are simple and intuitive and helpfully light up. I like that the cable can be concealed in the body of the keyboard. The keys might be a tiny bit mushy, but I think if I tweak the velocity settings for the keyboard that feeling might go away.

Whether it’s the settings or the keys themselves, the keyboard is still very playable. I am very happy with my purchase.

Picked this up as a smaller alternative to the Minilab MK2. The build quality is just as good. The included usb cable with hideaway feature is VERY convenient. I prefered this over the Akai MPKmk2, due to the build quality.

There are no nobs, drum pads or an arpeggiator, but the size and feel of the keys makes it worth it. It works well with my android phone and android tablet running FL Studio Mobile. A perfect travel companion for beat making on the go.

The only way to make this better would be the addition of low latency bluetooth. That would make this an unbeatable travel controller.

Lets face it, all these small keyboards are not very good. They are not for playing, but to be small and portable and still allow you to play. Some models are too good at being small and portable, and they’re honestly crap.

This Arturia Microlab is actually pretty decent: an acceptable keyboard with good sensitivity, and good quality construction. the rubber around it really feels good and halps it sit without moving, and it will protect it as you transport it.

And the integrated USB cable is a detail, yes, but a super useful one. all you could expect from this type of keyboard.

The CME XKey Air 37 Bluetooth Keyboard is a good wieless solution with clean design that fits well on any computer desk as well as being a great keyboard solution for iOS and iPadOS devices. I use it on all three.

Great battery life, easy to connect. Do not expect the common bells and whistles of a MIDI keyboard, however, outside of octave control, sistain, and key driven pitch bending, there are no other controls on the keyboard for MIDI mapping and control.

With midi support in Android apps, and the restrictions of a small screen on a phone versus a tablet. To enjoy music composition you need the xkey keyboard to play and record your musical ideas. Physically easy to transport and store, I recommend the ‘super nova’ case designed for the keyboard.

It’s portable qualities are the strong point. Despite many positive YouTube reviews, I would still say the keyboard lacks any satisfying weight or resistance. However, there are features such as pitch bend, octave select, and note hold physically available which are not a feature of android apps touch screen interface.

Although a small number of keys, you can play a different octave making use of the phone screen keyboard at the same time, thus extending the range to be played at the same time. If you are already a trained musician looking to play music, I would suggest looking else where.

If you like composing and using sequencers for enjoyment wherever you might be at leisure, the xkey is ideal.

It doesn’t connect to mac simply. You have to go deep into the system to get it to connect even if the computer went into screen saver mode. Once you finally get it connected, the latency is terrible.

Too bad to use. If I hadn’t waited so long to try it out for the first time, I wouldve returned.

The Impulse controller keyboard feels great for my situation, which is live performance. I am a keyboard player playing “bass” synth parts with my left hand, while playing keyboard with my right hand on another keyboard.

Before purchasing the Impulse I was looking for a good quality controller that had a little more weight in the keys than other keyboards that I was using. The Impulse is perfect in keyboard action and response.

Haven’t tried using it in my studio recording yet, but I’m sure it will work great as it has a nice feature set for integrating it into a studio setup. The only negative thing and very minor (not a deal breaker) is the fact the the keyboard is usb only powered, meaning that I could not turn it on before first buying an adaptor.

I would have much preferred a regular detachable ac power cable, but I know that hasn’t been in vogue for a long time. I found a nice USB power adapter for this keyboard that’s made by myvolts on Ebay.

NOOOO! I got this thing a week before it went on sale?!?. OK, as painful as that is, on to the review. This is my first USB midi controller. The USB interface is WAY better than the old days! After following the quick start guide instructions, I was up and running with almost no problems.

The problems I did have were minor and were all caused by me not fully understanding the software yet. After a couple days I figured everything out and could focus on making music. First thing about the hardware.

The faders are not as bad as all the reviews say! Sure, they’re a little plasticy, but they are precise and stay where you put them. The encoder knobs are perfect for their purpose. Some reviews say they are loose feeling or turn too easy, but that’s good because you sometimes want to turn them faster.

