GameMaker:

Rating

I’m a digital music noob and have been putting together a modest setup on my Dell laptop running Windows Vista. I’ll tell ya it hasn’t been easy. Drivers that don’t work, programs that won’t register and are incompatible with each other, sound cards that are also inadequate, audio interfaces that have bad drivers and won’t work with anything else, oh my, it’s been some hard lessons learned and there are lots of regrets along the way. But my one component that has been hassle free and has worked to my expectations right out of the box is my M-Audio keyboard.

Besides being easy to set up and use, I’ve been impressed with the quality. It really is a heavy-duty instrument. The whole thing just as a very sturdy, substantial feel to it. The key-action is decent. It does register how hard you press the keys pretty well. The one thing I don’t like is that I have a fairly “light touch” and it fails to register some of my keystrokes. It really wants you to pound the keyboard apparently. I’ve gotten used to it, and it’s fine for putting together little tunes at home, but it’s no piano replacement, that’s for sure.

The Information:

Rating

After 15 years using a Roland U-20 as a midi controller I began to wonder if upgrading would ever be needed. I figured all I needed was something that could trigger midi notes, and my old keyboard did that just fine. Then one day recently I saw a live band using a little 25 note controller to trigger Combinator patches out of Reason, connected only by a USB cable. The little dials on the keyboard were being used musically to change various parameters of the sound. It then occurred to me that maybe I should take a hard look at what has happened in the last 15 years with Midi controllers.

Escaping from my local retailer with M-Audio Oxygen 8 v2 in hand, I rushed home to see if these bells and whistles really mattered. Skipping the dated CD-ROM that came in the package, I downloaded the current M-Audio drivers using the World Wide Web. Driver installation was painless, and then I connected the hardware. After windows carefully chewed on three different hardware wizards it was all done. Not bad, although I have some sympathy for anyone who is not familiar with the Windows “Found New Hardware” wizard. Fortunately the documentation describes the procedure in detail. The creative session that unfolded over the next few hours is what prompted me to write this review. Long ago it was very difficult to pass “special” information over Midi. Users were forced to map out keyboards, sift through menus, and spend hours on configuration. Those days are over! With this current technology, mapping a function to a dial or button is a simple matter. Software like Cubase and Reason just ask for you to touch the dial you want to use. After you give the dial a little twist the software detects it and maps it to the function of your choice. I could not be more pleased with how well this works.

The Oxygen 8 V2, which can be powered from USB, has 8 dials, 2 wheels, an LCD readout, and a number of buttons. Some of the included buttons are transport controls, so you can use the keyboard to play, stop, fast forward, rewind, loop, and record. This makes the midi recording functionality feel more like a Motif or Triton, allowing the user to take their eyes off the computer monitor. By the end of the evening I realized my old Roland U-20 simply cannot take advantage of the latest features being offered by today’s software. While this little 25 note keyboard is a lot smaller, it’s incredibly functional, and takes up a very small footprint on my desk. With the octave button I can live without more keys. This installation has improved the Feng Shui of my workstation area, giving more features in a smaller space. When you first experience what its like to tweak a Reason or VST instrument with a physical dial, and have the software record you doing it, you will wonder why you waited so long to upgrade your giant old midi keyboard. It is truly frightening what can now be achieved with a laptop, a software program such as Reason 3, and an Oxygen 8 V2. You could sit in a coffee shop and be the next Aphex Twin. I recommend caffeinated.

Jonathan B. Allen:

Rating

I bought this product really not knowing much about MIDI. So far it has worked great with my Cubase software. I think for a starter Midi input device/keyboard it offers enough features to get any beginner starter in the right direction. Easy to install – requires no additional power supply, powered by the USB. Comes with some free software to get you started if you don’t have any.