MIDI Keyboards most compatible with Renoise?

General Discussion
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There were posts alike to this one, but the latest one I could find dates back to 2020, and the market has grown a bit since then.
What are your personal favorites?

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Isn’t the point of a midi keyboard that is universally compatible?

Anyway, what are you looking to do with it? Putting in notes? Need faders to do some live mixing? Or you prefer to have some knobs? Or pads to drum on?

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i wanted to make a topic about controllers that can make most use of Renoise, i.e. have >8 pads for launching patterns / inserting notes, knobs / faders for mixing and maybe even keys for ease of use. ones i’ve found are:

– Ohm Controllers (perfect match)
– AKAI APC Key 25 MK2 (from personal experience the control buttons send notes instead of CC, and as such the keyboard isn’t that useful with renoise)
– AKAI PRO APC Mini MK2 (@Kaidiak uses it in simillar fashion to Hitori Tori)
– AKAI APC 40 MK2
– Novation LaunchKey MK3 series

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I’ve recently set up a new Renoise studio in a corner. I had a couple of ‘rules’:

  1. Had to be running on linux (so no VSTs)
  2. Had to use stuff I already had

The main controller I chose is an M-Audio CODE 49. It has a wonderful set of controllers including 16 pads, transport buttons, 9 faders, 9 assignable buttons, 8 infinite rotary knobs and an XY pad. Best yet is each of the types are selectable by a switch between MIDI, CC and ASCII. You don’t need an editor to change the settings and there is a nifty little LED display that tells you what you’ve set something to, and gives feedback on each knob, button or pad in real time (verifiable with the MIDI tab in Renoise. The keybed is piano style with a bit of weight. It has 2 MIDI DIN ports, inputs for 2 pedals and programmable RBG buttons and pads.

I would say it works well with Renoise because it’s so easy to customize when needed and gives constant feedback for every response. Works with Linux and doesn’t need drivers.

THEN…

I also use an AKAI Fire controller (made for FL Studio) which, thanks to the tool made by @arigy gives me a totally different take on control.

Sidenote:

Since I’ve shelved all my VSTs, I rely once again on samples with a side of external MIDI devices. I’m hoping this new setup will break up my old habits.

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