M-Audio Oxygen 49 Keystation

I bought this keyboard a couple of months ago cos I was looking for a good controller keyboard to use with Reason. It turned out to be perfect for the job. The keybaord has a number of presets for a variety of music software programs including Reason...which will save you time assigning the 8 knobs and 9 sliders. The build quality is solid and the feel is good. The knobs are comfortably spaced out so you can easily get into your grove. The unit is powered via USB (brilliant) with the option for mains power (AC adapter not included). You have the two important pitch bending and modulation wheels on the side...another pleasant surprise is the tranport control panel positioned below the knobs. If you're looking for a solid, portable controller keyboard then this baby will do the business.

The Oxygen 49 by M-Audio is a great keyboard for the price. Plugs into my USB port on my laptop and interfaces well. It is lightweight, and has a large number of programmable knobs, sliders, and buttons to serve as MIDI controllers during recording sessions. The knobs, sliders, and buttons have a solid feel - although the 9 vertical sliders don't feel as nice as some other products out there.

The keys are velocity sensitive (the harder you hit them, the louder the note) but are not weighted, so they feel light and cheap. However, this is the case with all keyboards that have non-weighted keys.

Overall I recommend this product to anyone who wants a cheap MIDI keyboard that serves the basic functions. I wouldn't recommend it to serious musicians or composers, but it's good for hobbyists.

For the price, this keyboard is a fantastic tool and workhorse. I've had it for almost 8 months now. I actually use it primarily as a control surface for Quartz Composer (for animation/VJ), but I've used it a little for playing with GarageBand. It's sturdy and reliable, never crashed. Although it took me a while to figure out, the Enigma software to reprogram the keyboard is well-designed and fast and easy to use once I learned how to use it.

Even for a beginning composer who won't use most of its hidden features, it's a great keyboard. Highly recommended.

I bought this Midi Controller Keyboard to work with Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 6 XL so that I could play Session Drummer 2 live (as well as Studio Instruments and Dimension LE). I Play a little piano, but my main instrument is guitar, so I don't need all 88 keys. I'm still learning how to use all the features, but it's functionality for me is great.

I bought this keyboard to use with Garage Band. While it can adequately be used to sequence and play music, none of the dozens of knobs and buttons on this keyboard can be programmed for use with Garage Band. The only controllers that talk to GB are the pitch bend and modulation wheels. I was particularly disappointed to find that the sequence transport controllers do not work with the program. M-Audio has absolutely no information or support for Garage Band on their website or in the instruction manual.

As for the keyboard itself, I wasn't expecting a Bosendorfer for 150 bucks, but the Oxygen 49's action is about the worst I've ever played, even on cheap USB keyboards.