14 DAY TRIAL // From Kraftwerk to Vangelis and from Jean Michel Jarre to Mike Oldfield and forward on, lots of bands and composers have delighted us with the music they wrote. Sounds of nature were blended with another kind of sounds which (most likely) will never exist by themselves in our environment and thus enthralled generation after generation of listeners. Composers like those I have mentioned above have directly or indirectly fathered the development of new sound technology.
From the old and classic Moog to contemporary software and high-end tech keyboards containing millions of sounds and combinations of instruments one thing emerged and grew so strong as to entwine with almost everything meaning music and even lights: MIDI.
MIDI ((Musical Instrument Digital Interface) has become one of the most common standards to which actual electronic music (and even metal) relates to. I won't start a MIDI class here so there's no need to be concerned. Anyway, when it comes to MIDI, the principle remains the same and whether you play a lousy 15-keys controller or a guitar through a huge MIDI-processors rack, it's almost the same thing. One has to get used to what MIDI stands for and how it works and that's the way things go. And also, that's why softwares like Midi Keyboard Lite have been developed.
Using General MIDI (GM) is a must before beginning to experiment and little programs like the one I am going to speak about are just the perfect thing for such situations. Some hardware (usually gaming or semi-pro sound cards) comes with this kind of software already bundled; but these programs become really needed when no other piece of code does this job.
The Looks and Works
MIDI Keyboard Lite looks just like any other application of its kind would: simple and very well-thought to ensure a high degree of comfort and usability. The less crowded - the better, some say, not only about MIDI keyboards but generally about software GUI. When it comes to software like MIDI Keyboard Lite, all agree that absolutely nothing useless must get through: functionality is above fancy colors, readability and ease-of-use weigh heavier than god knows what little tricks would a producer rely on to make the software look better.
MIDI Keyboard Lite looks a bit like a real-life sequencer: 25 large keys (2 directly-accessible octaves), the controller for the instrument octave (8 octaves), expression pedals, volume and velocity and obviously, the most important part, the instrument banks and lists.
The whole look is very Windows-like and with absolutely no color scheme: everything is XP-native and even the button-style is XP-generated. The shadowing of the keys isn't too good and when pressed, they look rather Amiga-style than the beautiful 32-bit XP gradient. Slider bars for Velocity and Volume are easy to operate and precise enough.
Overall, the MIDI Keyboard Lite has a sleek and clean look, carefully designed, oriented towards the ease-of-use ideals. Though, it looks to me it has been developed for too much mouse-use. And I'd just dare compare MIDI Keyboard Lite with the same kind of application coming bundled in the Creative SoundBlaster drivers. There, you can change the octave with just a press of a key, from 1 to 7. When working in MIDI Keyboard Lite, you have to press one of the 8 Controller Octave buttons with your mouse. Well, the MIDI Keyboard Lite allows you to play the entire 25 keys-range while Creative will not allow this, thus making MIDI Keyboard Lite better in this specific matter.
MIDI Keyboard Lite has a way too slow response, at least according to my own liking. I am not sure if it's the software or the actual sound card causing this annoying delay; anyway, I will surely test it on other sound cards and we'll see exactly what's going on.
I've got to check this thing as far as the sound of the instruments is concerned: they tend to sound weak and even weary with far less brighter response than what I've seen in other similar applications. If I add to this the fact that the expression pedals have been programmed only as an on-off switch and thus denying the user any control, I realize that MIDI Keyboard Lite could be a bit below what I first thought of it. Pedals like Soft, Sustain and Accent should normally be controllable in a more precise way; the All Notes Off doesn't "off" notes in all cases and this can be annoying. Of course, not as hellishly annoying as the nag screen appearing every tens of seconds and asking you to pay the 15 dollar fee for registration. Even more annoying is that this nag screen has its own delay time so, after it pops up, you have to wait 10 seconds before you can continue your job.
The Good
If thought of solely as a total beginner's software, the MIDI Keyboard Lite is great; but just like this. The moment a more experienced MIDI keyboard user will try it, things would surely go wrong as it lacks the sufficient operational-power for a decent enthusiast use.
Nevertheless, the best part of MIDI Keyboard Lite is that it can really be a very useful tool for the inexperienced (MIDI) musician.
The Bad
As stated above, MIDI Keyboard Lite stops being a good useful piece of code the moment true efficiency is requested.
The Truth
Perfect for a beginner's needs (provided this beginner does not already own such freeware software) and almost completely useless for the advanced user.
See how MIDI Keyboard Lite looks like in the screenshots below:
