M-AUDIO Oxygen Pro 49 USB MIDI Keyboard Controller

Where to even start with this?! I'm just elated that I took the plunge and went with this over the other options that I was looking at. First off, the keybed is just lovely, and an absolute joy to play. The keys are semi-weighted, but feel much nicer and more natural than other semi-weighted keys that I've played before. The keys are nice and quiet when struck, so there's no need to worry about distracting clicks and thumps when you're playing (especially if you play with headphones while others are present). The DAW integration is beautifully executed - you simply choose your DAW from the manual, then make the relevant adjustments in your DAW's preferences to allow control to the Oxygen. One of my favourite features is the built in arpeggiator (which can sync to your DAW's tempo when the Oxygen is set to DAW mode). While every DAW these days has some form of arpeggiator built in, I just love having this at my finger tips. The arp settings can easily be locked to the rotaries on the top right, making experimentation and live changes dead easy to execute, and your DAW will output the actual sounded notes (as opposed to just the chords displayed, when using an arp plugin). The pitch wheel is nice and light, with just the right amount of resistance, and the mod wheel is smooth and responsive. The drum pads have a satisfying feel and response too, with a nice visual feedback. The screen is nice and bright, and makes editing parameters a breeze. You also get a a decent transport section, with all of the expected controls, plus loop on/off, rewind, fast forward, and extra shift functions. In short, this controller keyboard is, in my opinion, the absolute best that you can get for this sort of price - and I've touched upon what it can do here! Closing note: If you are in two minds about buying this - DO IT! I would give it six stars if I could.

Wow! What a comprehensive MIDI controller with an amazing range of features that should satisfy most people. It’s hugely customizable and the keyboard’s nice to play. The key sensitivity is pretty decent. It’s not like playing a premiere brand concert grade grand piano, but doesn’t cost upwards of £50,000 either. It stacks up well against its competitors in its price range on this. There’s a single TS socket on the rear for a pedal and M Audio’s own one (not included) is also well priced. It’s hard to fault the keyboard controller and what it offers in terms of control, adaptability and features. This comes with a bundle of software to get you going. It’s a good bundle. But the process of downloading, registering, installing and activating is a convoluted, long-winded, time sapping, arduous drudge. This will have you filling in forms, creating a mass of passwords, verifying by email etc etc. You’ll end up with a clutter of supplier apps on your PC – before you get the software you want. To install everything you’re also going to need a substantial chunk of hard disk real estate. If you don’t lose the will to live in the above process you’ll end up with a decent set up and enough software capability to record your own backing tracks and do some basic mixing of your own pieces of creative genius. The user guide (paper) that comes with the Oxygen Pro 49 is well written. The larger downloadable PDF manual, which at 100+ pages is pretty comprehensive, is also well written enough to be undaunting. Overall its a great package. It’s just a shame that the concept of ‘plug and play’ is so alien to the music industry. In the meantime... most people lucky enough to get the Oxygen Pro 49 as a Chrimbo Prezzy will be very happy with it by New Year. It’s hard to argue with the value for money, quality and capability of what you get. It’s outstanding.

After playing guitar for umpteen years, I decided to try and learn piano. The Oxygen Pro 49 is perfect for me. The size, weight and convenience of being able to control my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) from this keyboard. This greatly speeds my lessons and although at present, it does seem very complicated to setup, I'm sure I will be able to make good use of all the fantastic facilities it offers. The keyboard is well made, the semi-weighted keys are very nice and although some say they can be noisy, I have not noticed this. Mine is perfect. For non professional players who are thinking of buying. Please note, this keyboard is a midi controller and as such has no internal sounds. It has to be connected to a PC or other midi device to enable sounds. If you are in the market for a well priced midi keyboard controller, M-Audio have a great range in the Oxygen series.

I used to own an M-Audio 49 key Oxygen keybed. This thing is in a different league in terms of build quality. Only Ableton and MPC are fully licenced,m the others are 10 day tasters, but all in all, very happy with my purchase

It is very good

Very nice bit of kit this, just a bit of a headache to get the software up and running. Defo not for beginners.