The faster you turn them the faster the parameter’s rate of change becomes, so you can make a large change with a short turn or a small change with a longer turn. So, slightly more freely turning encoders are better.

The pads are exceptional! I won’t go into the features much cause the description tells all; but, in short, the roll feature is ok and the arp feature is really cool. The pressure sensitivity takes it to 11! The pitch and mod wheels are top notch.

They have a rubbery, grippy feel and seem solid. The semi-weighted keys are also Excellent. The after touch is a little weird though. The white keys move another 1/4″ past the normal playing stop when you press hard.

In this 1/4″ of aftertouch territory they have a gritty feel to their motion. The black keys are completely different. They don’t move past the normal stop at all, and aftertouch seems to have a much weaker effect.

The buttons all feel solid with big rubbery buttons. The midi I/O works flawlessly with my legacy modules. A lot of reviewers fuss about automap. It works fine for me. The only thing is that it mostly maps third party plugins in a random and useless way.

I just use the ‘learn’ function to get what I need mapped where I need it. This leads to my only real complaint about the unit. You can page up/page down banks for the encoders so you can control 8, 16, 24, 32 or whatever parameters.

Ok, that’s good. BUT, the screen doesn’t tell you what bank you’re currently on, or what bank you just changed to! If I don’t remember that I’m on bank 4 and I need to get to bank 2 then. shift+page down repeatedly until it stops changing, then shift+page up to get to bank 2.

It’s certainly not a big deal, but it’s a little annoying. Overall this controller is excellent and I am happy I bought it. I’m just sad I didn’t know to wait a week to get it on sale :(.

I use this thang to get down ideas using the software instruments on Logic Pro. Very handy, compact, portable! Only drawback is that it does not seamlessly sync up with Logic Pro. Everything works EXCEPT the 8 little knobs.

You need to buy Korgs software for full capabilities (which it does come with a “lite” version) but for me not worth buying the full version for, i think, another $300. Otherwise, I love the arpeggiator, little touch kaos pad, scale assign, and pads.

I have a very small space and needed something that would fit. The nanoKEY Studio fit the bill. It is similar in size to a PC keyboard and easily stashed out of the way when not in use. If you are looking for a functional way to get drums, bass, keys or other sounds into your DAW then this does the trick!.

This Bluetooth MIDI keyboard is easy to use straight out of the box, has surprisingly good latency, and despite its small keys provides a decent interface for recording and for undemanding live performance.

It seems compatible with most iOS devices and music apps and it connects reliably and quickly. My only gripe is that the On/Off switch is tiny and looks rather fragile. Considering that the switch is needed every occasion the keyboard is used I’m hoping that it’s more robust than I imagine.

The convenience of a wireless keyboard is great, and I’m glad I bought it.

I bought this product with some concern because GC does not carry on stores. and I could not see before buying it. But, after watch several reviews I decide to go ahead with my purchase. The key is solid, reliable and it was a great improvement for me in terms of mobility.

I travel sometimes and I found myself bored several times btw layovers and flight itself. This guy gives me the opportunity to play for hours and hours. I was impressed how far I can go away of my Ipad without connection issues.

It is crazy. I can say that is latency free. At least was impossible to feel any kind of latency. And I am talking about BLUETOOTH connection. Back to the keybed. After a couple of minutes I was playing with no issues.

and I was surprised that is also sensitive. Awesome! Well done KORG! Now, I keep this in my home office all the time and I can produce or just practice if I need a break from my work. Very playable. Easy to connect.

I got 37 keys that fits in any laptop bag. You can use as a Keytar as well in some performance. There are some DIY videos showing how to connect a guitar strap on this microkey. You can also add a pedal for damper/sustain or switch or whatever you want.

you just need to configure in your daw pc/mac/tablet etc. You can also connect in your keyboard and use as a controller. so very flexible too.

bh delivered it quickly. i needed the new bluetooth feature. works GREAT. the 5 octave version rocks, i wish korg made a microkey 88 key version. within a short distance, this could be someone’s skinny keytar, but for me it just means i can trigger the killer organs and pianos in korg module and my imini app, which is an amazing minimoog sim, and i would know, long time moog fanatic.

this keyboard and the imini gives you a minimoog, a polyphonic mini with programmable presets, that you can play on battery on the band bus. the microkey air runs on 2 AA batts, brilliant. key action is excellent and even.

