M-Audio Axiom 61

I have no experience with the enigma editor, at least not with this product so I cant comment on it. Programming the controllers is very easy on the actual keyboard as long as you read the manual. I am using it for NI B4, so the preset for that was handy, though I strongly disagree with some of the presets they supply you with. For instance, why on earth would you not need to control the percussion parameters? Anyway, that's just a personal thing.

Action is beautiful for hammond playing. I can play very fast on this action and still feel in control, as I would on a b3 (im not saying its the same as b3, but it is closer than anything i've played trying to replicate it). Lots of sliders, plenty of buttons and the rotary encoders are good, though I haven't quite figured how to set them up properly yet.

I have no idea as I am not playing anything velocity sensitive.

I will use it at gigs without a backup, purely because I am poor. I trust it though. Played it for a few hours last night and it didn't do anything unexpected.

N/A

Suits my need for a B4 controller perfectly and would recommend it in a second to anyone wanting to do the same thing. Double it with a prokeys for the lower manual. If you are playing bass, you will never change the lower manual drawbars anyway so you dont need them. If you do, then buy a midi fader box.

I am using the Axiom on windows xp with the latest enhanced midi
driver "MA_CMIDI_WDM_4.2.03v4".

I have to put this product squarely in the middle, because the midi use is pretty good if you are using the presets. I have even had good luck programming them. However I have issues with the button layouts and the enigma editor software.

The buttons are sometimes active until another button pressed, such as recalling internal setups or changing programs. This may or may not be good, but the wrinkle is that there are arbitrary timings on some of these functions. For instance, say I am on one setup but would like to change zones. Easy enough-just press the zone button and make your selection. But the zone button stays active for like 30 seconds, then it goes back to the setup or program state. The problem is that when you go to switch your zones back, you have to really pay attention to the zone button to see if it is still active or not. In a live situation this is horrible because you want to be able to switch quickly. If you mess up you will be changing a program or running an entirely different midi command instead of activating/deactivating zones. I would rather see this either instantly deactivate after the zone is selected, or have it stay active until toggled off. The inconsistency makes it a pain live.

The enigma editor software is pretty lame. The main issue I have is that the setup data may be correct, but the preset names from the factory don't like to change. I don't know why, but every time I pull the setups off the axiom, the names have reset to the factory names, though the setups are intact. It seems software written for this device should be implemented better.

Polyphony is N/A as this is a midi controller only. No expansion options except promised firmware/software revisions.
The keyboard action may take some getting used to as it is somewhare between synth/weighted action (leaning heavily towards synth side). It actually feels pretty good as an organ keybed and handles synths well. Single channel aftertough is sufficient for most things. The pitch/mod wheels have a good solid rubbery feel. The sliders are a bit flimsy feeling, and I would prefer the knobs to be smooth rather than clicking knobs. Also, though they are rotary encoders, they don't necessarily work as rotary encoders on all soft synths. They adhere to a predetermined value, and one click could mean resetting to a zero. This is programmable though. The midi implementation is nice in that it also acts as a 1x1 midi i/o for non/usb controllers. I use this feature live all the time and it works well.
I used to get a lot of stalled notes (notes intermittently would not sound or would lag). I know a Mac user who had the same issue. As far as xp is concerned, m-audio lists a fix for this. Basically, power management on laptops cause this intermittent problem. Once that was resolved, it works much better, although I do get the occasional midi-note hang, especially when quickly changing setups/presets/midi values. I suspect the processor on the m-audio is a bit slow and not that good at handling everything at once.

Now another midi niggle. I have a pro controller, a Kurzweil PC2/x. The PC2 lets you assign different controls depending on what zone you're on. I use this to switch and assign separate controls between active softsynths without making a bunch of program changes. Axiom will not do this. Also, and most importantly, switching between setups on the pc/2 are almost instantaneous. Axiom takes at least two full seconds to change setups, which is unacceptable live. And god forbid that you had any note pressed or any midi command occurring as you switch setups-you will be greeted with a blinking screen on the Axiom that won't go away until you change back to another preset, then back again. You will also very likely have a hung note to shut off before you can move forward. In short, midi setups changes are a hands-off, 2-second nightmare. In the studio, this is never a big deal. Just expect some issues when playing live.

