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MGR/moonz « Edirol PCR-M1 »
Published on 01/09/05 at 15:00This little midi keyboard controller was being advertised for several months before anyone on the net atually had stock.
I received a notfication from americanmusical.com that they had finally gotten some in, around xmas, so I ordered one from them.
Selling price for this unit was 199.95...you can expect to pay the very same for it just about anywhere.
The small size (I have very limited desk-space),the control-surface-like features, and the USB port simplicity are what attracted me to it.
This is a great little keyboard.
It has a very nice snappy feel to the keys, and looks to be very well-made.
It has a total of 27 assignable controllers (8 double-duty knobs, 6 buttons, and 2 pedal ports), as well as 15 user-assignable memories to hold various midi control maps, so you can remote control certain features of your favorite software sequencer or virtual instrument (it comes with control maps for Sonar Cubase, GS, and XG already loaded...there is also a default control map(GM2) in a memory that cannot be altered.
Still more Control maps (Roland-Edirol calls them "memory sets") are available at Edirol's website.
What I particularly like about this unit is the fact that it can be completely powered via the USB port(no wall-wart power supply to contend with).
There is a conventional midi I/O port on the back, but, since the USB cable can carry midi messages to the software, using midi cables is not even necessary in some situations...like playing virtual instruments.
Pitch bend and modulation are initiated by separate controls...this is also a plus.
I haven't found anything I don't like...not yet, anyway...well...maybe Roland could print a more lengthy explanation of how to use the "bulk dump" feature to upload new pre-existing midi control maps to the keyboard's memory.
The construction quality is excellent...just what you'd expect from a product designed and manufactured by Roland.
For the non-keyboard playing computer-music composer looking for something reasonably priced to manipulate virtual instruments this is really a great little bang-for-the-buck device.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
I received a notfication from americanmusical.com that they had finally gotten some in, around xmas, so I ordered one from them.
Selling price for this unit was 199.95...you can expect to pay the very same for it just about anywhere.
The small size (I have very limited desk-space),the control-surface-like features, and the USB port simplicity are what attracted me to it.
This is a great little keyboard.
It has a very nice snappy feel to the keys, and looks to be very well-made.
It has a total of 27 assignable controllers (8 double-duty knobs, 6 buttons, and 2 pedal ports), as well as 15 user-assignable memories to hold various midi control maps, so you can remote control certain features of your favorite software sequencer or virtual instrument (it comes with control maps for Sonar Cubase, GS, and XG already loaded...there is also a default control map(GM2) in a memory that cannot be altered.
Still more Control maps (Roland-Edirol calls them "memory sets") are available at Edirol's website.
What I particularly like about this unit is the fact that it can be completely powered via the USB port(no wall-wart power supply to contend with).
There is a conventional midi I/O port on the back, but, since the USB cable can carry midi messages to the software, using midi cables is not even necessary in some situations...like playing virtual instruments.
Pitch bend and modulation are initiated by separate controls...this is also a plus.
I haven't found anything I don't like...not yet, anyway...well...maybe Roland could print a more lengthy explanation of how to use the "bulk dump" feature to upload new pre-existing midi control maps to the keyboard's memory.
The construction quality is excellent...just what you'd expect from a product designed and manufactured by Roland.
For the non-keyboard playing computer-music composer looking for something reasonably priced to manipulate virtual instruments this is really a great little bang-for-the-buck device.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com