AND this time they gave us a sustain pedal input, which in korg module also lets you trigger the leslie effect! totally a great buy, worked perfect outta the box.

I’m extremely fussy about midi controller key beds. I don’t like fully weighted – too heavy and not nimble/ reactive for my purposes. I am a fan of semi-weighted keys BUT they need to feel balanced and quasi-fully weighted.

the kerbed on the Novation Lauchkey 88 is impressive! Perfect for my purposes – top quality, beautifully balanced. keybed aside, the control aspects of the unit is rich and extensive. but not too complex.

My only criticisms are: (a) lack of keybed aftertouch (b) lack of independent power supply rather than having to depend on the one and only USB input. this creates complications in the more sophisticated connections options.

As a beginner I find this keyboard controller very easy to use. Just follow the instructions and you will get familiar with it in just 15 minutes. It is lightweight, but it doesn’t feel cheap. Keys have great velocity sensitivity as well as the pads.

This is specially crafted to control Ableton Live, but you can use it as MIDI controller in any other DAW.

When it comes to listening and developing skills in the music industry this product is a must. Now here it is save your money trying to find the right equipment if you’re beginner and instead buy this.

With no experience making beats this is very easy to set up, watch a few youtube videos this will help. It’s great for beginners, many instruments, loops, effects and samples to choose from. It comes with Ableton saving even more money.

And this is a great controller to start creating music on, seller sent and delivery was quick, overall this product is great for people of all levels and progress in the music industry.

This is a great keyboard for those on a budget. I bought this mostly for the mod wheels as I don’t like the touch strips on my Arturia Keystep, and for the extra keys. It has a full plastic construction,which means that despite the massive size difference with the Keystep, it actually weighs about the same.

The keys feeel nice to play and the mod wheels are exactly what I wanted. It loses a star for the lack of outputs, as it only has USB out.

Does exactly what I need it to. Nice keys. Glad I opted for 49 keys rather than smaller as I’m used to playing a full size piano (and it has octave up and down buttons for the full range). This is still relatively portable and is lightweight so I’m really happy with using it in different locations.

Plugged it in and played straight away using my DAW. I couldn’t ask for much more!.

For 59 you can’t go wrong really. Simple no frills midi keybiard with full size keys. Keyboard action is not weighted but its fine unless you are a concert pianist. Midi out so you can also control outboard midi sound devices for live work.

Feels solid and of reasonable quality.

Sound: My negative review might not be appropriate because other customers probably won’t have the problem I have. It’s likely a quality control issue affecting my individual unit. But it’s a highly annoying problem that the service center would not acknowledge, charged me money for the privilege, and I’m just extremely disappointed by the whole experience.

Features: The action is wonderful, except for the one noisy and slightly less active key. The MIDI message signal is more precise and consistent across the board as any controller I’ve ever measured.

The firmware is excellent — simple enough to be usable in a performance environment, while also being rich enough to give the player very complete control over the devices and/or software that needs control via CC or program change or even sysex.

Again, I want to love it. My issue with the board is purely a mechanical problem, and a rather subtle one, and the reason I’m writing this review is because both zZounds and StudioLogic referred me to a service techician who charged me money and then left me in the cold.

Ease of Use: It’s easy to learn, easy to use, and if it works properly, is the best you’re likely to find on the market at any price range. Quality: The product is made well, but my experience has been poor, all because of that one key.

Value: I would say the product is well worth the selling price, if I hadn’t had the specific problem I have. Manufacturer Support: I dealt with the manufacturer. They sent me to a third party service center.

The service center kept the device for six weeks, told me there was no problem they could identify, charged me fifty dollars for the in-warranty service, and now I have a SL-88 with an “A” key above middle C that has a noticeably different mechanical response to all the other keys, makes a noise, and I’m upset enough about it to write this review.

