M-Audio Keystation 88 Pro

It's really wasy to connect this interface to a computer. Just plugin the usb cable and that's it (no drivers, no external power needed). In combination with reason, this product is perfect. It is unbeleavably easy to assign functions to on of the many controls on the keystation.

I don't use any special midi functions. Just the pianokeys, and the controllers (sliders, rotary etc). But from the manual I think the keystation has many advanced midi functions (which I'll never use)

The Keys are really bad. I've been playing piano/keyboard for 14 years, but I never played a piano this bad, some old cafe piano's and my 50$ minikeyboard i got when I was 5 included.
First: It is waaaay to sensitive. Yes, you can change the velocity curve, but for every curve, the toplevel is reached without playing hard. It is impossibly to play a classical song with expression. (right now, I'm studying balalde1 from chopin but the keys are so bad, I'm going to buy another piano since I get pretty irritated of this thing sometimes.)

Then the keys itself: they make a lot of noise when you play, so I have to use headphones, or turn op my speakers quite loud. The keys are movable to the left/right and when you press it, you'll first need to press a little harder, like the keys are slighly locked somehow. I don't know what kind of "hammer action" this was supposed to be, but it comes nothing near any keyboard instrument. (Maybe a harpsichord? I never played that one)

I think this thing is a tank! Sometimes I play the keys really hard, but it's still working. The body is part metal, part plastic and the bottom is made of 'pressed wood' (?)

As a midi controller, it is really good. But as a piano, it is terrible! SO: Save money by just buying a midicontroller without keys, or pay more money to get a controller with a propper keyboard, just make sure not to buy this thing cause it's not worth it.
PS: sorry for my (probably not so good) English.

There are very many things that you can do with this board that are not so easy to accomplish on others. It is very easy to assign the knobs, fader etc to various parameters at the keyboard end. It is even easier to assign things at the PC end of things and could save a lot of time.
I give a rating of 8, to have more ease of use would mean to have less features which I would not like.

The keyboard action is excellent for the price, I immediately liked the action of the keybed, it is much better than the 49 spongy synth action keys which I had endured.

Its true that this board does not have after touch, but most midi controllers only have at most mono phonic aftertouch anyway.

The ample amount of rotaries, faders and other controls, all of which can be assigned to any parameter you like makes controlling analog modelling synths a real joy. I find that now a lot of controls assigned to AMSYNTH (linux moog type thing), I discover more sounds than I would have done using just the mouse.

The knobs and faders are not motorized, but it is easy to set the position of a rotary or fader by hittiing the "contol mute" button first.

The keyboard has both Midi in and Midi out as well as USB (which I use just for power).

The action of the keybed feels really good, I have a background in playing hand drums and have developed a lot of finger strength. I saw Jordan Rudess's chromatic scale lesson on youtube and he said that you should use your fingers like little hammers.

The surface of the keys, though seemingly shiny and nothing special, allow for a lot of traction on your fingers which aides fast playing and increases confidence.

I find that it is possible to play quite quietly, perhaps not pianisimo, but how often are you going want to do that in anything other than classical music?

Velocity is perhaps slightly uneven but I would suspect that to be the case with any keyboard whether synth-action or hammer action. Also there have been variations in timbre and velocity in just about any sampled piano that I have ever played (seeing how piano samples are recorded by a human pianist hitting the keys once for each velocity layer, this is hardly surprising). So you shouldnt blame any keyboard before examining your own playing and the sound module or program you are using.

I think the keyboard must be quite reliable as I bought mine second hand , and there is not much variation in the feel of the board between the middle two octives and the keys near the end of the board (apart from the duff note at A-1)

If it were stolen, I would definately seek out another one. I am a beginning keyboardist but have much experience with hand drums which has developed good finger strength and sense of touch.

The keyboard has allowed me to play my my scales much faster and encourages me to practice more because it feels so good.

This board truly shines here. The midi implementation and controls are set up both logically and with quick use in mind. I found that controlling various functions was easy and straight forward. Program changes can be done quickly, and presets can be created easily, and called up easily as well. Some may find the preset limit of 10 presets onboard a bit limiting, but the Enigma software that comes with it makes preset creation essentially limitless. The control panel is well set up, with buttons and faders positioned in a way that facilitates easy use in live performance. The programmable buttons are set up in a single row right over the keys, making it easy to punch loops and clips in one's software in and out without missing a note. The quickstart manual was informative but somewhat limited. There is an advanced manual available from the M-Audio website that is very complete, and a must download. I have yet to see another controller board with midi implementation this well thought out.

