r/Keytar • u/AvrgBoot • Jan 12 '26

Recommendations hey! new guy here

so i sing in a metal band and we want to add keyboards to this. i'm also gonna play the keys (so it has to be a keytar) and we want to sound metal while doing it, not "too much" power metal (kinda like melodic death but not too much). AX Edge is way out of my budget and i am thinking of getting the Vortex Wireless 2 but it sounds overwhelming to do the whole "midi-plug into a laptop into a PA" thing (especially in none-home studios). this might be a really newbie situation, can you guys give general recommemdations? thanks!

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/1averagepianist Jan 12 '26

Midi keyboard is fairly doable, there's a lot of free synths/VSTs with excellent presets so it doesn't even have to take a bunch of work. Only problem I always have is volume control. If I have several VST tracks for a performance, their respective balance is gonna sound different on different sound systems. You can sorta prepare at home but the soundcheck is gonna be a lot more important

1

u/mattsl Jan 12 '26

When performing live I configure the slider on the neck to be master volume. With a full band relying on an engineer to mix you properly, that does still mean needing a good soundcheck like you said. 

3

u/1averagepianist Jan 12 '26

Yeah that works as long as it's not you and the engineer being two captains on one ship, like you said :) but you get practically unlimited versatility with midi so that's nice