The Wow Factor: I’ve got a fine 88-Key hammer action board that has the best features of any MIDI controller device on the market, and it’s probably going to end up at Goodwill because I can’t use it with this problem and I don’t believe I’m going to have a satisfactory outcome if I try any more options for support.

I wish I’d bought a different product. I wish I’d had the sense to return the device the first minute I realized there was a problem instead of putting up with it and waiting. I wish I hadn’t trusted StudioLogic support when they sent me to a third party service center.

I wish I hadn’t paid them $50 for the privilege of telling me there was no problem, when there is a very obvious, highly annoying problem with a key exactly in the middle of the octave where you don’t want any variation or noise.

Overall: I want to love my SL-88. I do love the action and its overall quality as an interface. The firmware is very versatile and intuitive and reliable. Unfortunately my SL-88 had one key with very different action from the rest of the board, and the problematic key is the A above middle C.

No serious pianist would find this tolerable. I tried to put up with this for a little over a year and then finally decided I should do something about it. So StudioLogic and Fatar have this wonderful two year warranty, which I attempted to take advantage of.

I followed the advice of StudioLogic support, and took the instrument to the repair center they recommended. The repair center, after six weeks, charged me fifty dollars and told me that they could not identify the problem.

After being without the controller for six weeks, I decided to be open minded in case I’m just being too picky. But rather immediately the problem is extremely obvious to me, and now I’ve just added frustration on top of my earlier frustration.

I don’t even have any idea what I’m going to do now. Likely buy a different 88 key controller, but I don’t expect that to be another StudioLogic. I’m not sure if that’s entirely StudioLogic’s fault but I’m just extremely disappointed because if 87 of the 88 keys had consistent action, it would be wonderful.

Even if the problematic key wasn’t right there in the middle octave, maybe I wouldn’t focus on it so much. But it’s different, it makes a noise, I don’t find it credible at all that a service technician didn’t recognize this, and charging me fifty bucks for the privilege of not having my keyboard repaired merely adds insult to injury.

Excellent choice. I wanted something with 73 keys, fully weighted and small enough to fit in my studio. I took a punt on this after reading some reviews of the 88 key version. Glad i made the purchase! the action feels great, it’s a pleasure to play.

the velocity and action can be configured in the software which is free and fairly easy to use. I have also connected it to an analogue synthesizer and saved keyboard presets for this and just playing normal piano.

i can easily switch from saved presets use the menu on the keyboard itself. Be warned that this is a midi keyboard and contains no sound bank. The software also contains no sound bank. You will need a virtual instrument installed on a computer, tablet or phone.

very easy to get vst’s for free. I personally connect the keyboard to a tablet with flowkey or skoove piano learning apps. Or i connect to my main computer with Cubase where there’s a plethora of instruments.

The keyboard is very well made with plenty of connectivity, there’s also a pedal bundled. all in all very pleased with this!.

I’ve had the SL88 Grand for a little more that three months now, some tips and observations: ~The feel of the Keybed: Of COURSE it doesn’t feel like a grand piano. but it’s a good keybed for piano, and with a good piano library like Garritan CFX in a good set of cans, you get lost in the piano experience and you forget it’s not a real piano.

~The Speed of the Keybed: The stock velocity curve falls short IMO, you HAVE to play around with velocity curves by moving it a little, playing, moving it a little, playing, etc. This controller has a LOT of capability.

You can also adjust volume PER KEY if needed (no hardware is perfect). You have 250 presets so if you make a velocity curve you like for piano, and another for strings, drumming, brass, whatever, just save them to different presets to call up on the controller itself.

~Legato: So here’s where the stock velocity curve becomes a plus–this keybed is surprisingly easy to play in legato string and brass lines! ~Joysticks: They’re weird. You can probably get used to them, some do.

I actually disabled the 1st and 3rd. I’ll explain the 2nd one next. ~The reported issues of doubled notes: It’s the 001 Preset. StudioLogic “helps us out” with this preset supposedly for a Grand Piano but it has all 4 zones activated! I made a preset with zones 2-4 turned off and Joysticks 1 and 3 disabled, no doubled notes.

I use he second joystick as an emergency mod wheel if my FaderPort 8 isn’t booted up. ~The Control Knob/Display: The knob COULD be useful because but it’s SOOO wiggly and you sometimes change a parameter right before it clicks.

I use the SL Editor app. ~USB Bus Power: YES, IT IS BUS-POWERED. The manual says it’s NOT, no idea why. ~Sustain pedal: The keyboard comes with one. ~Stand: I suggest the Knox Z style, built like a tank.

Bottom line: To get a Fatar TP40/WOOD keybed on a solid metal controller for under a grand is crazy. Oh, make sure you update your firmware, at least v1. 70.

This little guy comes packed with software and features. I love using the midi out to control hardware synths like the volcas whose key strips are too small for me. It’ll plug and play straight into Ableton Lite Live which it comes with.

It’s pretty customizable, lightweight and portable. It’s got so much to love for such a small price. At a little over $100 you get more than what you pay for. It’s not gonna out perform a nicer more expensive controller, but if you’re looking at this you’re probably not looking to drop hundreds on a midi controller anyway.

Although I’d had keyboard lessons while growing up, I am not a keyboard player. I use keyboard for composing songs and arrangement lines in MIDI production, however. I had owned the Alesis Q49 (purchased from MF), whose internal power supply died after 15 months (common problem in USB keyboards, apparently).

Meanwhile, the Q49 was discontinued, succeeded by the V49, so. The V49 has eight assignable drum pads, which do come in handy for writing basic drum parts. The keys are nicely-sized, and formed like piano keys at the front edge, with a sense of “weight” to them, like a piano’s, though not quite.

I prefer them to the springy-feeling keys of the Q49. To some people, especially inexperienced players, the V49’s keys might feel stiff, or not responsive enough – which is remediable by using the utility software downloadable from Alesis.

The keyboard comes with its velocity sensitivity set to “4,” and after setting it to “1,” it was much more to my liking. I really hope that the internal power supply dies while the keyboard is still under warranty, this time.

This was an answer to prayers. I absolutely love this keyboard. I was looking at some of the reviews and pondered on one of the comments of the responsiveness of the product. It is actually REALLY responsive.

Funny thing is, it may depend on the program your using with the midi keyboard a well; it my not entirely be depended on this, but it does have some effect. The first program I used was Studio One, and each time I played, no settings changed on the keyboard or within the system, it had some effect of delay.

That was a little frustrating, in all honesty but with knowing that there was a problem with the delay, there must be something to control it right? Eventually, it can be monitored and delt with in the system settings of program you are using to interact with the midi Keyboard.

I recently changed to Ableton Live (A lot easier to understand) and was able to see exactly which effect were causing the delays. That may answer some of the worries a customer may have about the ratings of this product.

Overall, this is an amazing keyboard for an amazing price and it is high-quality-built in my opinion.

Compared to other keyboard controllers this is far from the best. The reason you get this one is for the bluetooth connectivity, and in this field there are few other options. I use this to connect wirelessly to my MPC Live 2 and my iPad and it does this easily.

To connect to the iPad you have to connect via the option in GarageBand or another synth app. A bit weird but not hard and it works. Arpeggiator is pretty good. I can’t give 5 stars for quality because as a keyboard it’s not great but if you want an expressive keyboard you are not buying 25 minikeys.

If you want a portable keyboard you can connect wirelessly and power with batteries this will do the job.

I originally bought this to carry with me in a remote recording kit that I take with me for songwriting when on vacation- It fits perfectly into a small flight case with the rest of the gear. I actually also keep it on the console in the studio and grab it for quick midi parts- I don’t have to have a full size keyboard around all the time.

Pluses: Great that there is no powersupply- usb drives it. Is great for scratching out simple lines and chords, and even drum groooves. Easy to transpose octaves Negatives: Might be too tiny for some players with big mitts.

Probably not big enough or feature rich enough to be your ONLY controller. but- it is a solid piece of equipment at a reasonable price.

Nice little portable controller. I use it with an Ipad pro running cubasis. No latency over bluetooth as long as you avoid bluetooth headphones – needs a wired solution from ipad to ear. Very easy to connect via bluetooth – look forward to experimenting with it outside when the weather get nicer.