The midi implementation is the keyboards most powerful feature by far. Up to four splits are possible, and 24 knobs, 9 faders, and 17 buttons provide an enormous amount of control. There are also controller groupings, and complete control over pretty much everything. It's even possible to invert the fader values to get a drawbar feel! The functions are to numerous to mention, I'd suggest downloading the advanced manual from the website, which lists them. It's the most complete midi feature set on a controller board that I've yet to see. After two years of use, I'm still finding new tricks.

Here's where many people seem to differ. I found the action quite expressive with none of the problems that some persons mentioned having to do with uneven velocity. There is a bit of resistance at the initial keystroke, but I adjusted to that quite quickly. I'm willing to bet that the action on this board lends itself best to persons that play with a strong, fast touch that comes out of the fingers. It compares well to the touch of a Rhodes electric piano, as mentioned in other reviews. As for myself, I've been playing for 38 years, and I found that my playing was quite expressive on it. There are 9 velocity curves, and I settled into number 7 nicely. Does it have the same action as an acoustic piano? No. Does it have the action required to play piano pieces well and expressively? Yes! I did a piece on it on my last performance that didn't leave a dry eye in the house, and I use it as my practice board, as well as live. To those who say that it's not possible to play well on this keyboard, I suggest watching the youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NukAEJdGiJI ,(no, it's not me) . That should prove that it is possible to play highly technical passages on this board. Basically, I wanted a board that would enable me to play piano pieces as well as synths through my software in live performances, while keeping up my piano touch. It's filled the bill perfectly. I've played on it extensively, and when getting on high-end pianos, have found that my skill and touch has kept up well. Note however that there is no aftertouch. I've never missed this, as I've played a lot of vintage boards, but some might.

I've been dragging it quite often to performances, and it has held up beautifully, although I should say that I transport my boards with great care.... One thing though. The first one I bought had some problems with the internal processor. I called support. They were very helpful, and readily admitted that it was probably defective and should be returned. I returned it, and the new unit has worked well since. So it gets an 8 because apparently it's obvious that M-Audio has had some quality control problems. Still from what I've seen on the message boards, I believe that they've cleared that up.

See above. From what I can see, curteous and honest.

I really like this board. I use Ableton on stage, and I can control everything with ease from it. Program changes are easy, and the buttons enable me to bring loops in and out to compliment my performance without missing a note. There are so many knobs that I can control entire eq's and synths from the board, as well as mix from it on the 9 programmable faders. I even can kick in clip recordings from the board with ease. For me, I took to the action easily, it seemed a natural fit. Still, I found my playing was enhanced by selecting the right velcurve. After playing this board for almost two years, I've grown quite fond of it, it's a beloved member of my keyboard family. I will say, though, that those with an extremely light touch may wish to test drive. Oh yes, and look at the price. I had just got done with buying a ton of software, and was sweating the need for a new controller while having very little money to work with. Still, I wanted a full range of keys, and the ability to control my software well. Bottomline, this was an answer to a prayer, and it was a good one!

NA

NA See below

I recently ran across a freeware program, Pianotuner, that will help those who have uneven velocity responses on their Keystation 88 pro. This program lets you remap the velocity response of each key, note by note. In other words, for each key, you can set the velocity response to the pressure you exert. If you want the bass to respond a little more lethargically, for example, or just have one or two keys that seem to respond too fast, this program will let you make the needed changes and save them to a default file that opens each time you open the program. (Or you can have several maps and choose among them. There is also a clean graphical interface. Nothing like Midiox, the excellent, but more complex midi remapping program. You do have to have MidiYoke, a freeware midi connector\driver installed, but once you've set this up, the program loads it automatically.

The result is that while one does have to load the Pianotuner program when you want to play (assuming you want the improved velocity response), but you also have an entirely new keyboard that responds exactly the way you want it to.

The program can be found at: http://users.belgacom.net/gc813607/index.html

NA See above

NA See above

NA See Above

Amazing features - the large number of faders, knobs and buttons are great for programming.

I'm using this to control Logic Pro 7.2. I love the fact that there are so many controls but the action leaves a little to be desired. I've messed a lot with the velocity curves but actualy key response is unpredictable. The behaviour I'm seeing is more resistance at first then the key gives way and plunks down the the bottom of the key bed. The travel is inconsistent.

If you're not playing things that need nuance then this would be okay.

Other than the action the keyboard has always performed well

I probably wouldn't buy this keyboard again. I would most likely get a Yamaha S90 (or similar) or a Kawai.

