M-Audio Axiom 25 25-Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with Assignable Control Surface, 2nd Gen

To preface, being a hardware nut (previous owner of a Korg Triton Studio, several Access Virus keyboards, etc.), the M-Audio Axiom 25 was actually the first pure midi-driven keyboard that I've ever owned.First impressions: the unit is light weight, compact, and stores easily in my computer desk. very easy to setup, and I can't tell you how wonderful it is having a keyboard that can be powered directly through the USB. the semi-weighted keys are a nice touch which allow for more expressive playing, but are still a far cry the feel of a real piano or high end keyboards. the touch pads have a little bounce to them, which provides great response for tapping in drum/percussion patterns. Knobs and mod wheels feel about the same as any other keyboard I've use, no surprises there. obviously with a 25 key range you are sacrificing playability for compactness, and to this effect you'll have to be creative when composing outside of that range (e.g. recording each hand independently, etc.). However, for most electronica producers, it is perfectly suitable working within a 2 octave range.Preliminary Review: The main feature that drew me to the Axiom was directlink, but as of today (to the best of my knowledge) this feature is broken in Ableton Live 8.2 and 8.2.1 (though it may be fixed when the next patch is released). For those using 8.1.4, you should be fine. However, the unit still works in Ableton for playing midi and tweaking parameters...it just lacks the instant mapping that is achieved through directlink. The pads work great with Battery, and the 8 knobs has made playing Massive and some other soft synths much easier. Overall I've been about 15x more productive since I'm not bogged down with my mouse for tweaking parameters. I'm very happy with this purchase, and I'm looking forward to seeing how well directlink works once the patch is out.

Zero stars. This keyboard ships with Avid's Ignite software. EXCEPT THAT IT DOESN'T, because when you go to download the software, you're told that it's not ready yet. (See other comments here for corroboration of this.) This is as of January 22, 2013, and goes back at least three months. If you DO purchase this keyboard, understand that you WILL NOT be able to connect it to your computer and use it in any meaningful way unless you have other software to use (often very, very expensive software).It's clear what happened here: Avid told M-Audio that their software would be ready for download, but Avid blew their date. No malicious behavior from M-Audio or Avid, although M-Audio has been dreadful in its management of this problem (which affects not this keyboard but many other M-Audio keyboards).If you purchase this product, just be aware that you're doing the equivalent of buying a car from someone who says it's good to go, but in fact it's not good to go: it doesn't have a gas pedal; you have to supply that yourself.

