External keyboard

[Vintage]

Hi all,

I'm interested in either the Jupiter 8v or the CS80v, but first I want to know how you guys play these soft synths? Is an external keyboard what you mean by midi controller?

I had some hardware synths in the eighties (Juno 6 Casio CZ1000, Roland D50, Kawai K1 or was it K11? ) and after a looong lay-off am only beginning to catch up with what is available musically on a PC.

From reading a few posts here it sounds like these software synths are not so easy to set-up for external playing. Does some sort of usb connection unit come with a keyboard and what is a good smaller keyboard to use when travelling? Or can a laptop's keys be configured to operate different notes?

But if it is too technical to acheive I'd be struggling.

Hope you can help me get up to speed in this area

[Vintage]

So, nobody here heard of the Arturia minilab? 

I just found out about it.

Is it a worthwhile purchase and how does the licensing work. Some reviews say it is difficult. Also does the license tie the minilab to one computing device or does it cover several - Desktop, laptop etc.

(If this query is in the wrong forum section please move it)