Ease of use? Well, it???s quite easily very useless! (pun intended) I???ll get to that later though.
Setting it up and integrating it into your system is actually fast and easy. It didn???t even need drivers (in XP) as it is class-compliant. The interface is intuitive and logical and all functions are never more than one or two button-pushes away, so no complicated menu-structures or anything like that. Assigning midi-CC???s to the many controllers is a breeze and give you instant control over just about anything you want (the midi part of the keyboard is very good).
The standard manual you get in the box is a little short; the advanced one you can download is more elaborate and does a fairly good job of explaining all the functions.

It???s loaded with features, among them: 4 programmable zones, 59 controllers, three pedal inputs etc. In fact the feature-list was an almost exact copy of my wish-list. OK, it didn???t have aftertouch. I knew that in advance and didn???t really care (still don???t).
Other than that? I don???t know, is buyers regret considered a feature?

So maybe you???ve read some of the other reviews (here and elsewhere) and will realize that what I???m about to tell you isn???t anything new. That is, the problems I was having are common, a very bad realization indeed!
Firstly, let???s review the action. Midi keyboards in stores are quite often not hooked up to a computer or module. This was no exception so I never got to play any sound from it. I did test the keyboard???s action extensively while it was turned off and wasn???t totally put off by it. I???ve played many keyboards and pianos in my life, and at home we have a decent upright piano. All in all, I was looking for a somewhat lighter hammer-action.
The keys of the KSPro seemed less sturdy as a Yamaha digital piano, which overall I find too heavy. I actually preferred the keystation???s action to some of the Roland???s (IMHO sort of ???gummy???) and it definitely owned the Casio???s (very bouncy indeed). Didn???t like the CME, never tried Kurzweil or Studiologic (Fatar). Based on the reasonable action and the listed features (also adjustable velocity) I just bought it.
When I hooked it up to my computer for the first time however is when the problems started. Playing a software-piano some serious velocity-issues became blatantly obvious right away. Velocity-response was all over the place, varying widely between adjacent keys and even when hitting a single key multiple times. The output seemed almost totally random. And even worse, the randomness was random, meaning different keys would act up at different times. No amount of tweaking the (DAW-)software made a difference and believe me, I tried it all.
Mind you, this really wasn???t my playing and I???ve confirmed it thoroughly (almost scientifically) with MidiOX, a midi-program that can output midi data to text. Setting different velocity-curves makes no difference whatsoever in this behavior.
There is only one conclusion: velocity response/touch sensitivity on this thing is completely dysfunctional making playing with any expression or dynamics impossible and a frustrating even agonizing experience.

I know that it???s a budget-product but in general I can live with that fact. Sensible compromises make it so that you don???t have to pay a lot for things that aren???t really that important anyway.
The keyboard is made out of 90% plastic with some aluminum plating (for show I guess) and a nice cardboard-bottom (or fiberboard, whatever). Again budget, but not something that really bothered me that much as I was intending to mostly use it in a home studio environment anyway (if you want to gig with it than that???s a different story).
Granted, I never really got to test its reliability any further since with the glaring problems it had it was basically DOA. I only owned it for a week before I returned it. Still, no good rating I???m afraid???.

So, like I said, I brought it back to the store (obviously). Being a regular costumer there, luckily, I got my money back. So I never had to deal with M-audio???s CS directly. Later, I did I ask the guy from the store whether he got any response from M-audio and if they said they had heard of the problem. Apparently they replied they never heard of it before and that just maybe it was a bad batch that somehow got out or, even worse, that somehow it was a U.S.E.R. problem. Go figure???LOL

I did read quite a few reviews before I bought this unit. Some reviews were very positive (mainly ones done by keyboard mags and sites). Some user reviews were very negative, like always, right? Furthermore there seemed to be some consensus about most problems being related to a bad batch of earlier units in 2004. I mean, a respectable company like M-Audio doesn???t just knowingly keep shipping a faulty product (for three years), turning a deaf ear to valuable costumer feedback, do they?
I dismissed some of the negative comments and bought it with the idea that for the money this would still be a great deal, a real bargain, and that there is no such thing as a perfect product anyway. But, sjeez, I really wasn???t prepared for anything this bad!
So, maybe I should have tried to get another one and if that one didn???t work another one, ad infinitum. There must be a good one somewhere right? Well, maybe you like wasting your time trying to find the good apple amongst many bad ones, I don???t! Good luck to you if you do!
Not being merely negative (although I felt I had to be honest), I???d like to say that I do own other M-audio products, amongst them a very good audio-card that I have enjoyed very much for years. Also, I???ve just found out this keyboard model isn???t even of their making. The exact shape and lay-out of the board can be found on some really cheap digital pianos from various other brands (google Medeli for instance). They just added the midi part I think (not sure). Suffice to say however I???m not inclined in buying anything from them again anytime soon.
Final verdict: initial concept 10, (midi)features 10, overall 2???..Very disappointing!!

