Making music

February 9, 2005  

I bought a new M-Audio MIDI keyboard the other day. I have an electronic piano back home, which I love, and I wanted to have something to play here in Amsterdam. I went for a MIDI keyboard (with 61 semi-weighted keys) so that I could not only play my sheet music but also play around with song-writing. And with my Powerbook I have GarageBand of course. I have to say, the whole setup rocks!

The keyboard took no setup or configuration, it powers off the USB and I can assign whatever I want to the existing buttons (volume, modulation , pitch and octave +/-). Oh and I can change the octaves up and down. And GarageBand is excellent – I discovered the built-in loops last night and had a ball. Along with some semi-decent speakers and a not-so-good mic I have the ability to achieve some pretty good sounds. Now all I need is talent…!