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Sale Price: $304.95
Today's Bonus:
- 49-note USB keyboard controller with integral audio inerface - all-in-one music-making solution
- built-in, stero-sampled Steinway grand sound - excellent on-board piano
- line and microphone inputs - record vocals and instruments
- includes M-Audio General MIDI software sound module - 128 sounds total
- includes Ableton Live Lite music software - record and produce entire compositions
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I didn't buy this keyboard on Amazon, I bought it at a local music store 2 or 3 years ago.I just went online to check out the price on Amazon and I found those 2 horrible reviews below me from people who have absolutely no idea what this controller is supposed to do!
First of all, this is a MIDI controller. As a BONUS, it comes with headphone jacks and a regular piano sound so you can use still play when you're away from your computer. But this is a CONTROLLER, it's designed to be used with a computer (or MIDI device), in conjunction with good software that will allow you to play different instrument sounds or samples with the keys.
I use this controller with Reason (this is the software, and it's also well worth it!), and right out of the box I got hundreds of professional sounds for choirs, drums & percussion, strings, wind instruments, even digital sounds and samples. THAT is how you use a controller: You couple it with a computer and good software.
If you're playing live, you take your computer, software AND controller, then just send the computer's output signal to the mixer (extra points if you get a really good USB interface to get a good output signal from the computer)
Come on guys, I'm a drummer and I don't know a lot about keyboards or even recording, but even I figured out how a MIDI controller works before buying it!
This is an AWESOME product, I've used it to create film score-styled songs, techie sounding songs, piano bases to do drum solos on, etc.
BOTTOM LINE IS THIS:
-If you buy this alone, you might be disappointed. This isn't your typical child's keyboard with speakers and samples of doggies and birds and cheap string instrument sounds.
-If you buy this controller, AND invest in good software (like Reason) you will LOVE it. You won't believe the quality and depth of sounds you can create by triggering good MIDI sounds at extremely low latency.
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COMPATIBILITY: By the way I've used this on 32-bit Windows XP, 32-bit Windows 7 and 64-bit Windows 7 Just download the latest drivers straight from the M-Audio site, it works every time.
Some REAL con's:
-The default latency is too high in my system, I had to lower it both on the M-Audio Tray Icon, and in the Reason settings (Edit/Preferences/Audio/Control Panel)
-Sometimes 49 keys is just too few... it depends on your use for this. There are buttons that allow you to make the whole keyboard go up or down several octaves though.
-No Expression pedal input therefore you can't just buy an M-Audio Expression pedal and hook it directly to the controller. You CAN buy a Sustain pedal, though.
Man, I wasn't even planning on writing a review, but this controller is just TOO AWESOME to have 2 negative reviews on Amazon from guys that don't really know what they're talking about. This controller deserves better.
Buy it, enjoy it, make music, and then send the music so I can enjoy THAT! =P
Buy M-Audio KeyStudio 49i 49-Key USB Keyboard Midi-Controller with Integral Audio Interface Now
First, please note that this isn't a traditional keyboard with built-in speakers, songs, and sounds (like you would pick up for your young child to play with out of the box). This is a MIDI controller, with a built in piano sound and headphone jack for convenience, but it's really intended to drive MIDI software (something simple like Garage Band, or something more complex like Logic, etc), or be plugged into some sort of MIDI sound box. If you don't know what MIDI controller means, or know much about MIDI software, then this may not be what you are looking for.I was a little hesitant to get this keyboard after a couple of the initial reviews were rather poor, but it had one killer feature I could find on almost no other MIDI keyboard of it's size. It has one built in Piano sound, that you can hear through your head phones. So if you don't want have a computer around to run it through, or you just want to bang around for a few minutes without recording, it's awesome to have that convenient feature. One reviewer complained that the volume on this was too low, but I didn't have that problem. It works great for playing in my apartment, and if I were going to take it on stage (which honestly, this is clearly not intended as your man stage-grade keyboard) then I wouldn't be using the built-in Piano sound anyway (or at least would have it going into an amp). I'm really glad it doesn't have built in speakers, as I live in a studio apartment, and need it to take up as little space as possible.