I'm currently using Sonar and Reason, and bought this to tame both beasts. It replaced the 88-es. It needs to be said, the price point on this unit means that it is NOT intuitive if you are not pretty familiar with midi mapping and related concepts. If you are, this thing is cake and ROCKS! If not, spend some time learning the ins and outs, and reap the rewards.

The shear number of assignable faders, buttons, and knobs makes this unit a powerhouse of control. Only what is needed is included. Again, it is a Swiss Army Knife. If you know all of the blades, you can reach for the right one. If not, expect to unfold quite a few before you find the one you're looking for (mind you don't cut yourself). As noted by others, it's a piano action kbd. That pretty much defines the intended audience.

The version I have has 10 seperate velocity curves. And it has piano action that feels incredibly realistic. I got this because I play differently on synth action kbds. Not as expressively. This does the trick.

Too soon, and it is a studio unit. I won't be moving.

I have a few M-Audio units, and have not had to check with them. That should say it all.

I'm sold, and will be setting up presets in all of my software for this unit. I used to have to map needed upper/lower range keys to control DAW functions, and now I only have to map buttons/knobs/faders that serve only the purpose I assign to them. We're not in Kansas anymore. I now own the Ruby Slippers, baby!

This is a quick review that comes from buying one of these and spending 3 hours with it. This keyboard assumes that you have a basic knowledge of midi and what to do with CC's. Setting it up takes some time, but that's to be expected: this keyboard lets you do just about anything with any program. It couldn't be preset to work with every program out there.

If you spend some time setting it up, it's great. You can assign the 24 knobs and 9 sliders and 17 buttons to any midi CC's. In other words, full AHDSR control for the amp envelope and filter with plenty of room for assigning filter resonance, convolution settings in Kontakt or Giga, just about whatever one wants.

If you sit down expecting to get excellent sounds in ten minutes without learning about how to use midi, or just plugging it into a module, you'll find it hard to use. But if you approach this keyboard as a serious instrument that will do just about anything you want, once you set it up, you'll find it easy to use.

I do wish it could display text: would be very nice to press a bank button and see something like "Piano 1" instead of just the bank number. (In other words, name the bank in Enigma & then send the name to the nonvolatile memory of the Keystation 88). On the other hand, no one let you see text on these USB controllers when they first started coming out, so I'm not sure this can be considered a flaw.

For controlling a piano sound, this has exactly what I want: in any program that lets me assign parameters, I can control those parameters from the keyboard.

Early users had trouble with the velocity sensitivity. This problem seems to have been cleared up around a year or two ago. I'm able to find a velocity setting that works (around 8 or 9 for pianos.)

I have to admit to getting a ticked at some of the other reviews here about the lack of aftertouch: This keyboard was designed with a hammer action, and thus, self-evidently, mainly for playing sampled pianos. As a way to try to make it attractive to a larger audience, M-Audio apparently included the ability to use the sliders as drawbars. A big mistake, I suspect, since it may have led people to want aftertouch, too. Aftertouch on a hammer action keyboard sounds to me just strange. And there was no claim in any of the literature that this hammer action keyboard had aftertouch. It's one thing to wish that this instrument had aftertouch; it's something else to give it low marks because it doesn't have it.

All in all, once this is set up properly, it lets you control everything with buttons, sliders, and knobs. With a good softsampler, you can do just about anything.

Mostly good velocity response on mine. No irregularities across the keyboard. Getting low velocities requires a more piano-like touch than I usually use when banging out chords. Trying to get good low velocities, with all of the notes in a chord balanced the way you want, is not easy on a real piano: it's something you practice. Looking at the response to midi in a Kontakt demo, I'm seeing a good velocity response.

One thing to note here: because this is a hammer action, you don't have to press the key all of the way down into the board to play a note--just like on a real piano. Without practice, trying to press the note all of the way down will give you a harder velocity strike than if you stop 2\3 of the way down. To me, this feels fine and natural--pianos react the same way, and each one takes some practice to get used to.

