Subject:Has anyone used M-Audio Keystation Pro 88?

Posted by: Scott Gordon

Date:8/28/2008 9:41:41 PM

I am considering a new keyboard controller for Acid 6.0 -- I am not a big keyboard guy, but I have a studio client who is a great player. Has anyone had any experience with the M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 and Acid? Are there any caveats or warnings I should know about?

I would personally be happy with an Oxygen 8v2...my hands are more used to guitar and bass. Any advice on this one would be helpful, also.

Subject:RE: Has anyone used M-Audio Keystation Pro 88?

Reply by: Patrick@Denman

Date:8/29/2008 8:02:14 AM

Scott, I've got a KeyStation Pro 88. It works just fine with ACID. I also use it a lot with the stand-alone version of Native Instruments' KONTAKT software. IMHO it's actually a darned good keyboard for the money and has a pretty decent feel with its hammer action. It's quite heavy, and I don't know how it would stand up to being moved around a lot, but I'm a happy customer. I particularly like the fact that it has 9 different velocity curves that you can use to control the sensitivity of the keyboard. And it's got so many controls that you can configure it in very complex ways if you want to.

However, I do have some comments that you might find useful.

Like most M-AUDIO gear that I've seen, the product itself is great but the documentation is so bad it's nearly useless. The printed manual has very little info, and the advanced user's guide that you can download is very badly organized and poorly written. It's frustrating because you can do almost anything with this keyboard...it's just a bit of a challenge to find out how to make it happen. But once you understand MIDI you can eventually sort things out.

After I received my keyboard I needed to make a couple of physical adjustments. First, the keys at the center of the keyboard were slightly pressed up against the cabinet - I tipped the cabinet on its front, loosened the black screws on the bottom to allow the keyboard array to slip forward under its own (rather considerable) weight and then tightened the screws again to eliminate that problem.

The other problem was that on a couple of the keys there were minute ridges on their sides that actually caused them to contact the adjacent keys. I carefully trimmed those edges away with an Xacto knife blade and the keyboard has been fine ever since.

M-AUDIO could definitely use better QA in their manufacturing. But despite my initial problems, I'm actually quite happy with the keyboard now. I've compared the feel of this unit with some other much more expensive keyboards (i.e. Roland, Yamaha and Korg), and it's really quite good. As a studio MIDI keyboard I don't think you can do much better without spending a heck of a lot more money.

As with any pure-MIDI unit (i.e. the keyboard does not produce sound - you need software to do that), it's really important to use ASIO drivers for your audio device to minimize latency, otherwise playing the keyboard can be a pretty frustrating experience. This has nothing to do with the keyboard itself - it's an audio hardware driver issue. So make sure you've got an ASIO driver. For my own part, I use a laptop with an audio chip that doesn't have its own ASIO driver, so I use the free ASIO4ALL driver (www.asio4all.com).

Hope this helps...

Subject:RE: Has anyone used M-Audio Keystation Pro 88?

Reply by: Scott Gordon

Date:8/29/2008 6:50:03 PM

Thanks for the info, Patrick. I'm thinking of the Pro 88 for the use of one of my "studio regulars". He's a pure player and has not a technical molecule in his entire psyche. I'd have to tweak the software while he bangs the keys. If there was any drag or other issue with the mechanics of the keyboard, he would be totally flustered. He'd rather play an acoustic piano any day.

Thanks again.

Subject:RE: Has anyone used M-Audio Keystation Pro 88?

Reply by: Patrick@Denman

Date:8/30/2008 9:05:43 AM

Gotcha, Scott. I'm sure it is difficult for many artists who don't have a technical bent to deal with all the technology. And if your client is an experienced player, latency is the very first thing he'll notice if it's not kept down to a few milliseconds, so an ASIO driver for your audio card or external audio device is absolutely essential to keep that down to a minimum.

IMHO the Keystation Pro 88 is a good choice primarily for three reasons: 1. Hammer-action keys; 2. Lots of controls that can be assigned to software instrument parameters; and 3. Price.

There certainly are some keyboards out there that will have a more natural feel, but from what I've been able to touch, the ones that qualify will cost a LOT more, and - unless they are actual stage keyboards - will probably not have the level of control that the KeyStation Pro 88 has. The hammer-action feature alone tends to set this keyboard apart from all competitors in the price range.

I forgot to mention another feature of the keyboard that allows the keys to be divided into different zones that can each be assigned to their own MIDI channel, and hence it can operate virtually as multiple keyboards. This is all managed through an M-AUDIO software tool called Enigma that is freely downloadable for owners of many M-AUDIO keyboards.

So unless you can afford a decent stage piano - and you'd be looking at a minimum of twice the price of the Keystation Pro 88 - I think it's a good choice.

Good luck with your investigations.