As for set up, to start I just pulled it out of the box, plugged it into my laptop for power (you could also get the power adapter, or plug it into a USB power port), and then banged around on it, using my headphones at first, and I had no problem at all getting it to work. For using it with Garage Band (if you have a mac), just for fun, just plug it in, fire up Garage Band, and there is really no setup. I can't comment on Windows use, though it shouldn't be too much more difficult. It came with a CD, which I didn't bother installing, because I already have other software I will be using with it. I also didn't touch the documentation, as I got it strictly as a MIDI controller, and had already used other MIDI keyboards before, so I can't comment on documentation, etc.
I already had a sustain pedal, and it worked immediately as soon as I plugged it in, without any additional setup.
It is small, and meant to be portable. I was able to play songs on it without the limited keys being too much of an issue. I like to do octave bass notes, and occasionally the bottom note would be off the keyboard, but nothing that really inhibits general use, and I'm willing to sacrifice that (and just add the note in in my software, etc), to keep the size compact. The octave changing buttons worked great as well.
The keys felt fine to me. They aren't weighted, as most keyboards this size aren't, and they may be a wee bit smaller than usual (I didn't check or measure), but I was able to play around on it with no problems. And once again, I'm ok with sacrificing those features for the size and weight.
This is so much easier to move around and store in my apartment than the full size keyboard I had previously, I'll play this much more often because it's so much easier to toss it on the table, instead of lugging something huge out of the closet. I'm very happy with my purchase, and love the headphone/Piano feature for diddling around without having to have it running through my computer. A solid small-footprint keyboard with great features.I'm giving this five stars because I haven't used the suite of features to say or know anything negative. All I use this for is to practice in "piano" mode with earphones while waiting in the car for my passengers. It has good sound, the keys are full sized, the USB operates fine from a 12-volt car adapter. The keys are not weighted, but the sound is louder when the keys are hit harder, there is an octave shift button(s). There are 49 keys; I would like fewer for space reasons. This is the only unit I could find that wasn't a toy to use for practice in the car; i.e., built-in sound card for the headphones. It has many more capabilities and functions that I don't and won't know how to use. If it had a small speaker to go with the sound card, that would be nice for what I use it for. All in all, you get what you pay for: it's $200 and that's not bad for a midi controller that also has built-in piano sound and headphone outputs, two of them. It's not meant for live stage use; it's for practice and connection to your computer and music software. I don't do the software, I use a full size Yamaha CP300 and a KWAI acoustic. The unit seems to be solid and is holding up well banging around with me in the car, so it should last a long time setting on a desk hooked to your computer. Enjoy.this is a really solid MIDI controller. The pitch and vibrato are a nice rubber and move smoothly. The pitch bend even returns to 0 smoothly when released.
This isn't a $1000 controller, but the keys are full size and are velocity sensitive. They lack weight, which may put some off that are looking for a nice weighty bounce from the keys.
It works with Sony Acid Pro out of the box-no driver install! There is a nifty 1/8" to USB adapter for using a mic and headphones on your PC/laptop at the same time from one USB. This device requires a driver installed, and the SW is either with the unit or dl from the net (what I did). I haven't opened the CDs yet, as I really don't need them. I think one has a DAW on it, just in case you don't have one. Now that I think about it, if the one misguided reviewer had had her husband install the DAW, he could have made all the sounds he wanted.
The one thing I really like is the 'edit mode', which I didn't think I'd need. It lets you reassign the controls to send different signals to your DAW. You can use the octave up/down to change programs, for example, or use the keys to select one by number. You can even re-assign the volume control to do things like reverb!
Pluses have to also include that it is 100% USB-powered. No extra power supply hanging around.
The interface is only good if you have a good sound card on your computer. I did not, so that took some time and $. Had I known this I would have just bought a separate midi interface.
The XLR jack has never worked for me. When I got it and tried it, I assumed it must be my mic because I had an old mic, but I finally went out and bought a new mic and discovered, now that I am past the warranty, that it is a defective XLR jack.
The piano sound turns out to be ok, but nothing great. Also, I have noticed that over the months, and I don't use it that often, that the keys no longer play evenly, meaning that one key will have a louder or softer volume than another even though played at the same pressure.
And, to top it off, the customer service has been useless. They have very limited hours if you live on the west coast, so I was never able to reach them, and when I finally did, after a month, my one free phone call had expired. Now, they would want me to pre-pay for more phone calls in order to ask a question. Yikes!
Since this was my first keyboard, I can't complain too much. It has given me hours of great fun playing and composing and I am now hooked for life on music, hence the 2 stars.
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