I bought this keyboard around a year ago and have had varying levels of success with it.
Firstly, you get plenty of controls:
49-key keyboard (touch sensitive) Pitch bend & Modulation lever (in one, left/right for pitch, forward for mod.) 9 rotary controls (no 'click' center, however) 18 drum pads (can be used as buttons for MIDI signals, touch sensitive) Crossfader (controls two MIDI parameters 0-127 and 127-0 with one control) 3 general buttons (non-touch sensitive, can be assigned MIDI signals) 9 slider controls Octave +/- buttons Split keyboard function (dual & split possible) Aftertouch button, this can be switched off One rotary controller that can be used to change MIDI channel, Program Change, Control Map* or is user defined Play, Stop, Rewind and Record buttons
The Control Map (*) is 15 locations where you can store what MIDI message each controller sends. Most buttons and switches can be adjusted.
Comes with Cakewalk Production Pack, the main item is the sequencer Sonar LE and Dimension LE which is a VST instrument to play sounds. (This keyboard is a controller keyboard and makes no sounds, so you will need to connect this to a computer or sound module to get sounds.)
INSTALLATION ============ Easy, powered by USB and comes with a CD that installs onto Windows XP easily.
You may need to use the software supplied to edit the MIDI messages that the controls send if you are not happy with the defaults. The controls can be adjusted using the keyboard as well, but it is a little fiddly.
CONNECTIONS ============= All the connections are on the left hand side of the keyboard. There is a power connector (power supply is optional and you shouldn't normally need it if it is plugged into a USB port).
A USB connection socket.
MIDI In and Out sockets (you can use this as a MIDI interface to connect to another keyboard as well as using this as a controller at the same time. It does this by telling your computer that it is two MIDI interfaces).
Sustain and expression pedal sockets. I have a Yamaha sustain pedal and this or an Edirol will work. Roland should work as well since Edirol are made by Roland, but I haven't tested this.
IN USE ====== Using the keyboard is very simple. The main drawback is the small screen. It only has four characters to display and with so many things that you can adjust, it just isn't enough and you may get confused. I recommend keeping the manual to hand or use the software to edit controls.
All the buttons feel fairly solid for a keyboard in this price range. All except for the DJ Slider Control which feels exceptionally flimsy.
None of the controls have a 'click' center, but some of them have the option of having a 'virtual center' - it makes the center position a bit larger. Every time you move a control, the display shows the 0-127 value of what has just been sent.
The drum pads are a velocity sensitive, but are not very sensitive.
Velocity curves can be adjusted.
Each control can send a message on a different MIDI channel or through one of the two MIDI controls that it installs onto your computer as. You can make the computer think that the drum pads and keyboard are completely separate devices, for example.
PROBLEMS ========== I did encounter several problems:
The driver software appears to have not been 'signed'. This means everytime you plug the keyboard in, the computer asks if you want to install the driver. There is a setting in Windows XP to stop this happening.
For laptop/touring users, you must switch off your computer if this keyboard has been plugged in. If you use standby or hibernate, the computer may not turn back on. You can't set your computer up for a live show, hibernate it, travel to the place and then un-hibernate as the computer will just do nothing.
OVERALL ======== I have found this to be a good keyboard and quite flexible. A few minor niggles, but generally this is very good.
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