M-Audio Keystation Pro 88

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 12:00 pm

has anyone got one yet, it looks good, to good to be true at that price.

soundsliketree · Post by **soundsliketree** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:50 pm

i've got one, and i'm loving it.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:24 pm

ive heard it doesnt have aftertouch. are you editing this cc in after you have played it. or is it not a big deal because i was looking at the Studiologic VMK-88 it has everything also better keys.i dont know what to go for.

tjwett · Post by **tjwett** » Sun Aug 15, 2004 10:49 pm

we got one. it's dope. totally ridiculoous value for the money. i was skeptical too but just try one and be convinced. to me the action is not quite as nice as a Motif but better than a Triton. sick sick board.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:16 am

Are you kidding? The VMK keys are crap! Feels like plastic toys. The Keystation 88 feels 1000% better. The whole unit is awesome and is perfect for Live.

If you want totally 100% pure heavy piano keys get the Yamaha S-90. If you want nice hammer action that you can still play 32nd notes plus have ton of knobs sliders and buttons get the Keystation!!!

Wayne from White Salmon · Post by **Wayne from White Salmon** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 2:42 pm

I have one, and I have to say the keyboard action is fine for me. I'm also amazed at the value for the money.

But I found the manual to be really poorly done. Or maybe I need to understand alot more about midi and such before I read the manual. I'm studying the manuals for both now, and another book is on the way. But its a pain to have all that control capacity and not be able to use it. What a tease.

Anyway, now I want to learn how to play piano, not just plink around like I do on my Ozone.

This is fun, even if I am still wrestling with the presets. It will be unbelieveable when I can change control sets by changing presets.

w

hat · Post by **hat** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 3:05 pm

I do like the M-Audio 88, though I tried it and it seemed just a notch above the average synth-action keys. A bit heavier no doubt, but not quite "piano-like", which I know is not the point, just that if one is looking for that kind of feel, they should consider a StudioLogic SL-880 or SL-990 instead. However, all these knobs and faders on the M-Audio unit make it a tempting proposition, automation heaven with one mouse-click and twiddle...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 3:35 pm

great - but don't like the action on the keys

feels a bit plinky plonky

but for the price...

mosca

woolven · Post by **woolven** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 5:42 pm

nice one guys for giving me some feedback. My one worry was the aftertouch and when u are a keyboard player this is important. u can use aftertouch to control pitch and mod it is powerful, but i can program this in after and with softsynths you dont really need it.

cheers. i is getting one.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 9:55 pm

Actually, many hammer-action keyboards do NOT have aftertouch because they are trying to mimic the feel and response of an actual Piano (and of course Piano's do not have aftertouch). So no, the Keystation 88 does not have aftertouch nor should it. It is velocity sensitve but aftertouch you will have to find on a synth.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Mon Aug 16, 2004 10:20 pm

Just as an aside, does anyone of you know of a poly-aftertouch controller out there? I'd love some of that wild expression.
Originally many synths could receive and use poly-touch, but not actually produce it?!?
I bet they don't come cheap, either. But I really want one... *puts on Brian Eno rubber-mask*

stew not logged in · Post by **stew not logged in** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:52 am

I briefly tried it in a music store, and they keys felt very cheap compared to my SL-880. Considering how cheap you can get the SL-880 in many places, I'd rather get a SL-880 plus a UC-33 than the M-Audio.

gsbe · Post by **gsbe** » Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:36 pm

stew not logged in wrote:I briefly tried it in a music store, and they keys felt very cheap compared to my SL-880. Considering how cheap you can get the SL-880 in many places, I'd rather get a SL-880 plus a UC-33 than the M-Audio.

I've thought about this after purchasing the KsP88 and decided against returning it. Controlling Live and VSTi's in a performance setting with the KsP88 is a breeze and I can't imagine doing a full show without either now.

I was immediately concerned about the keybed - its not as sensitive as my Roland RD-600. You cannot play widely dynamic piano parts with this keyboard easily. That said, with a lot of tweaking in my piano VSTi's response curve, I've been able to get it close enough. Additionally, I came to the realization that I'm not playing that many dynamic piano parts in live performance. The ability to have all the control provided with the KsP88 over Live is so simple it finally gets me back to making music!

I set up a default user template that gives me 4 zones on the KsP88 to play with that cover applicable ranges of the keyboard: bass (transposed up an octave), piano, organ, and rhodes. The first zone is on midi channel 1, second zone on midi channel 2, etc. I can easily switch between the sounds by turning on and off zones. I also figured out how to assign the volume pedal only to the organ zone and the sustain pedal to all zones except the bass using M-Audio's Enigma program, sliders to the organ zone for drawbars using Live's midi templates, etc. This opens so many possibilities for me on stage that I don't complain too loud or often about carrying this heavy beast to the gig.

The control over all of Live's parameters and parts is amazing and provides a new pattern based performance reality. I assign Filter/Delay effects on the drum tracks to rotary knobs (values above 50 turn the effect on, filter's frequency range applied to another, delay's sync time assigned to another). When using a drum VSTi with patterns like Steinberg's Groove Agent I assign the pattern to a rotary knob, the fill button to a button, etc.

A complaint here would be the tap tempo in Live: turning off the "4 taps = start" would be a nice preference. I would like to be able to sync the beat before coming in. I guess I could do this with a cue send and headphones, but once the track starts the tap tempo button seems to stop functioning correctly. I've read some posts and possibly an FAQ about this (?), but it still hasn't helped me figure out how to get more from the tap tempo.

Anyways, back to the KsP88 - I find it to be an indispensible piece of my Live experience! As a keyboard player, Ableton's simple "Edit Midi Map" function paired with the KsP88 are my live performance toolset.

BTW, I do not work nor do I have stock in these companies

taikowaza · Post by **taikowaza** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 7:58 pm

hi guys, question for 'ya, first of all, happy thanksgiving from seattle! Here I am, on my holiday, trying to mix a track, and I get stuck on mapping the transport on the new keystation 88 to live 4.04 midi map. I have wasted over an hour on this badboy and i would love to get it taken care of today!I have read the other forum posts, and tried changing the enigma preset to number 10, midi learn. This works fine, and all of the other controllers appear as working on the live screen, however, the BUTTONS (transport) will not register at all, and the buttons below the faders are all coming up as the SAME controller. I wish gear would just WORK!! any help is appreciated, thanks a lot, remember, discipline to get tracks OUT there onto stages and dancefloors, get those people groovin' and get the tracks out of your studios!
good luck
taikowaza

peterkirn · Post by **peterkirn** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:12 pm

I have to vote against the M-Audio, even though everyone else loves it.

I think the action, while decent, can't compete even with my original Alesis QS8 (though they've done something with the action on the new 8.2 that I REALLY don't like).

I had high hopes for controlling Live. But the thing is too heavy, and the action just not good enough -- even if it IS cheap.

I'd rather have a great synth action than a mediocre piano action, especially since I have to lug the thing to gigs in NYC! ;-D

I'm waiting therefore for the new generation of Novation synths, for which we finally have ship dates(!!)

http://createdigitalmusic.com/index.php ... &Itemid=44

M-Audio Keystation Pro 88

M-Audio Keystation Pro 88

so far - too good!

Yeah but how do you use it?

keystation 88 transport