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Wobbly, dubious value
I dunno. I tried. But it went back. If you need 88 keys, because you need to keyswitch patches, AND you want lots of assignable rotaries, a complex mapping capability, this works. But maybe the DAW should be handling mapping, and you don't need quite so many knobs either. If you are looking for expressive playing, I found this wobbly action less satisfying than a good tight synth keybed, like an Edirol, which has a bit of precision snap to it. With the Pro 88 there's an impending sense of plastic on plastic wearing looser and breaking. It's as if you just couldn't escape the plastic hammers on plastic feeling. The action per se is sloppy, a lot of side to side play, not terribly expressive, it's a very subjective thing, but a lot like driving in mud. And then it turned out not to have aftertouch. Huh? At that rate, I found I might as well go with the good value M-Audio 88es, and not try to pretend, I don't know what "semi-weighted" means in that context, these things feel like plain old spring actions. Or add a couple hundred bucks and go with a CME 88 key that's built like a tank and feels like that $3500 Yamaha you know you'd rather play, has a few pots & faders AND aftertouch AND breath controller etc. Bottom line even at that price for something that's neither light and compact, nor solid and expressive, can be a remorseful chunk of change. They'd have to add aftertouch to make it a cool controller, but I suspect that structurally the keybed would buckle if you started putting any pressure on it, and if you make aftertouch too sensitive, to get away from that, it gets to be a nuisance, triggered on every note. I'm not sure this unit is going to please a lot of people. The plus on this is the ocean of knobs and the mapping flexibility. Maybe it grows on you before it breaks. I didn't give it a chance to do either.
Reviewed by Fernand on 2/12/2007 who plays Classical to Reggae.
34 people found this review helpful.
7 people found this review unhelpful.
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fader hater
Unless you get the enigma software, all of the faders and knobs and even the pitch wheel become miss matched. Meaning that a the faders did not match up with the software (Reason 3.0 in this case) and recognized a knob as a fader in the software.
Reviewed by fader hater on 8/14/2006 who plays hip-hop and R&B.
26 people found this review helpful.
12 people found this review unhelpful.
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An Awesome Midi Keyboard
The m-audio 88 keyboard is a great midi keyboard for any pianist out there. It has a very good action for not being a real piano. If you are looking for the midi keyboard to run all your synths, this is it. With several knobs, buttons, and sliders, and the available software, you can program the controller to do whatever you want. Another plus is the board will work off of USB power, no power supply needed.
Reviewed by DJ MESKO on 11/8/2006 who plays Trance, Techno, Electronica.
19 people found this review helpful.
7 people found this review unhelpful.
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Goo but not a Pianist/Keyboardist
As the title says I'm not the most qualified or experienced person to write a midi-controller review, but I have owned this keyboard for almost a year. I write, compose, and perform with this controller.
It does what I ask of it (so far). All the keys, knobs, and sliders work. It works with Logic, except for the dedicated transport buttons (stop, start, play, etc.). They worked with Live and Cubase though, so it's probably just a Logic (my new DAW) thing. The action doesn't prevent me from making music. If this keyboard was taken from me today I'd look and compare other keyboards, but I would definitely consider this keyboard again. Don't know what else to say. Hope this review helps.
Reviewed by Bandeeto on 10/10/2009 who plays Rock, Alternative, Indie.
3 people found this review helpful.
0 people found this review unhelpful.
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Was great at first ... but it's almost worthless to me now
I've had this for 2 and 1/2 years. I absolutely loved it ... for 6 months or less. Then some of the keys stopped transmitting MIDI notes. But it was intermittent. I called M-Audio, they walked me through a "Reset" procedured, and then agreed that they'd take a return. They gave me a RA number. But then it started working right again. Then it would go bad. Then it would be OK. It's STILL like that 2 and 1/2 years later.
But worse than that ... after the 1 year warranty period expired ... several other keys started transmitting at MAX velocity (MIDI 127) no matter how light you touch them. This is ALWAYS like that. It is extremely annoying.
M-Audio's return policy is that I can ship it back (I pay for shipping on this 55 pound keyboard) and have them give me an estimate to fix it, and then pay them to fix it. Are you kidding?
That's why it's gathering dust. I'm really bummed out.
Reviewed by David S. on 9/20/2009 who plays Praise & Worship.
4 people found this review helpful.
1 person found this review unhelpful.
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