As i mentioned above, the keys, knobs and sliders all function pretty darn well. I can get a lot of expression out of my instruments. The expression pedal input is important for me and I am glad they put at least one on this board. Velocity sensitivity is not that great but you will find that trying to play piano on most non-weighted keybeds doesn't work so well. The lack of mass does not allow it to subtly differentiate between soft and hard. It's a pretty contrasty response no matter what curves you use. Of course, multi-channel aftertouch would be nice but you can do alot with single-channel.

I am debating this right now. Sometimes I suspect my sliders are jumping to whatever value they are on because of vibrations or something. They could be firmer. The keys make some clacking but as of yet they all work fine through 30 or so gigs with heavy playing. If you are using USB live, be sure to bring a backup cable as most are flimsy and not designed like professional audio cables. I may need to upgrade to get faster setup changes and more consistent button performance. The overall board is all plastic and not the toughest thing out there. The fact it has lasted this long through my gigs is a good sign, though.

I did have a question which I sent through their support. They took a day or two to respond, but that's all that can be expected these days.

If it were lost or stolen, I would probably look into an upgrade such as the edirol pcr-800 (any reviews yet?) cme or novation. I really could use a sturdier controller.
I play 2 to 3 times a week all year. I've been playing professionally for about 11 years now. This board, despite its flaws, has served me well in my recent transition into live laptop use.

This controller is pretty easy to use if you have a basic understanding of midi. It's relatively simple to change zones, channels, controllers, etc. either on the keyboard or in the Enigma software. The manual is pretty good. I noticed the manual on M-Audio's website is a little more complete than the one that shipped with my keyboard. Unfortunately the manual is a pdf file, not a paper one.

The hardest part so far was to get the transport controls to work in Sonar Home Studio. The trick which I found on the Sonar support forum on Cakewalk's sight is to assign the transport controls to a separate midi channel from the rest of the keyboard. Then you can use the generic control surface plug in to receive the transport control signals. If you keep them all together on the same midi channel, it seems the Home Studio (and also Sonar?) will not allow you to play notes into your tracks from that channel.

Features, especially for the price, are a strong point. It has aftertouch, sliders, rotary encoders, and drum pads. I think I'd rather have rotary pots instead of the encoders though. The sliders work well. Keyboard action is okay, but it's definitely not in the same league as something like The semi-weighted Motif's or Tritons. I kind of like the longish throw of the keys on the Axiom. I'm a bit more used to the piano so they fit me a bit better than the synth/organ style keys.

It took me a while to warm up to the velocity response. I couldn't really find any curves that allowed me to play with control at low velocities (<30) and still hit the max velocities. I was actually about to return it and get a used Yamaha W5 for $300 instead. I believe the W5 was Yamaha's top workstation in the early 90's. Its action felt very similar to that on the semi-weighted Motif's. However, after playing around with curve 7 on the Axiom, I decided to keep the Axiom. It allowed me to hit lower velocity levels and still get to about 100 if I really bang down the keys. Maybe that's not great but it works well enough for me and it's also really controllable which I decided was more important than the absolute min/max range. Also, after playing around with the input velocity curves in EmulatorX I was able to get really nice and expressive response on piano patches. The keys have a slightly wobbly and spongy feel, but I don't mind that really. On some of the unweighted and semi-weighted boards I tried, my fingers would get a bit sore but the Axiom's keys don't do that to me. If piano is what you're after, you'll want to spend a bit more on a weighted keyboard or digital piano. However, as I wanted one keyboard that I could play synth, organ, and piano patches with the Axiom does work pretty well.

I didn't buy the Axiom for the drum pads. I just wanted a keyboard with good action, sliders and knobs, and aftertouch for controlling soft synths. However, after playing with the pads for a while I'm hooked. It's true that you've got to hit them in the center of the pad to trigger the sensor. I found that slapping them with the flat part of my fingers instead of the tips made it much easier to get good results from them. No more playing drum kits from the keyboard for me!

I've only had it 2 weeks so far but no reliability problems have popped up.

Not had to deal with them yet as I haven't had any issues so far.

Hmmmmmmmmm.... Would I buy it again? Maybe, or maybe I'd spring for a used Yamaha S80 or S90. Still for the money, the Axiom is really tough to beat.