M-Audio ProKeys 88

Beh, this is 'user-friendly' to the point of unfriendly.
It's inflexible and practically unprogrammable: just as well it works as a decent, cheap controller.
Irritatingly, the buttons and sliders can't be set up in any meaningful way for controlling software, as they send (mostly) plain old CC0 messages. All this would take is a minor software update to the m-audio driver for the majority of buttons and sliders that do send data.
Don't hold your breath.

Cheapest available 88-key weighted action 'stage piano' type midi controller. I'm using it as both a controller, and an (emergency) audio source.
A plasticky type of thang, with push buttons, 3-digit led, three sliders, mod wheel and pitch bend, and the lovely added bonus of a decent piano-ish footpedal.
Here a small range of onboard sounds with boggy bog-standard midi effects complement a fairly basically featured keyboard with preferable action (in my book) to the lower end models by other manufacturers. It does feel 'different' to other weighted action keyboards, though.
This can't be USB powered, sadly, but it can send midi by USB.

The sounds are tonorously non-GM, thankfully. Nothing to blow your mind, but good for a cheap set of keys, and Praise be to Allah for sparing us the idiocy of some hundred-odd useless 'samples' of standard GM fayre.
Onboard effects are the boggiest of bog-standard, however.
This is where things get subjective. I went from playing an upright, and using a synth controller to this, and I prefer its action to that of other low-end controllers.
The keys have a slightly unpredictable bounce reminiscent of a cheap upright piano with dodgy felt(rather than the wholly artificial wannabee grand feel of other budget keyboards), but this does have a problem in that its high velocity response is just miles off the real thing. It's here that the lack of proper hammer action is felt.

Ideally, if money permits, don't gig it. Get a really good instrument before you share things with others.
If needs must, and the devil drives, you will find this surprisingly light and manageable.
It's also reasonably durable for a lump of plastic, my only losses being a single led and the ring around my right output jack.

M-Audio have no interest in dealing with the minor software issue that would make this a much better controller keyboard. In fact, they haven't responded.
They have, at least, released a Vista driver....

Frankly, if you want a cheap stage piano, get an old knackered Wurly or Rhodes.
If you need midi and can stand the worse polyphony and similar lack of sounds, get one of the older yamahas second hand.
If you need a midi controller with no sounds, get a Fatar.
In the unlikely event that this is the only option that fits your needs in your budget, then do rest assured that it's no better or worse than other 'stage piano' efforts at the bottom of the ladder: I, for one, prefer its action.

Well, this keyboard is a controller with some high-quality sounds. The operation is ridicule, easy a lot. It has 12 buttons, 7 for the sounds, 1 for chorus, 1 for reverb, 1 advanced function, 2 buttons to assignabile functions. The manual is prestative, but you will just nedd help to the MIDI functions. The MIDI part are simple too, it's a simple controller, with a few real time controllers. Modulation and pitch bend wheel (the modulation wheel are assignabile). What else, 2 audio outs (R and L), 2 phone outs, DC in, MIDI out and USB (to host).

The polyphony are high, 126 notes. It's too much to play alone, but it's a nice complement. It has an chorus and reverb effects (3 levels and OFF). No expansion capabilities. The MIDI controls are de modulation wheel, the slider and a couple of butons; The keys are nicre, not hammer action, but semi-weight. No sequencer or edition possibilities. It's a simple controller, the features are simple too.

Piano I - A nice piano, i use a lot this sound
Piano II - A bright piano, for mu is fine, but don't use much (the pianos could sounds better with a band)
EP.I - A nice Rhodes simulation, i like that. this soung need some bight.
EP.II - Wurly. Ohh, that is nice, the simulation are great.
FM - I don like it, but FM pinao is useless to me.
Clav - It's OK. Nice but could be better (i dont' use this sound)
Organ - the percussive effect are nice, but i miss a leslie simulation. Whith some chorus and vibrato you culd have a nice organ.

Well, in a gig i coul use this controller with some VSTi. If you need some good pianos this is the rig.

Until this moment, n problems. The M-audio assistence are nice i guess. No opinion for that.