My first keyboard controller. Took a couple minutes to get it working but it wasn't too hard. I see a lot of people saying it doesn't have documentation or it has bad documentation: complete crap. There is an extensive manual on the included disc. Like I said, it's been my first controller and I was programming the pads to play different drum sounds after just a couple minutes of reading the manual. I use Propellerhead Reason 6 and it works great. It actually shows the name of the instrument I have selected or the name of the parameter the knobs are affecting. Very intuitive (once you know what you're doing). You may have to go to M-Audio's website to install something based on what software you will be using with your controller. Pretty simple.The device:It's compact, actually just about the same length as my computer keyboard. That makes it portable, however, it's not exactly lightweight; it's about 7 pounds. Not really that bad but it was a bit heavier than I expected.The keys feel pretty good. They're advertised as "semi-weighted" and I guess that means, well a lot of keyboards just have plastic keys and it doesn't feel like a traditional piano with ivory keys, this feels better. I'm not much of a keyboard player (yet) but they seem good to me. The pitch and mod wheels feel good. The buttons feel alright...The knobs take a bit getting used to. If you rotate them slowly they increment slowly. If you do it fast it increments fast. They call this acceleration. You can edit the settings to make this less or more effective. Or even change it to linear (it changes at the same rate regardless of speed). As far as I can tell there isn't a simple "sensitivity" setting to just make the linear mode more sensitive... And that's a shame because it takes a few full turns to go from min to max. Probably 99% of the time this is simply going to be a minor annoyance.The trigger pads, oh the trigger pads.At first they didn't work. Then after reading the manual I found out they default to mixer mode, there is a small circular button with a P on it (presumably for Pads), that puts them into play mode, basically. *shrugs*So, now that I had them working, as I said previously, it was just a quick read to find out how to change the note that plays for each one.The feel of the pads is quite stiff. When you hit one it shows on the LCD how hard on a scale of 1-127. If I barely tap it, it doesn't register... If I keep tapping a tiny bit harder until it register, about the softest I can hit is like 30. And to get it to 127 I have to really wail on it. Usually it doesn't even go to 127, but I don't want to hit it any harder. Again, there are sensitivity options but it doesn't change the fact that it doesn't register until you're giving it a pretty decent tap, and doesn't get max unless you wail on it; it would be nice to have more dynamics. One more little quirk, sometimes when you try to play a note you hit it once, but it double hits (kinda like a flam if you know what that is). If you're just sequencing, of course you can delete extra notes and quantize the whole thing so it doesn't matter if you screw up... But it's annoying.--This next section was written when I first got it and should be taken as a noobie's experience--The big issue with the pads is the delay. There was a noticeable delay when trying to play a beat. Very annoying. If you know a bit about sound and computers and have an ASIO compliant soundcard, you'll be fine. But it took me a bit of research to figure out I needed something called ASIO4ALL and why. Basically, ASIO is kind of a way for your computer to bypass a lot of unnecessary system stuff, thus making stuff like MIDI more responsive. (No hit lag). If you have an ASIO soundcard, you're good to go. But there is also something for people who don't that, ASIO4ALL, which, as I understand it, basically fakes it or does some other way. So once I got that set up, I had no lag and could play a beat with ease.However, after that, my regular sound wouldn't work... Like for youtube. I'm still trying to figure out how to get this to work, there's got to be a way.--EDIT 4/28/13--I have since gotten more hardware. I have a Fast Track C400 audio interface and I don't experience any noticeable delays now. As a commenter on my review has stated: the delay wasn't the Axiom's fault; it was my computer's fault. The way sound is processed in Windows is laggy. If you use ASIO4ALL, it will help. But it will take over your sound card. Once you get an audio interface, you will be able to run your DAW through that, and hook up a second set of speakers to it. Then you will have full and separate control over your Windows sounds and DAW sounds.Also, there have been a couple of questions about the transport buttons. I've tested the device in Reason 6 (and now, 7 Beta), Ableton Live 7 Lite, and Pro Tools SE. Thus far I only really use Reason but everything seems to work fine in the other 2 programs. The transport buttons certainly work fine.--END EDIT--My biggest problem with it, unfortunately, is something I knew when I purchased it... It's short. Only 25 keys. Obviously, this isn't a flaw of the controller itself, rather, part of it's design. I would have loved the 49 key version but I didn't want to spend the extra $80 or whatever it is. It's fine for simple parts and just making sequencing easier but it's not really for playing normal keyboard or piano parts. I've been a drummer and a guitarist for probably 9 years now and I love music but at the moment I'm just a hobbyist. If I stick with it and make some cool stuff then I'll probably invest in a longer keyboard.Pros:-Keys feel nice-Easy set up (read the manual people, it's all there. also, google is your friend)-Looks great-Cheapest one I've seen with all of these features-CompactCons:-Lack of knob sensitivity setting (only acceleration)-A bit weighty at 7 pounds-Stiff pads//Retracted(read EDIT above)-Delay with the pads unless you use ASIO4ALL which can conflict with other stuff (I'm still trying to get to cooperate with my regular sounds [youtube, system sounds, etc])-Only 25 keysOverall, I'm happy. (or I will be once ASIO4ALL starts cooperating). I feel like, for me at least, it might have been better if I got a larger mid keyboard, like a 49 key, and then a separate MIDI pad thing. More keys, and probably better pads.... But if you want something compact, something with a bit of everything rolled into one, this is great.If you need any help, comment and I'll be happy to do what I can.

Einfach zu bedienen, macht Laune, damit etwas herum zu spielen. Der Tastenanschlag ist gut. Nur die Pads sind etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig.

