Hi again,

Thanks for the reponses to my previous post about what would the ";perfect"; software to get to run VD2.

I have another related VD2 question. I have VD1 and it is great. I was wondering what the ";octave coverage"; on VD2 will be like? Similar to VD1 or more? The reason I ask is that I am considering getting a ";midi"; only keyboard and want to know if I should get the full ";88 key"; version or something smaller. Thanks!

Alex Randall

You should get something that has at least 5 octaves if you want to be able to use the full range of many instruments without changing settings, otherwise you can always set a MIDI keyboard to move up or down octaves. M-Audio has a new 88-key USB keyboard that can be found on the web for about $230, but even something with 2 octaves can get the job done.

Unless you need to control a lot of midi commands, the M-Audio Keystation 49e works great. It is fairly economical too.

I've used the Oxygen 8, 25-key keyboard, with great success. The great part about the way everything is laid out in the battery is that you can set your keyboard to be up one octave and the majority of the sounds you need are within the two octaves the keyboard is set to.

I'm currently using the M-Audio Keystation 61es with great success. It's not too much of a problem shifting octaves when I need to. Until I start doing melodic stuff, I barely need to worry about octave switches on the keyboard.