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Reviews (3)
Jul 23, 2018
Great deal for a specific market.
This keyboard is not for a serious keyboard player, but for what I assume is it's target demographic (like myself), it is perfect. I produce my own music and I'm not a keyboard player, but I do construct keyboard lines, which I edit together and create loops with. I also have limited space, and even though I would love a full sized keyboard, it really wouldn't fit well in my current setup, and it exceeds my budget. After doing some research, I found the M-Audio Oxygen 8 V2 on eBay for about $50 brand new in the box. It has pitch and modulation wheels, which are essential to me, and they work great. I was concerned about using this via USB with Windows 10 after reading a couple of discussion boards, and the fact that M-Audio doesn't produce drivers for Windows 10. Nonetheless, I plugged it in and it worked right off the bat. I use Cubase 5, and was thrilled to find a midi map file on the M-Audio site that imported into Cubase perfectly for me. I absolutely love that I can control the record, play and rewind, etc., right on the keyboard. The keys, although they don't feel like a more expensive unit would have, do work well and the touch sensitive key velocity works great in my opinion. Changing octaves is quick and easy, so I am getting by just fine without a full sized board. I am using this to trigger virtual instruments like Massive, Kontakt, etc., and it works perfectly with no latency issues. There are also many midi settings that I'll never use, but for more seasoned midi enthusiasts, there is some great overall control that you can achieve with this. It's also great to not need a separate power cord, as the USB cable powers it along with midi controlling. I've had some excellent experience with M-Audio products and this is no exception. I have not seen a better option out there for the price, other than ones with mini keys, or the occasional used stuff, but you never know how much life they still have in them.
Nov 21, 2016
Great little interface
Most midi/audio interfaces I found for around what I paid for this ($50), did not work with my Windows 10 laptop. The manufacturers simply stopped creating drivers for many devices a few years ago. I only had $50 to spend (I had already spent $30 on an interface that my laptop just would not recognize), and I have had good experiences with the Alesis brand in the past. This has been no different. As soon as I unpackaged this and plugged it into my laptop, it worked instantly. No setup, no search for drivers, just instant functionality. My software (I have Ableton Live and Cubase) works flawlessly with this and there is very little latency (and I haven't tried tweaking it). Both the audio and midi signals work great and the internal preamp is more than adequate for me. I haven't tried a microphone with it, but for what I want to do (home recording with programmed beats, midi keyboard and live electric bass), it is perfect.
Oct 23, 2017
Great product
I put a lot of media on a 3tb 3.5" drive, so I could play it through an older laptop hooked up to the tv. This encasing was a great way of protecting the drive and keeping it in a convenient place beside the laptop. It works great and looks sleek. The only thing is I'm not too fond of the (6?) pronged style input for the power cord. I wish it was more like most other power adapter types, as the little prongs can get bent and replacing the cord might not be so easy. That's my only gripe though.