I have never written a review before but I decided that I would for this item.I bought this MIDI Controller about a year ago and just decided to let people know what I think of it. I have gotten quite heavy in to producing music so I thought that buying a keyboard would help me build melodies and patterns easier. I knew little to nothing about piano keys, scales, chords ETC but I thought I can always learn from scratch. So I decided to buy the AXIOM 25.What an INCREDIBLE piece of machinery. If you are thinking of buying this then I heavily advise you to. The keyboard is quite small in size so its easy to store, it has beautiful weighted keys and a great drum pad. It has 4 rubber pads on the bottom so it stays well grounded. It's not some flimsy, cheap looking piece of machinery, its strong and well built with a beautiful design. I watched one video on YouTube and found out how to completely program it for FL Studio. Now every time I plug it in it loads up and is ready to go.My music has benefitted greatly. It helps with building melodies, playing scales, improvising in a way far more creative than simply clicking them in on a computer. The drum pads I have never really used properly, although I have used them. They are easy to link up, have a great feel to them, and are very fun to use and get in to.As far as useful features on the controller, there is a pitch shift wheel which is great for making Synths sound more dynamic and different. I've used it once or twice while adding sounds in to make it sound more interesting. There is an "Octave Shift" key which makes it easier to move up and down the Octave's of the keys (For those that don't know, I didn't really know, because the keyboard only has 25 keys, while a full piano has a lot more, you press the octave shift button to move up and down the scale to higher and lower notes). There are mixing knobs which you can assign to different instruments and adjust their volumes. There is a master volume slider which you can link to the master volume for adjustment (although I never really use these, but great if you want to interact more with the keyboard). There is Play, Stop, Loop, Record ETC buttons that you can use to just play, start, stop your song so you don't have to keep referring back to your computer (I use this a lot, a very handy feature). There's quite a few other things on there as well which I haven't really got round to using because I don't necessarily need to right now.The customer service was great too. I received my keyboard and I noticed that there was a tiny chip in one of the keys, so I phoned the company up and they sent me a brand new one and collected the first one that they sent, possibly the next day if I remember correctly. So I was very pleased with the customer service.Overall guys, a great MIDI Controller to invest in. This was the first one I bought and I don't feel the need to change it any time soon. It's been great, still is great, I've looked after it very well and serves, for me, beyond its purpose.So if you are a first time buyer and you are looking to spend a little more than the lower costing ones, don't worry, I worried but I have never regretted it. As a matter of fact, I'm using it right now haha.Overall great product!-Thanks

Vendeur très réactif et sérieux, réception impeccable du produit, mais au déballage et malgré un clavier de bonne qualité, ce clavier est malheureusement livré avec seulement Avid Ignite dont le lien pour le télécharger n'est plus actif chez Avid (Erreur 404) donc impossible à installer car on sais pas quoi télécharger, en outre le logiciel Ableton Lite (mentionné comme inclus dans le package du Axiom 25 chez M-Audio) n'est pas inclus contrairement à ce que mentionne le fabriquant M-Audio sur son site [...] , il semble qu'il y ai une différence entre ce qui est livré et ce qui est mentionné sur le site officiel, je ne recommanderais pas cette marque et ce produit à l'achat, à moins d'avoir déjà Ableton et Avid, on ne peut pas l'utiliser !.

Back in the 1980s I used to record straight onto a 4 track tape recorder using synthesisers and drum machines. I then moved onto using Magix Music Maker in the 1990s, and have used this since, building loops up to form songs on a PC, then recording the result onto an 8 track recorder and adding vocals. Having found the use of other people's loops creatively restricting and expensive, I recently made the decision to use my own creativity again and invest in a MIDI keyboard. I looked into possibilities and found that the Axiom 25 had some good write ups, with a non-restrictive price. I am now using it with a new mini mac and have already put together a couple of songs that I am happy with. The set up was very simple - use the cable provided to plug the keyboard into my mac. No need to even plug it into the mains! It worked straight away with garage band. I also found that I was able to use it immediately with Music Maker on my old PC. The best results though so far have come using the Ignite package which comes free with the keyboard, which you download from the web site. Although Ignite takes a while to get used to (perhaps I should read the manual) it is very powerful and the instrument sounds that come with it are wide ranging and realistic. The keyboard is very robust. I personally find the keys to be a bit less responsive than a piano or expensive electric keyboard, but have got some real expression into my music once I got used to the feel of them. Being a largely one handed keyboard player the 25 keys are not a limitation for me. For those accomplished pianists amongst you I would recommend a keyboard with more keys! So far I have no issues and would recommend this as a good starting MIDI keyboard for any budding PC musician.

ノブが８個ついているのでそれに惹かれて買いましたが、ひねるスピードによって入力値が変化するのでまったく直観的な操作ができません。