M-AUDIO Oxygen Pro Mini 32-Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller for MacOS and WinOS, with Beat Pads, Assignable Knobs and Faders, and Native Instruments Sound Pack (NKS Integration)

As the subject implies, I'm new to midi controllers but not to making music in general. I used to use Fruity Loops back in the day to make simple and fun electronic music and decided to give it a shot again. Back then I only used a PC but now I've decided to include a midi controller to see what I can come up with. So this is a hobby for me at this time. I have no other midi controller experience but what I can say is that the hardware seems to be high quality. Keys, buttons, knobs, etc all seem good. No complaints. Now the firmware side of things is where it gets a little tricky. The time it takes to create an account, update firmware (correctly), setup MPC Beats, setup Mlok licenses, etc is kinda of a pain to be honest. And then I think I had to do something with presets if I recall. I had to follow a youtube video to get the hang of things. M-Audio website and instructions were pretty good it just took a little time. But once I was up and running, MPC Beats (the included free DAW) worked just ok. MPC Beats is not intuitive. I realize this is a midi controller review, but MPC Beats is advertised as the included free DAW so I might as well touch on this. MPC Beats is confusing when you are ready to build a song. Making beats and recording is fairly intuitive, but assembling them into a coherent song is very hard in my opinion. The relationship between tracks, sequences, and programs is confusing. I ended up creating a really cool beat and was unable to actually hear one of the warm pads I was using. The song editor screen was buggy and not intuitive. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me, so I ended up extracting the audio for each sound into separate audio clips and inserting into FL Studio. Why am I bringing this up? I ended up paying a little extra for FL Studio software so I could actually create songs easily instead of MPC Beats, so you may or may not find that MPC Beats actually provides value to the package sale. Overall: Controller itself seems nice, but included MPC Beats is confusing. If you are like me and don't like MPC beats for actual song creation, then expect to pay extra for another DAW.

Good choice for creators whether your seasoned or beginner

it.

It does the job. All the bells and whistles are kind of useless in the software I use, which is Reason. When I used the pads, I end up going back and fixing the velocities anyway or using the keys.

After a couple years of use, I still love this keyboard! So many awesome features jam packed in this unit and is an awesome starter midi keyboard.

Lots of options to play with. Integrates with computer and instruments easy. Easy to use and set up.

Arrived in great shape and working great!

I can product music, I can dj. It suits my needs perfectly. This is my 1st midi controller that I’m using and it helps me to feel confident in my creative abilities. Music production became easier and more customized now and it was easy to connect to my DAW. Great quality product.

Entra perfectamente en la bandeja de teclado de mi escritorio, controles y teclas robustas, pantalla suficiente para navegar entre sus múltiples opciones, integración con Reaper perfecta (tampoco es que lo use mucho para eso) las teclas mini se tocan perfectamente y tienen muy buen tacto, los pads son muy sensibles, vienen con mucho software y con instrumentos virtuales para ir probando la creatividad. Recuerda que necesita un ordenador, un Daw o un instrumento standalone para poder disfrutarlo.

I wanted a controller for sketching ideas while travelling around. I've tried other controllers - NI's M32 has a nice 3 octave keyboard, but that makes it a little too tall to easily fit into a rucksack. And I never got to grips with the slider pitch/mod controls. Then there was Arturia's Minilab, which is solidly-built with great keys - but only two octaves, and an unfortunate over-abundance of encoders. And now I've turned to the Oxygen Pro Mini, which I think hits the 'sweet spot' - it's small and light enough to fit into a rucksack. It has 2.5 octaves, which is more manageable in a musical sense. The keys are ok (this shouldn't really be a deciding factor though - we're talking about mini-key controllers, not weighted-key behemoths!). And joy of joys, fully-functioning pitch/mod wheels! There are enough controls for you to do some MIDI mapping, not too much to overwhelm. And the mapping software works well. Any down sides? None really for what it does. The pads aren't great, and probably better used as MIDI toggles than drum pads. If you lean more towards that, then maybe consider the closest competitor - the Akai MPC Mini. I've used this controller with some cheap speakers (Logitech Z210) which are portable and deliver a not bad (although fairly quiet) sound. I also use a cheap sustain switch (Alesis ASP1) and that does the trick. So, I've everything I need for making music on the go! It will never replace my 'full-sized' studio arrangement, but it's perfect for what it is. Well-recommended!

Buy it, it’s top notch and guaranteed to fulfill all you needs with tuns of options I run mine with MPC beats and it mapped to the DAW no problems some of the included software no longer works and the 3 instruments programmed on the controller are no longer working however with MPC and it programs the types of music and instruments are endless the pads feel good to tap the keyboard is small yes but playable I love this machine and it’s an unbelievable piece for the price

Klaviaturen saknar en viss känsla. Fungerar mycket bra, stort + för 32 nycklar. Lite mindre form än standard men levererar det man behöver och fungerar grymt bra. Men just känslan när man spelar kunde vara en förbättring. Levererar och är ett riktigt bra val med tanke på pris. Jag är nöjd. Hade känslan varit bättre så hade den fått 5 av 5.

Sehr guter portabler Midikontroller, unterstützt alle namhaften DAWS und man kann auch eine eigene DAW Konfiguration mit dem Editor erstellen. Empfehlenswert ist auf alle Fälle eine Firmwareaktualisierung durchzuführen, diese kann auf der M-Audio website herunterladen werden. Alles sehr kompakt mit 4 Fadern , Knobs und 8 Pads die durch Pad Bank Umschaltung auf 16 erweitert werden kann. Ebenso lassen sich die Fader und Knops auf 4 Bänke mit den BANK Umschalter erweitern, also auf insgesamt 16 Fader und Knobs. Tastatur für Minitasten gut spielbar. Negativ aufgefallen sind die teils scharfkantigen Tasten- und Gehäuseunterseiten. Wenn man alles kompakt zusammen haben will, sicherlich zu empfehlen.