Reviews: Buy M-Audio Keystation 88es USB MIDI Controller online at Gigasonic.com

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M-Audio Keystation 88es USB MIDI Controller
$299.00$219.00Save: 27% FREE US SHIPPING

Description: M-Audio Keystation 88es is an 88-key, semi-weighted action USB MIDI controller with velocity sensitive that's perfect for performance, ... Read More

Rating:

(5 Reviews)

Product Reviews

by Joe Grundle

Date Added: 10/24/2011

I browsed around here on gigasonic to find a guitar but unexpectedly found this keyboard. i received it 3 months ago. Now i should say it is good baby. The keys feel great. it is semi-weighted as opposed to the Oxygens non-weighted synth-action keys and seems quite sturdy, and set-up is a breeze. If you use soft synths and are looking for a full-sized no-nonsense keyboard - this is it!

Rating:

[5 of 5 Stars]

by Nancy Perkins

Date Added: 07/08/2010

This is what it is, a great, inexpensive controller. The semi-weighted keys feel great and it performs well. It looks nice, and everyone should get one.

Rating:

[5 of 5 Stars]

by Calvary

Date Added: 06/15/2010

It has a wonderful semi-weighted feel to it, which means it's meatier than a traditional controller The quality of this board is just immense and the keys feel just about as awesome as you can expect from something being made out of plastic. But I thought it was too good to be true :the gear not well- made, the keys physically uneven.

Rating:

[5 of 5 Stars]

by Amy Entrekin

Date Added: 05/27/2010

This keyboard has fairly good synth action and 88 keys. It doesn't do much more than that, but I've had it for almost a year now and it's never not worked. One thing I wish it had was some M-Audio drivers. It uses the basic windows drivers so it appears in my DAW as Universal Midi Controller which makes it hard to distinguish from a couple other midi devices I have hooked up. Overall though, it works for my need, which is a simple 88 key controller.

Rating:

[4 of 5 Stars]

by Craig Friedman

Date Added: 03/28/2010

The Keystation 88es comes with the very basic features that you expect from a decent midi controller keyboard, including MIDI ins and outs, USB, a DC in port (but no included wall wart, which is no loss since the unit can be powered by the USB cable), an input for a damper pedal and one other footswitch. Otherwise, it's a fairly sparse, no-frills controller with only pitch bend and modulation, a volume slider and a pair of buttons that implement the octave up/down function in case you have a Bosendorfer sample or some other reason to expand beyond 88 keys. That's in stark contrast to the Pro 88, which has yards of knobs and faders that should let you control everything from your VST instrument to your DAW mixer to the small appliances in your kitchen. This is not the only significant difference, though. I played the fully weighted keys of the Pro 88 at a local retailer, and it is more pleasant than the semi-weighted keys of the 88es, which feel stiff and decidedly plastic and synth-like, more so even than my old synths, like the M1 and Juno 60. Of course, the selling feature of the 88es as opposed to the Pro 88 is the price. It's awfully hard to find a respectable 88 key controller for 200 clams, and for the money, the 88es is just fine. The velocity sensitivity is perfectly acceptable, the damper pedal very functional, the volume fader works with my computer without any additional tweaking required, and the octave function also... well, functions. The unit is light (an advantage if you have to carry it around, a disadvantage when it slides around on your stand a little) but sturdy. For the money difference -- and what I need it for, which is strictly hobbyist home recording -- the 88es has been a very good purchase. I've always had only 61 keys at my disposal before, and the jump to 88 is truly liberating, especially when using VSTs like Sythology's Ivory. The plastic-feeling semi-weighted touch is a mild perturbance, but a few minutes into any session I warm up to it and it stops bothering me.

Rating:

[5 of 5 Stars]

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