M-audio keystation pro 88

[Winterain]

Anyone interested in buying a roughly 1 year old M-audio Keystation Pro 88 ? It's basically a 88 key hammer action controller
Looking for a price of about $500 .

Pros:
- Tons of good quality knobs
- Tons of good quality Faders
- Can basically be used as a mixing interface with proper programming of the controls
- USB Midi interface. Just plug and play into your USB port.
- Seperate Transport controls section.

Cons:
- Keys feel a little plasticky
- A few keys are squeaky
- It weighs like a piano..

But we're not looking for perfection here.. A weighted hammer action controller at that price and features is unbeatable...

 

[Cheez]

I'm imterested to know WHY you are selling it! I'm not buying it, so the info won't affect me. Can pm me to tell me if you think it may affect the sale of the unit..

 

[Cheez]

Oh, and I think the buyers will like to know if you bought it as the first batch that arrived in Sinamex (ie the first generation). The first generation of pro 88 has some unusual problems like the the black keys being at the same level as the white keys when the black keys are pressed down.

 

[Winterain]

Ok... reason i bought it was cause i was looking for an affordable weighted hammer action controller.. my dream keyboard at that time was the Yamaha S90/S08 , but i couldn't afford it then, so i found this, which kinda fit the bill for studio use. Since i play soft synths all the time anyway.
But being a pianist, i wasn't very satisfied with the keys... coz like i mentioned, they felt rather plastic... But had to live with it anyway...

Reason why i'm selling it now is i wanna buy a Yamaha keyboard instead.. probably the S08 ... The keys are simply superb... but pity i'll be missing the faders and knobs on the keystation ...

This was a later batch of keyboards that came in to Sinamex.... There hasn't been any technical problems with faulty keys, only the squeaky springs in some of the keys...

 

[Cheez]

Well, I guess you can always get a midi controllers consisting of only faders and knobs from M-audio etc.

Actually, some of the Yamaha P series (not the higher end ones like P250) has the similar keys as the S08/S90. Of course they are cheaper. Since you are mainly using softsynths, I guess the sounds from the keyboard isn't that important. So S08 will not make much difference from a P series. Perhaps only difference is the P series are mostly graded while the S08/S90 are balanced. Can save money to get a fader controller...

Hope you get a buyer for your Pro 88.

 

[Winterain]

Sadly, i'm not getting any luck buying the S08 ... No stock forever, and it doesn't help that Yamaha Singapore is selling it at $500 mark up price from retail...
Reason why i'm interested in it is coz i might find a need for performance, as well as to learn more using a synth.. So i will not find the need to 'upgrade' again in the near future...
Maybe i should get a P series keyboard, and when i'm up for it, get a non-weighted synth ...

By the way..... by Balanced and Graded keys..... Correct me if i'm wrong..
Balanced = Lower range keys are weighted heavier while upper range keys are lighter
Graded = Normal standard piano feel.

Is that right?

 

[Cheez]

By the way..... by Balanced and Graded keys..... Correct me if i'm wrong..
Balanced = Lower range keys are weighted heavier while upper range keys are lighter
Graded = Normal standard piano feel.

Is that right?

The other way around. Balanced means all keys are balanced in weight. Graded means lower keys heavier (as in "Gradation"). A real piano is actually graded.

Actually, you may or may not have heard of the new CP300. Not out in the market yet - but it's basically a P250 (graded keys) + programmable faders. I'll gladly trade in my S90 with the CP300 anytime...

 

[Winterain]

sounds really high end....
my vocal coach just got a p250, i tried it and although its nice, piano sounds can't match my samples... which really makes one wonder if we should invest in a 'high end' digital piano .....
I think laptop + controller is becoming the norm.....

 

[iansoh]

my personal opinion is that the gear is not as important as the player getting accustomed to playing it, whether high end graded action or non-weighted synth action.

 

[Winterain]

i agree with you on that... i'm actually -okay- with the current keyboard..... i guess its just a preference for a little more luxury... coz i went to the showroom to try out the yamaha keys and they're so much easier and comfortable to play!

edit: oh i just noticed that you were talking about non weighted keys as well... for me, dynamic expression is quite different with a weighted keyboard and non-weighted one...

 

[Cheez]

None of the sound will match samples. I guess like me, you are getting it for the touch rather than the sound. But if you are sequencing other things other than piano, faders are also important. And the problem with the P series is that they don't have faders.

I agree with the expression of weighted keys being important - particularly with piano playing. Using unweighted keys will give un-even triggers of samples - it's just not possible to express the same. But weighted keys are a problem for other sequencing like strings.

Do you mainly use piano or other instruments as well? I heard you music on your website - it seems you are more piano based. If that's the case - good weighted touch is key (pun unintended).

By the way, what softsampler/samples are you using? Hard to find people using softsamplers in this forum. I think we are only a handfull.

 

[Winterain]

Hi Cheez..
Yeah most of my music are built upon a base piano track... I write all my music using the piano, but i do some orchestral and more commercial stuff (R&B, hip hop) as well...

I have quite a comfortable collection of samples from my music associates...
Recently i've fallen in love with Native Instrument's Akoustic Piano series..otherwise, i usually load up PMI Bosendorfer 290 ... 2 of the best in my standards...

I like Kontakt 2's sample library..... contains a nice compilation of VSL strings ..
Other things i use alot are Garritan Personal Orchestra, Spectrasonics Atmosphere and Trilogy...

What about you?

 

[Cheez]

That's quite a lot of samples you got there! Must take a while to accumulate them! So, I guess you are using Kontakt 2, right?

I use Gigastudio. I do mainly orchestral writing and piano works. For orchestral, I use Kirk Hunter Symphonic Orchestra and the older Peter Siedlaczek's AO. I've been eyeing VSL but too expensive at the moment to get it. My piano is mainly PMI's Emperor (ie the Bosendorfer 290) and Sampletekk's White Grand Jr. Other than these, I use other samples from Yellow Tools, X-samples, Spectrasonics, Wizoo, Sonic Implants, East West etc. These cover my other needs for vocals, bass, e-guitars, B-3, latin/orchestral percussion and drums, ethnic instruments, electronic loops etc etc.

Do you use more than one PC? Atmosphere itself will eat every CPU power you have - I don't think you can load many things after that!

When you say your samples are from your "music associates", I hope you don't mean they are pirated. Because that will put you in danger if you ever put your music out in CD. The sample developers are constantly on the prowl looking for un-licensed usage of their samples. There are already a nuymber of court cases - and they are a hefty sum since the sampling community is a small niche and the sample developers don't mind spending time "earning" from legal cases.

 

[Winterain]

Well they're licensed...
otherwise i use alot of royalty free samples from magazines..

A single instance of atmosphere is ok for the processor... double instance with many other things on can be abit laggy and screw up the memory...

i'm running a P4 2.8ghz dual core ...

 

[Cheez]

Not to keep hovering around this subject - just a friendly reminder...

Samples are licensed only to the party who purchase them. They are different from hardware. The developers still owns the samples - they don't sell the samples but they sell the license to use them. So even if the samples are original, sharing is still considered piracy.

But then, I guess you own the samples. Join the club friend! Great to know a fellow-sample user in this forum! Welcome. By the way, nice music on your website!