with the joys of midi, i have found a need to use a midi controller keyboard for some software synths i might use in the future...

so which are the best ones for their price...

I use a kaysound mk-4902. It's probably not the best, but it is cheap and does the trick.

I use a MK-4902 too, its gotta be the most shitty feeling keyboard ever. Ive played casios that feel better than a 4902. I just use it cause its a cheap keyboard and easy to replace when i break em! Put it this way, when it comes to controllers, you get what you pay for, and you don't pay alot for an 4902, so i wouldn't recommend it.
Does that hellp?

So I'll sweeten the pot here . . .

I've been using a Yamaha PSR270 as a controller, OK, I lied, I have it hooked up as a controller, but I've never used it that way since it doesn't have any of the modulation controls, and I write better than I play straight keyboard. Also pertinant to my ramble - I don't play keyboard in public unless somebody's sittin' next to me with a 12-gauge in his lap. Prolly not then either. (More likely to get shot if I did, frankly.)

So anyway, I'd like to get a controller that has those modulator thingies on it, but I'm also looking to upgrade my synth sound stash. There's lots of nice synths with nice keyboard action, but such stuff is lost on a player with 10 thumbs. So the question before the court - does it make sense to buy a cheap bare-bones controller and a separate synth module, or should you just buy the whole enchilada together as one unit and shaddap?

For example, I'm toyin' with the PC2 Kurzweil - I love its piano and Hammond sounds. It sells routinely in the $1,400 range. The PC2R - same soundset, no keyboard, rack-mount - is more like $1,000. So does it make sense to go out and buy a cheapo keyboard/controller plus the rack unit, or is that nuts?

Thats how I do it, module, and cheep controller. It works for now.