Your impressions on the M-Audio Axiom series?

By that, I mean all the non-pro versions...

Well as of lately, I've been getting frustrated doing music without a keyboard. The point-and-click action with my mouse is getting somewhat tedious and I haven't really been in the mood to make music lately.

I'm just torn on what midi controller I wanna go with. I've went to Guitar Center plenty of times over the past few months. I was kinda leaning towards the Akia mpk49 as I love the buttons, but the feel of the keybed was....as a few say, stiff.

I actually wanted to go with an Edirol PCR-800 but heard countless complaints about defective keys.

Now I'm finally thinking I just might go with the M-Audio Axiom 61. Based on the countless reviews/forum posts/articles/etcetc I've been reading while trying to decide what to buy, it seems to be really popular and most folk don't seem to have any major complaints about it. My personal gripes were the lack of assignable controls and the quality of the sliders and noise that the knobs make. The keybed isn't awesome, but I liked it better than pretty much else I've touched.

This would be the first keyboard I've owned. As much as I'd like to get something with more features, and more importantly, a good feeling keybed, I can't really spend much at the moment.

For those that've tried out/owned one of these, how was it for you?

For interfacing with soft synths, and entering notes into your DAW infrequently they are pretty good.

As a performance instrument, forget it.

Actually, I've never owned an Axiom. What I had was the Radium. I used to bring it and my laptop loaded with B4 and a sound card to practice. It worked, but the keybed quickly became unusable after a very short time. It wore really, really, quickly.

AXIOM 61 here, much better than the Oxygen 8 I started out with. Mapping of the various knobs and sliders can be a pain, but for a synth action keybed it's decent.

I still prefer the Yamaha actions found in Korg Tritons and Yamaha instruments from the DX7 on... those feel "right" to me and the AXIOM is not quite there.

I have owned an Axiom 49 but sold it. I agree that it was fine as a basic keyboard for entering notes into a sequencer but otherwise I thought that the keys felt boxy (for lack of a better term) and sluggish. I am surprised that you thought there was a lack of knobs/sliders as I always thought that the Axiom series of controllers is equipped rather generously.

Have you looked at the Novation Remote SL series controllers? I like the feel of their keys more than the Axiom. Nova Musik is advertising one mint B-stock SL61 left for 369.00 here. There is a software deal that includes Automap 3 (if you care) and V-station soft synth.

Agreed. Much better than nothing, but much worse than actual quality controllers. Very spongy feeling. Ok for step recording, light sample trigging, or hunt n' peck melodies, but you won't want to play it for extended periods.

I was actually looking at one of those untill they stopped making the cheaper version. How would you say it compares to the Axiom?

I have a X-station 25 which has a nice-feeling keyboard. The after-touch feels good to me. I have tried the 61 SL controllers in a GC and thought they felt pretty good. The main reasons why I never purchased a 61 SL are that I have no room and no real need - also the primary reasons why I sold the Axiom 49 - besides the fact that it just was not grabbing me in any particular way.

My axiom 61 {censored} the bed after about 9 months. I gotta send it in for repairs, huge pain in the ass.

I had an Axiom 49 for about the same length of time. Mine started going out of key randomly about 1 1/4 semitones. Very embarrassing thing to happen to you at a gig. If my rig were analog, I'd say, "Well, that's just the cost of playing analog."

I ended up getting the Akai MPK49 which you mentioned. Very solidly built and well appointed with knobs, sliders, and pads. Keybed isn't bad, but like you said, it's a little stiff.

Quality stuff :

Yamaha KX49/61

EMU

Korg KP49/61

What's the keybed like on these?

I actually was hoping to get a midi controller with both a good keybed and lots of knobs/faders to mess with, but that really doesn't look like it's gonna happen seeing as I only wanna spend about $450-500 at most.

I went into Best Buy yesterday hoping to try out an Axiom 49, but turns out there's a restocking fee so I passed. I was messing around with the one on display for abit though. The keybed doesn't really feel that great. The clicking sound that the knobs make when you turn them is abit loud, and the faders feel pretty flimsy. Overall, it looks like it could get the job done, but I'm still looking for better alternatives before I take the final plunge.

Is it common for people to buy a cheap'ish keybard controller just for the keybed itself, while buying a seperate controller to do all the knob work?

If you want just a lot of knobs, go for Behringer BCR2000.

Otherwise, Novation X-Station is awesome value, AND great quality keybed, much better than anything M-Audio.

Every one of the current controllers designed for interfacing with a computer that I have tried are true {censored}e.

Every one.

Might be better using a favourite keyboard as far as feel through midi?

Well it's been another day of reading just about every review/forum post I could find.

I've been reading some good stuff about the Emu Xboard's keybed. There seems to be no major complaints against the whole controller itself. Guitar Center said that if it's ordered online and I need to refund it, I can do it in person without a restocking fee. Since there's no place where I can personally try out the keys, I've finally decided on this one.

Before I order tommorrow, is there anything I should know about it?

Seems like a good deal to me

Novation SL Remote Compact is great for the price.

Well I went to GC to pick up the Emu X-board 61 today...

The first thing I did when I opened the box was try out the keys and knobs. They all felt great but, when I actually started playing, I was pretty disappointed...

The keys gotta go down pretty low (deadzone?) before they actually respond. I always assumed that it'd play the note as soon as you press down on a key, no matter how lightly you do it.

Is this the way it is with all low-end'ish midi controllers (this was $270) or is it just the X-board?? It's not as fun to play as I thought it'd be. Maybe I just spoiled myself with the piano in my music class that I always used to play for about 15 mins if I ever got to class early. The hammer-action keys were so sensitive making it a blast to play.

I think what I've really been wanting all this time are hammer-action keys. I assumed I'd be happy with synth-action stuff but I'm not so sure about that now. Now my new problem is that good hammer-action stuff can be abit costly, so I'm not sure what to do. Maybe I just need to get used to what I have now? I'll try it out for a few days and see if my opinion changes then.

On a random note, one of the lower keys is noticeably much less sensitive than the rest.

Unless you're a superhot keyboard player, cheap {censored} should do fine.