Ableton Forum

So I'm thinking about buying the M-Key v2 by CME. It's cheap, ideal for transportation, minimalistic, has sustain and expression pedal inputs, and doesn't take up much space. I have one additional preference for a midi controller keyboard, and that's aftertouch/pressure sensitivity. The reviews are extremely sparse, but most places don't mention aftertouch anywhere. Puzzlingly, it's in the manual (http://www.cme-pro.com/en/download/uplo ... 04_web.pdf), which is just overcome with Engrish.

I was wondering if anyone might be able to vouch for whether or not they've personally experienced aftertouch on this board or if they've heard anything about it. Or if they can sift through the internet and find something more conclusive than what I've gathered.

(And before anyone starts with "its in da manual u retard so its thier," please understand that almost nowhere else, such as on "Specifications" sections on their website, on musiciansfriend/zzsounds/harmonycentral reviews, etc. is aftertouch mentioned.

Thanks!

Not to mention, it's a little bizarre that to use aftertouch you have to hold the joystick down. Sounds self-defeating...

Baron von Case wrote:Not to mention, it's a little bizarre that to use aftertouch you have to hold the joystick down. Sounds self-defeating...

That's just goofy.

it's very unlikely that it has key aftertouch, and it's not mentioned anywhere in the manual either...

by default the joystick is configured to send aftertouch, but as you say it's not really the same thing...

fishmonkey wrote:it's very unlikely that it has key aftertouch, and it's not mentioned anywhere in the manual either...

by default the joystick is configured to send aftertouch, but as you say it's not really the same thing...

See, that's what I'm thinking, but I don't know how they're defining aftertouch. I think of adding filters/vibrato when you press harder on a key after initial velocity during the sustain stage of A/D/S/R.

Maybe what they mean is that, it will put a filter effect on Patch X if Patch X's aftertouch happens to be coded for a filter effect its aftertouch CC. Anyway, that's a really shady way to phrase it, or it's just something obscured by translation.

i'm pretty sure they just mean that the joystick by default sends the standard aftertouch MIDI CC...

btw, probably not as big a problem on the M-Keys, but CME's firmware and support is really terrible...

it looks like maybe they have shut their forum down as it was pretty much full of complaints...

I own one of these - I'd avoid them if I was you.

The keys seem to have two velocity settings - loud and soft - the slider is really jerky (basically unusable) and the top of the joystick will break off within about two weeks of you purchasing it.

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. (haha... mon-keys... see?)

But then again, you can get it in metallic pink - so its not all bad news: http://www.cme-pro.com/en/product-detai ... oduct_id=3

necho wrote:I own one of these - I'd avoid them if I was you.

The keys seem to have two velocity settings - loud and soft - the slider is really jerky (basically unusable) and the top of the joystick will break off within about two weeks of you purchasing it.

You pay peanuts, you get monkeys. (haha... mon-keys... see?)

Thanks for the word of caution. Can you confirm once and for all that there is no aftertouch?

FYI
MTM (Music Technology Magazine) just did a review in this months edition, they where not really happy with it. Great potential but still to much problems
Greetz
Grok

I never really use after touch, and I haven't explored the CME's "features" in great depth, I'm afraid. I'd avoid it though, aftertouch or not. The build quality is terrible and its virtually impossible to get decent expression out of it because of the crap velocity response.

some of CME's hardware is decent for the price (which sucks people in), but their firmware/software/technical support is a shocker, totally bottom of the barrel...

imho
you should stay away from :
1.M-audio (after 2 controllers and 2 audio interfaces by them I've sworn them off)
2.E-mu (lame controllers)
3.CME (a friend bought one and it was rotten...everything was on the cheap side...
basically garbage wrapped in a metal casing)
4.Alesis (a company with no vision whatsoever...always rubbed me the wrong way...)
5.Behringer(BCR/F2K FCB1010 are the exceptions..)

my final advice to you is go FEEL the controllers... then decide..
and think about the functionality and workflow you wish to achieve...

Word of advice - avoid CME! I'm still trying to get rid of one fo their products I bought. There bad firmware and lack of softwar/editors make their stuff useless by todays standards. Go for Novation.

3dot... wrote:imho
you should stay away from :
1.M-audio (after 2 controllers and 2 audio interfaces by them I've sworn them off)
2.E-mu (lame controllers)
3.CME (a friend bought one and it was rotten...everything was on the cheap side...
basically garbage wrapped in a metal casing)
4.Alesis (a company with no vision whatsoever...always rubbed me the wrong way...)
5.Behringer(BCR/F2K FCB1010 are the exceptions..)

+1 Avoid all of the above.

I'd actually add Novation to that list, but that's completely irrational. I don't know why I hate them - something to do with the pink bits in their colour schemes...

And also that would leave you with a very limited choice of controllers.