Great value controller, excellent features for the price point, very robust and reliable, punches well above its weight

I am new to the world of MidI Controllers and DAW software. I am used to good old Analogue hardware linking together via Midi Cables. With that in mind I wanted a controller that came with a great software bundle and with plenty of features on the controller itself. Everything I read and watched pointed towards the M-Audio Oxygen Pro 49. The promise of a feature rich controller and an awesome software suit bundle got me hitting the buy button. Received controller and other than a little damage to the box I was more than happy. Read the small manual and started to install the software suit and here is were it gets disappointing. Hybrid 3, Mini Grand and Velvet were only temporary 2 week licenses. Once the License expires you need to purchase another one. The Pro Tools First M-Audio edition is no longer available for download due to the site being down for maintenance. Contacting M-Audio support just gets you advice about a forum post on the Pro-Tools forum that confirms that there is an issue getting the software and it has been an issue since November 2021 but, the forum offers no solutions. So, that leaves you with Ableton Live 11 Lite and MPC Beats to make sweet music on. I am in two minds whether to return this product or not as I feel I have been mis-sold it with the promise of lots of software only to discover it is either trial versions or it isn't available. At the moment Ableton Live 11 Lite and the copious amounts of free plug-ins available from various sources are keeping me happy but for how long. The Controller itself is amazing although I wish I had gone for the 61 key version but I would still feel let down by the software. The keys have a fantastic feel as do the controls and Pads. Build is very sturdy and feels great and, it's is straight forward and simple to get up and running. Controllers like this are only as good as the software you use them with. The supplied software doesn't do the controller justice. I wasn't expecting full software suit DAW but I was expecting getting what was advertised. A fantastic controller that is let down by a software bundle that doesn't deliver on what was advertised. I am going to give it a few more days and decided whether to return this item or keep it. At the moment I siding with returning it. If the software suite had been as advertised then this would probably have been a 5 star review.

I needed a small controller for recording MIDI/virtual instruments in Logic Pro. I was trying to decide between the Oxygen Pro 49 and a controller from a different company. I was actually talked into buying the other brand by the sales guy at my local music store, but knew as soon as I got it home that I had made the wrong choice. After a couple of weeks with the first one I decided to order the Oxygen Pro 49. Right out of the box it just worked. With only some minor setup it integrated perfectly with Logic -- all the relevant buttons, faders, transport control etc. were mapped correctly to the corresponding Logic controls. I much prefer the feel of the Oxygen keybed over the other brand, and the inclusion of features like aftertouch and an on-board arpeggiator make the Oxygen Pro an incredible value for the price. Now I have to figure out what to do with the first one I bought... :/

Very good! The semi weighted keys are on point! And the daw controls are very good!

Bra!

I'm new to the MIDI game and this thing is awesome. I have the smaller variant as well, but you can do so much more with this. splitting the keyboard is great and it's easy to do stuff once you learn what everything does. keybed feel is way better than a lot of keyboards I've played.

M-Audio ha hecho un trabajo estupendo con este teclado: es robusto, muy bonito y funciona muy muy bien, aunque hay que echar un vistazo al manual para saber como funcionan ciertas funciones. Lo más importante y con lo que vas a pasar más tiempo son las teclas. Estas cumplen sobradamente. No se sienten baratas. Los pads responden muy bien, me han sorprendido por su calidad. Un plus que tenga 16 pads y no 8 como la mayoría de los controladores. Quizás la post-pulsación es un poco dura, pero nada que no requiera un poco de práctica. Tiene abundantes modos de ejecución: escalas, acordes, arpeggiador, (este último se sincroniza bien al reloj midi del DAW). El software incluído son los típicos instrumentos VST de Air Music. No son nada del otro mundo, pero tienen su valor, si no andas escaso de instrumentos. Si quieres encontrar un DAW completo en un teclado controlador siento decirte que vas a tener que rascarte el bolsillo, sea cual sea el teclado controlador que compres. El programa para editar presets es muy práctico y sencillo. En resumen: un teclado muy completo con buenas teclas, aftertouch, un buen surtido de pads, muchas opciones premapeadas para los DAWs más importantes y diversos modos de ejecución. El mejor en su rango de precios, sin duda.