Keystation 88 Pro review, part 1 


I just picked up an M-Audio Keystation 88 Pro this weekend, here are my initial thoughts 

I haven't really started exploring the depth of this controller yet, so these are initial impressions. I'll do a more thorough review soon.

I'm not a piano player, I never have been. Keyboards have always been my 3rd or 4th instrument. But as an electronic musician, I've owned many of them. I got my chops if you can call them that working with a Yamaha SY-55 which is not known for its piano-like feel. Also, I've never had more than 61 keys on any controller I've owned. As I mature in my skills I realized that I did actually want to be a better player. I decided that I wanted an 88-key controller with at least semi-weighted keys. It's always been embarrassing how light my touch is when I sit down to a real piano. Quality controllers have always been priced too high for my needs or skill, but when I first started reading about the M-Audio keystation 88 Pro, I was impressed. The sheer number of controller faders, buttons and switches sounded amazing for a controller in this price-range. Of course, none of that would matter if the keyboard was unplayable. I read some scary user-reviews on some websites, so I decided that I really needed to try it for myself. I went to my local Guitar Center to play it and make some comparisons. Of course GC wasn't selling many professional quality controllers, but luckily they did have some very well-known used stage pianos and high end synths around. Again, since I'm not a piano player, I'm no expert, but they Keystation seemed just fine compared to keyboards costing up to 4 times as much. I purchased mine and brought it home. It's solid, in fact it is really heavy. The construction seems very good, but with one concern which is that the bottom of it is chipboard. I understand that this is a budget controller, but this still seemed pretty odd to me. I can't see touring with this 47 pound beast, so it probably won't be a problem, but still. For me, something that was super excellent was that my 12" powerbook fits perfectly on the areas on the left or right next to the controllers. That lets the keystation 88 serve as my control center for my software synths and lets me do everything from my single chair. Very nice.

I haven't really dug into configuring the splits or programming the controllers yet, I've been focusing on being able to play some music without having to continually transpose the keyboard or the music. As I get into that I'll post an update. 

Posted: Tue - February 1, 2005 at 03:11 PM          

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