Which M-audio keyboard (midi controller)

Soldato
Joined
18 Feb 2006
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9,779
Hello.

I want to order a midi controller but am unsure what the difference is between these models.

M-Audio Keystation 61 ES £124
M-Audio Oxygen 61 (Third Generation) £142
M-Audio ProKeys Sono 61 £201

From what I can understand, the 61ES has a single non-adjustable velocity curve that isn't very good. After this I am lost between the differences. Does anyone know what will be best for me? I want to use it to enter music into Logic to play along to.

Has anyone recently bought one of these that can advise?

Thanks.



Edit:
I think I have worked it out, The ES is a midi controller, with no built in sounds but semi weighted keys. The Oxygen is the same but with non weighted keys (which will mean playing it as a piano will be very poor instead of just not as good as a hammer action) and so more suitable for synths and so on? the Sono is what I really need, semi weighted digital piano with midi.

Can anyone confirm?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I used to use a M-Audio

Good if your on a budget but now rocking a Novation SLMKII

Check out novation and AKAI unless you already have.
 
Hi

I'm starting piano and went through trying a lot of semi weighted / graded actions and none of them were in the slightest like a piano

Ended up with a Akai MPK 88, it's a beast though... with a super heavy hammer action

Worth a look.... spends most of it's time playing reason 5 piano refill, which sounds very good and latency free playable compared with a lot of piano software

akai1.jpg
 
I believe the KeyStation is a basic semi-weighted controller keyboard aimed slightly more at piano players and less at synth users, as it lacks knobs / sliders etc.

The Oxygen is the opposite of this; it's aimed more at synth players but less at piano players, so the keys are non-weighted (but still velocity-sensitive), but it has some knobs and sliders.

I don't have first-hand experience with the ProKeys and I think that model is no longer made, but I have a feeling it was a weighted piano controller with a slightly cheap built-in piano sound, hence the name.

I've used the KeyStation and Oxygen and here were my impressions:

KeyStation: Cheap and cheerful, the keyboard is quite nice to play on for piano-oriented stuff but the lack of knobs / sliders put me off it.

Oxygen: Rather a cheap-feeling keyboard but good value otherwise.

In the end I bought an Axiom Pro 61 which I used with Logic and Mainstage for about 9 months. This has a semi-weighted keyboard but also plenty of knobs and sliders, and it automatically maps these when connected to a computer (which is very helpful and saves a lot of time). It's also considerably better-made than the cheaper keyboards.

I'm now trying to sell the Axiom, due to having upgraded, for only a little more than the keyboards you're looking at. Personally I'd recommend it without hesitation :)

arty
 
Thanks for your replies, however I've already gone for the Sono and should be with me tomorrow. It was more than I really wanted to pay for its purpose but wanted to get something that was suitable. I'm not bothered about the sliders (what are they for?) and hammer action (am not playing it to learn the piano as we already have a proper one in the house). Just need it to play sheet music into the PC but wanted a good velocity curve to stress accents and for dynamics.
 
Cool. The sliders and other things are for assigning to on-screen controls, allowing you to control aspects of virtual instruments / soft-synths beyond basic notes, pedals, pitch-bend etc. - they are very useful and powerful when dealing with anything beyond a standard piano, e.g. synths, organs, electric pianos, or when wanting to control a DAW (if the keyboard has transport buttons such as play, record, stop, rewind and so on).

Let us know what it's like :)

arty
 
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