Do you play your leads with a physical keyboard?

Q ...Anyways, i was wondering if you play your leads with a physical keyboard? Ive been wondering if i should practise to play the keyboard so that i could easily make some leads, but it's damn difficult y'know :-) Maybe your answer could encourage me to do so, or not....

A.  I do play ideas into the sequencer via the MIDI keyboard yes, but anything other than the most simple line or rhythms then get micro-edited in the key editor.

For more complex ideas or lines , I start the track, put into record and play my best approximation of the idea (which is usually waaay off rhythmically)I hit quantize then open the key editor and then edit note lengths/re- quantize sections etc.

A few producers that I know, Seb Shakta for example, doesn't even bother with a MIDI keyboard for making trance, just input the notes straight in with the mouse. So different strokes for different folks, but the basic idea being that for programming psy-trance and some other electronic styles a keyboard has a lot less importance than say jazz or classical where it is essential.

So, if I were you I wouldn't bother with piano technique lessons - because even the best keyboard players would not be able to play most of the parts that make up Psy-trance music- Just think of a standard full on bassline for example...

On the other hand, a few music theory lessons, or a short course on the fundamental building blocks of more traditional music - harmony, scales and chords using the piano keyboard as a reference, may help open up new musical possibilities for you, especially for a more melodic or "musical" approach to composing.

Cosmosis Music Webshop: http://cosmosis.bandcamp.com