Dream Midi Controller Keyboard!
- Thread starter Cheez
- Start date
Cheez
Moderator
OK. Just checked this out in Sinamex - arrived a few days ago. I've been looking forward so much to this thing's arrival. My initial thoughts after spending about 30 minutes on this keyboard:
Likes:
1. The price - nowhere you can get an 88 weighted + all those faders and knobs for SGD880.
2. Knobs and Faders. Lots of them. They have a nice rubbery feel to them - good grip. The faders are long - 60mm! It is not too stiff (like my A70) - just the right feel. The buttons are also made of rubber - nice feel.
3. Large Blue backlit screen.
4. Has buttons for sequencer control - allow you to play, stop, forward etc at a fly (buttons on the left above the mod wheel and pitch bend).
5. Lightweight - although it will not make much difference for me since I don't lug it around. May be important for people who give live gigs.
6. The pitch bend stops at the middle resting position once you let it go - it does not bounce a few times before stopping like some controllers. Mod wheel also very smooth.
Don't Likes:
1. Keyboard action. Don't quite fancy the keyboard action. The keys, for one, feels plastic and a little too light for weighted (synth players may like it, but if I want a weighted keyboard, I want it at the proper weight - otherwise I'll just get a non-weighted). The black keys when pressed are at the SAME LEVEL as the white keys - really wierd feel to it. I think I can break these keys if I hit it hard for a few weeks.
2. Don't understand why they M-audio put the faders and knobs on the right side of the keyboard. On a live situation, one would like to control these things with the left hand and play the keys with the right hand. Otherwise, one will have to cross hands.
3. The knobs and faders' resolution is pretty low - a small turn on the knob or a slight movement of the fader will change the control by at least 3-5 units. But for most softsynth applications, this should be acceptable.
4. No after-touch. Actually not too much a problem since we can assign it to any of those knobs and faders.
Others:
This thing can be split into 4 zones. I will prefer more midi ins and outs - it has only 1 in and 1 out. Doesn't come with an AC adapter or pedal. The bottom of the keyboard is made of PLYWOOD - so becareful when bringing it around.
I think for this price, no 88 key can beat it especially with the number of faders and knobs it has. But the deal-breaker for me is the touch. I wasn't expecting it to be like the Yamaha S90/ S08 touch (the best, IMO), but this is way too off. Don't know why the made the black keys so low. It looks good, but unfortunately I'll have to take back my statement on it being the "Dream Midi Controller". I would rather invest a little more on something with better feel. For the faders and knobs, perhaps the Behringer BCF 2000 will be a better choice as an add-in - motorised faders like the Mackie Control but only at about SGD400 (arriving end of this month, I'm told).
Anybody else who tried this keyboard has any other comments?
chinoiserie
New member
chinoiserie
New member
sorry, didn't realize that the colour for the link was so off. anyway here it is again:
http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=18;DaysPrune=30
http://www.musicplayer.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=18;DaysPrune=30
Cheez
Moderator
Update:
The second generation of Keystation Pro88 is apparently out. I was at Sinamex and tried it out.
There's no apparently mention anywhere on the keyboard that it is different. The most obvious change is that the black keys are now raised higher. When the black keys are depressed, they are no longer the same level as the white keys. This is a pleasant change and definitely feels better and more like a real keyboard.
I'm not able to test the velocity accuracy. Sinamex routed it to an Alesis QS8 and the loudness of the piano in QS8 is flattened at the highest velocities. Hard to know if I've already reached velocity of 127. But the problem I still have with it is the key bed. When you hit the keys hard, it gives a loud thumping noise. Felt like the keys and the key bed will not last very long if one plays hard on it for a while.
But nevertheless, it is an improvement from the first batch that came.
The second generation of Keystation Pro88 is apparently out. I was at Sinamex and tried it out.
There's no apparently mention anywhere on the keyboard that it is different. The most obvious change is that the black keys are now raised higher. When the black keys are depressed, they are no longer the same level as the white keys. This is a pleasant change and definitely feels better and more like a real keyboard.
I'm not able to test the velocity accuracy. Sinamex routed it to an Alesis QS8 and the loudness of the piano in QS8 is flattened at the highest velocities. Hard to know if I've already reached velocity of 127. But the problem I still have with it is the key bed. When you hit the keys hard, it gives a loud thumping noise. Felt like the keys and the key bed will not last very long if one plays hard on it for a while.
But nevertheless, it is an improvement from the first batch that came.