It's a nice Stage piano, usefull like a controler butt without many real time controllers. The sound are nice, with a band could be better. Just an advice, never plays in a MONO configuration becouse it sound sux. League the 2 audio outs, an STEREO out and be happy. This is not a piano simulator, or a digital piano. It's a stage piano, to play with a band and use with a sound module or a VSTi. For the price, i think it's a good acquisition.

Selecting sounds is as simple as pressing the button corresponding with the preset sound you want. It doesn't have onboard speakers, so you will need to hook-up to speakers or headphones.

126 note polyphony (Maudio lost 2 somewhere), reverb, chorus. I don't think it has any expansion capability. It has MIDI in/out and USB interface. Pretty much all the features you'd expect form something in this price range.

Horrible, horrible action!! People looking for realistic piano action (why else would you but a hammer action keyboard!?) should avoid this. It has some initial resistance when you press a key, then gives way to bounce down in a very un-natural way. I found the piano sound to be quite harsh & electronic, although to be fair it was being played through a mono keyboard amp. Played through better speakers, in stereo may have given a more pleasing piano sound. I can't comment on the other sounds.

I just played it in the shop, so can't speak for it's reliabilty. It does feel sturdy enough though.

I went to the store to try out the model below this - the Keystation 88, however the shop didn't have any of that model in stock, so I played the Prokeys 88 instead. I very quickly decided that I wouldn't be purchasing either the prokeys or the keystation based on the poor action of the keys alone. The Keystation shares the same keybed so I would expect it to be just as bad.

I own this piece of ... gmmm... equipment for little over one year. I used it very carefully, never abused, never dusty and it has 3 (Three!!!) failed keys already! I am not keyboardist (I do play guitar) and whatever I played was far from elaborate passages of Chopin or Saen-Saens ;).
The feel of the keys is VERY heavy. Playing a song of one minor, one major and one dominant chords is a WORKOUT. The keys bounce back unevenly, with poor return velocity so even 16th notes to be played like a drum with a horrible knocking sound.
The action is SO high, and the back path is SO uneven it is impossible to play any meaningful arpeggio even on lightly moderate tempos.
It was my first purchase in keyboards and I was naive hoping that relatively inexpensive keyboard will be useful in the same way as inexpensive guitar. IT IS A MISTAKE!!! This is a bad keyboard and it affects your ability and you DESIRE to play it. Do not buy this trash.
Needles to say I'm not happy to drop this review as it is my admission of wasted $500 that is good money. If you want my advise, do not buy keyboards from M-Audio as apparently they are not competent in that field. They buy parts and assemble them but they do not have even near understanding and experience as Roland, Edirol, Yamaha,Kaway or Korg. I have their Axiom 49 that they call "best midi keyboard" as well as they call this piano "premium" and it is useable but very low quality keyboard. I have M1 keyboard from Edirol, that is cheap $150 keyboard, none of m-audio's is even near the awesome quality and solid feel and touch of Edirol! It is entirely possible that these m-audio products are premium articles among chinese peasants, but these are substandard trash by Western Civilization scales.
I am sorry that I have now to cash out more to buy a real thing. The resale value of it is zero.
One more word about sound quality. The sound of this keyboard is marginal at best. It is empty, shallow, lacking of presence. I do not compare it to some lush expensive units or multi Gb software samples. I compare it to most basic sounds from Casio, entry level Roland or Yamaha. The sound has very annoying modulation artifacts that becomes VERY apparent on decay.
If you are beginner, this piano will screw your techniques and defeat the inspirations.
If you are an advanced player, the artificial sound and horrible keyboard will be revolting.
If you are a musician who plays primarily another instrument but needs a MIDI keyboard that has some sounds for easier scatching it will let you down in all devisions.
Sorry but it is very poorly designed, substandard, low quality, heavy as a hell peace of "premium piano" for third world. This trash does not fit here in US.

This is an addendum to my previous review.Putting these sounds in mono or playing only one channel will not work. Piano sounds were made to be heard in STEREO so you must pan each output totally to the left and right accordingly at the mixing board. Then add real effects and you have a really decent sound.

