Ableton Forum

Ok,

I said dorm, but its a military barracks on north island. Im getting out of the navy in 2 weeks and am going to go to community college up in san francisco in the spring.

thank god i borrowed the oxygen 8 i have. has never worked. new drivers and all...

does anyone know of any other 88 keyboards with as many knobs and faders as the keystation pro 88? Should I exchange it for another one or get something different?

chris

3phase wrote:All this stuff usually gets produced in china...

That is very cheap because nobody touches the stuff before it gets in the box. No supervisors during production aso.
The 15% returns are in the calculation...
That is cheaper than installing cervice centers all around the world or test any of the arriving units.

So you better test in the shop

This simply is not true. M-Audio products are made in China, shipped back to the USA for quality controll and then shipped worldwide. I am the distributor for M-Audio in New Zealand and the amount of returns compared to the amount of stock sold is about 2%.

M-Audio is VERY good with returns. I bought a kspro 88 and has a velocity response issue with it.. returned it back to M-Audio and they sent me a brand new one!

beatnick wrote:and the amount of returns compared to the amount of stock sold is about 2%.

which is pretty much what could be expected from any manufacturer, isnt' that about right?

Machinate wrote:

beatnick wrote:and the amount of returns compared to the amount of stock sold is about 2%.

which is pretty much what could be expected from any manufacturer, isnt' that about right?

That's right, I fact other companys that will go unnamed expect up to %10 - %15 returns. M-Audio are very good with their return policy and quality control. Thats why I felt I had to stand up for them here... Otherwise work stays at work

djshiva wrote:thank god i borrowed the oxygen 8 i have. has never worked. new drivers and all...

that's surprising shiva. Oxy 8 was the only midi controller I used for years and it was/is solid for everything I've used it for.

ya know, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a driver issue though. M-audio's drivers aren't exactly what you'd call industry standards!

I bought a Pro88 about 6 mths ago after reading some favourable reviews. At the time, a few people on forums were complaining about poor quality control, but I took a punt because those posts were about 6 mths old, so I hoped M-Audio had got their shit together in the meantime.

I usually don't buy cheap stuff, but the combination of a swathe of knobs/faders/buttons for controlling Live and a fully-weighted keyboard was just too tempting Anyway, one of the keys was faulty; after 10 mins of use, it would send a progressively weaker velocity level until it disappeared altogether. I took it back to the shop and waited for another one. Eventually, it arrived... excitedly I opened the box... WTF?! The top-right key was jammed down at an angle. I guess it got pressed down by the styrofoam packaging. The distributor is a 5 minute drive from my house, so I went there and changed it straight over.

This one has been absolutely fine. The action across the whole keyboard is much nicer than the first one I got. The guy at the store told me they had sold 20 and I was the first one who got a dud. I believe him because I've known him for years

So... I don't know what can be inferred from my experience. Maybe they do have QC issues, or maybe I was just really unlucky. This one is real nice. The action is slightly "clunky", but with a a bit of practice I've adapted to it. The action is not as nice as the "2-3 times as expensive" Roland I tried (can't remember model) but it's incredibly good for the price (33 knobs/faders, 17 buttons + fully set of transport controls).

The sales rep said they would get back to me monday or tuesday. Im going to exchange it for the mk 461-c. 61 keys is plenty. I can always add on a uc-33e if I need more knobs and faders.

Thanks for the feedback guyz.


Chris

rahlo wrote:

djshiva wrote:thank god i borrowed the oxygen 8 i have. has never worked. new drivers and all...

that's surprising shiva. Oxy 8 was the only midi controller I used for years and it was/is solid for everything I've used it for.

ya know, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a driver issue though. M-audio's drivers aren't exactly what you'd call industry standards!

well first the keyboard wasn't even recognized when i plugged it in after installing the drivers. then it started to recognize it, then told me that windows doesn't recognize the hardware, then it stopped finding it again.

i give up. too much of a headache.

I have a Pro 88, and I've no problems with it whatsoever. It's a fine keyboard. the keys make a little sticky noise sometimes and seem to need to be pressed once before they loosen up (on the first press there is a little resistance, after that they are fine). For the money I'm happy.

Can't say the same for my Firewire 410 however. I get audio drop outs after 2 hours until it disappears completely. But its going back for repair now (for the second time) so we'll see.

As for other keyboards, the UME has been getting good reviews (http://www.soundonsound.com/news&NewsID=7470) not as many knobs though... and still made in china!

summersc2002 wrote: mk 461-c. 61 keys

Chris

Do you want to just use the keys as triggers ( then it will OK) or play anything - in this case it is the worst choice, shit plastic, you will break them in no time.M audio is cheapo but this a cheapo of a cheapo Try before you buy. If you want to play get at least Edirol, Fatar or CME

My Oxy 8 has been many places and runs great..cannot complain.
Maybe blame UPS for shipping?

I had an Oxygen 8 which worked fine. Sold it and now have an O2 instead which also works great.

While I haven't had any problems, I do have to say the build quality is a little questionable/flimsy. But we all know that, I suppose.