11 Best MIDI Controllers for Synths and More (2024)

MIDI is a universal language that musical instruments can use to talk to one another.

Its low-tech nature is its greatest strength, making it a quick and reliable way to control a synth or a rack of guitar pedals with hardly any digital bandwidth at all.

The sweet spot for portability and functionality is the $100 to $200 range.

CME offers a wide range of products with such low latency that rockers who hate cord clutter finally embrace the future.

The WIDI Master is a simple dongle with two 5 -pin DIN connections chained together, one each for your controller's respective input and output.

This is handy for basic use cases, but any guitarist with an array of MIDI-controlled pedals will need more DIN inputs.

KMI 12 Step 2 expands on the original with 5 -pin DIN input and output.

Each pedal can send chords with up to five notes each for a richer sound with minimal tap dancing.

The Retrokits RK-008 can quantize everything to ensure your beats are tight, then it outputs the MIDI track in a loop.