If you negative feedback users out there would use just a simple EQ and give it a tad bit of 3D sound even from something simple as a hookup to your pc and make sure your're running the axe in stereo, it sounds fantastic. That's the reason for the low price point on this. Not a lot of processing to keep the cost down. But you knew that...

Rather easy to use. I have had my Prokeys 88 for 4 days now, and I havent looked in the manual yet.

In the beginning I found the keyboard action a bit heavy, but not as heavy as my old Yamaha P-200

I used to play on a Kurzweil Mark 10w and a Yamaha P-200, and in many ways I found the pianosounds in this cheap stagepiano more realistic. The grand piano is very Yamaha-like, but i find the pianosound 2 and 3 very good for my kind of jazz and bluesmusic. The Rhodes and the Wurlitzer is okay, the vibes are not good enough and the organs can be used. I use the acoustic bass with the ride cymbal layer a lot. I had the same function on my Kurzweil but it sounds better here.

It is heavy, but as heavy as my Yamaha P-200. Buttons seems okay.

This is simply my best digitalpiano ever.

Other than snatching the piano wave forms, did not make it to software. After sixteen hours of working with the instrument, packed it back up for return. This item would never have passed pre-production in any of my past associations.

Piano samples do not match those offered online for listening.

Poorest example of a digital "piano" sound we've ever heard. Where does M-Audio get off with such blatant overstating of samples?

Effects are poorly managed, if at all. Catagorical indexing parameters absurd. The whole presentation appears as an inexperienced engineers' folly, with no input from accomplished players/producers.

On-board sequencer; who cares? The machine is not usable as touted.

Velocity and aftertouch? Not linear. Slow single note re-generation with quick lead improvisation.

Onboard effects good? Very bad? Chorus parameters notched too close & basically inefective. Souded like an acoustic piano through a Leslie. Speed/width/intensity notch filter not found - is there one?

Reverb attenuation/expansion/depth poorly notched.

Does it react to your playing, or is it static? With more than thirty years of full time experience in the biz, could not make "music" on this machine. Am very disappointed.

Can you depend on it? Wouldn't dare attempt. Life's tough enough at times.

Purchased from Musician's Friend, and they are (so far - don't have refund yet)very cooperative re:return. Not interested in speaking with M-Audio - They passed this mistake through their own Q&A!

Upgrade or repair? Yamaha CP300 would fix the problem.

How long have you been playing? Professionally, since 1957.

Why did you choose this one? After assuming the mechanicals & technology to be as good or better than available market specs, it was the piano samples heard online at M-Audio site.

Anything else you'd like to share? Sadly, nope... the deal's done.

Keyboard action sucks. Efects are cheap and with onboard sound uselles. Usable eventually as controler.

I couldn't belive my ears - this thing is horrible! This is the worst piano sound i have ever heard on stage piano! Completely plastic sound, no realistic at all! Effects are uselles - total disaster!! After half of hour playing I decided to return it back to dealer. I was looking for "practice" stage piano, with suitable sound and feeling, and I am very dissapointed with this product.

Give up of it after short time - maybe it is reliable, who knows....

If you need a controler with overall key feeling and limited options, then you can buy it (for that purpose price is OK). Otherwise do yourself a favour and buy something else, especially if you are looking for piano feeling and sound!

Simple stage piano.

Nothing special, but price value is on 88-keys and hammer-action.

It sounds horrible, in many respects. The piano maps are so obtuse and twinky it can't be believed.

Just listen to a Yamaha CP-33's sounds, then come back agreeing.

Horrible, horrible, horrible. My drivers wouldn't load, and I spent 45 minutes in their phone queue THREE TIMES in three days and never got them.

An email response came in twenty-four hours. Fair enough, but not good enough.

You have to feel the action on this cheapy to understand how bad it is. When you press a key for the first time in ten minutes, it resists, then jumps. After ten minutes, it "sets" again. The action after that is still bumpy and odd. This, with the horrible sounding pianos and such, made me return it for the Yamaha.

Price-wise, I think it is amazing that they tried to make an 88-key, hammer-action board for so cheap. It didn't work.