With this keyboard, like with every other keyboard I've ever owned, I'll edit my multisamples a very little to adjust to the default velocity curves of this keyboard. To me, that's to be expected. Every keyboard is going to make playing F#3 at a velocity of 71 require a slightly different touch, and requires you to make choices about what sound you want given a speciic pressure. I bought this keyboard knowing that I would have to make those adustments. The next time I buy a keyboard, I know I'll have to do the same thing.

The sounds are as realistic as your sampler and your understanding of midi and sampling and syths can make them.

I'm ranking this as a ten partly to counterbalance the very low reviews for earlier, flawed models from 2004. It's 2-3 years later, now. For my purposes, this keyboard does exactly what I want.

Haven't had it long enough to know.

Never contacted them.

I'd get another. I've played off and on for about 25 years. I'm not an excellent pianist, but I know the sound I want and the controls I want, and this keyboard gives me both.

Compared it to all of the other USB keyboards out there (EMU X-Board, M-Audio Axiom 61, etc) and found that the extra octaves and feel and the ability to control so much made this keyboard much better.

It's helping me make music--once I set it up, assigning the midi CC's as needed for envelopes, filters, etc, the interface is transparent. Very nice to be able to reach up above the keyboard and adjust the filter. Much better than having to lean over to the computer to click and drag things around.

I am comparing the ease of use for this product with the Roland A-90 and A-70 for controller functions and with other workstation keyboards such as the Korg Triton. The Keystation isn't hard to use per se, but with no menus and numeric feedback only (no words) it's hard to tell sometimes what's going on. Using the Enigma software which is included with the unit helps somewhat, but I feel you shouldn't have to be tied to an editor/librarian to do certain things. All this said, for the price it gives you more control and better user interface than the other offerings in its price range when it came out, i.e. studiologic.

You'll see me write "for the money" a lot in this review, because with any piece of gear you have to keep in mind how much you're paying and what the bang for the buck factor is. If you are a rock star with unlimited funds who throws your keyboard away after a major tour, you aren't reading this anyway.

Lots of realtime controls, weighted/full size keys, lcd, software editor, included abelton live software, are all great. Wish it had an alphanumeric screen, more zones, and a few more things, but again for the money it's great.

I really like being able to set 4 zones and control them independently. Wish it had more zones, but 4 is 4 more than any other keyboard in this price range.

There have been a lot of negative reviews in this column regarding the action. Two main issues have cropped up, (1) the height of the black keys and (2) the action overall.

(1) I have played two of these units, and neither one had the key height problem. This was probably a bad lot of earlier units

(2) A lot of reviewers on this site compare the action of this board to a real piano or to controllers/digital pianos costing 4x as much. Most people when they are car shopping would not dream of comparing a Hyundai to a Mercedes. I guess it is valid to say you don't feel this unit compares to more expensive ones, and if you have the extra money you can upgrade. On the other hand, I feel there are a couple comparisons which are realistic to make with this unit:

- how does this unit compare to other midi controllers in the same price range
- how does it compare to low end weighted keyboards or entry level weighted pianos (CME, studiologic, Casio Digital Pianos)

This unit is a controller, so no sounds. After playing with the different velocity curves, I found one that fits my playing well.

To me, the action of this board is a little heavier than the studiologic boards. That is kind of a matter of taste. I think it compares very well with lower end synths like the Yamaha S08 and Korg Triton LE88. If you are on a budget and have the sounds elsewhere, I think this board is a good investment.

I do not think it feels as good as upper end workstations (Motif ES8) and digital pianos (RD-700/RD-300), however, you're getting into the 4x the price category here. So if you've got a larger budget, and don't need the controller functions, then perhaps there is another solution for you.

No problems in my use with it, but I've only used it about a month.

Haven't dealt with them yet.

I actually have borrowed this unit from a friend, and have been so impressed with it that I will be buying one soon. Best advice on buying any instrument, go to a store, play, listen, and learn. Or like I had the opportunity to do, borrow one and put it through its paces. Then compare it to the other items of similar price and function. If you have lots more dollars to spend , there may be some better options, but the nearest real competitor (studiologic vmk-188) costs at least twice as much. I mean really, this costs less than the yamaha home keyboard (DGX) with 88 unweighted keys. I think it's a bargain and a good piece of gear.

All those knob controls will make you very happy. Programming a setup never was so easy.

USB, MIDI OUT & IN. They forget about THRU?

No Aftertouch

Great support on M-Audio site with upgrades, software and infos.

Only 47 lbs, but it could fight against the heavy weight around and beat them.