M-Audio Key Rig 49

I make soundtracks for videogames and after more than enough time writing all the lines for my midi instruments in Logic’s piano roll I decided to buy a controler to make the whole production process faster and more musical. The chosen one was this M-Audio KeyRig 49.
It has four octaves of velocity sensitive keys (but no aftertouch!), a modulation wheel, a pitch bend wheel, a volume fader, octave up/down buttons, an ‘edit’ button (more on that later), sustain pedal input, on/off switch, finally the usb port to connect it to your computer (no ac needed), and absolutely nothing else.

Construction is pretty good, but feels like it would get damaged if you drop it from a not so short height. No worries if you're always leaving it in the studio, just keep the box in case you need to move it somewhere else. Overall I really like the clean no-knobs look of it and its silver color.

UTILIZATION

On a Mac you simply plug it, Logic recognizes the new midi in and you can start playing right away. If you're a piano player you probably won't like the weight and overall feel of the keys, they're plastic-y and very light. I (not a piano player at all) also prefer heavier keys, but these ones will do the job just fine.

The only time I've ever read the manual was when I wanted to learn how to send the midi data to a channel different than one, and this is how you do it: press the 'edit' button once, the red light above it starts blinking, then you press one of the keyboards white keys for the desired channel (from D1 up), so: D1 for channel 1, E1 ch2, F1 ch3 and etc. I find it a clever way to reach a function like the midi channel select with only one button and the controller keys, very usefull if you like to have many instruments in the same instance of Kontakt, for example. The Keyrig probably has another couple nice things hidden in the manual, but seriously, I've never really bothered reading it past the channel select thing, never felt the need to.

For a long time I didn't feel like I was being less productive for not having knobs or faders or pads on the controller. Even if I record an automation with that I always end up polishing it later in the mix, inside Logic. If you also do it, you probably won't miss the knobs too.





OVERALL OPINION

I've tested many other controllers and keyboards from friends before buying the KeyRig 49, and think I've made a really good choice. For me and for my job, a midi controller is a tool that helps you have ideas faster: it's way more musical and productive to play around with a few keys to find a melody for a theme than to write it all on the piano roll or score editor and hit play on the DAW to hear how it sounds like every time you change a couple notes. The KeyRig does that without the extra clutter (and price) of a lot of knobs and pads.

One thing that would be cool though is the aftertouch, its a nice and visually clean way to control a parameter in many virtual instruments that I miss here.

Being a 49 keys controller I wouldn't call it exactly portable, but its also not huge and, compared to my LPK25, the two extra octaves are indeed quite useful to hear how a bass line sounds against a melody, to quickly make and visualize really open chord structures or the full note range of an instrument (or at least most of it). The LPK25 obviously wins on portability - and I have one because out of the studio two octaves are still better than none -, but I think that the KeyRig has a good bit of both things: its big enough to give you possibilites, but small enough to be carried around with not much hassle.

So if you really don't need all the bells and whistles of a full-featured midi controller, get a keyrig, you won't regret it.

M Audio Key Rig 49 is a midi controller that can be used in almost any software that is on the market. I think it’s a good handy little midi controller even though I got rid of it because I wanted more octaves so I when with a 61 midi keyboard in the end. But the M Audio Key Rig will get the job done especially if you aren’t really a pianist and don’t need that many octaves.

The keys are pretty light and plastic like, they really don’t have any weight to them but to most people that is fine but if you every messed with a real piano or a good digital piano then you will know the difference and it will feel like a toy. But its not designed to be like a digital piano, even though there are midi keyboards on the market that do have weighted keys this isn’t one of them.

Setting it up is really easy just go into your midi options, and with this board you can use USB it doesn’t have to be used with midi. If you don’t have a preset for it available in your software just use a generic controller that will be fine. Trying to use the touch sensitive option wont work though because the keys arent weighted so its point this to try to get tension and release with the keys.

Overall, it’s a pretty basic controller there are a lot on the market just like it. There are no programmable knobs or sliders that you can automate on this board. Check into some of the other M Audio boards if you need more options that are available the Key Rig 49 is just a standard midi keyboard that will get the job done. Its also very portable and extremely light, and takes up hardly any space at all. Great for use with a laptop.

I came across the M Audio Key Rig 49 because, I was looking for a larger controller to use with Reason, and came across this one for a great price. I was hesitant to buy it since I was afraid it was too cheaply made to hold up to regular use, but it has done well. My old controller was an M-Audio Ozone that only had 25 keys, but also had a lot more bells and whistles that were never used. The Ozone was also a pain to setup in Reason and frequently needed to be tweaked. In my case I only needed a keyboard controller since I have better firewire interfaces for everything else.

This one could not be more simple. 49 full size paddle style keys, Pitch Bend and Modulation Wheels, Octave Up/Down buttons and an on board volume. The back panel is even more simple with a USB socket, Sustain pedal input, and an on/off switch.

Power is through the USB connection, and it was immediately recognized by Reason. I've been through hundreds of patches now and can say I am thrilled by its performance.

The Key Rig software is also great. I have had a lot of fun tweaking sounds to make them work the way I need them too. It actually took more time for me to setup the Keyrig software for this controller than it did setting it up with Reason 4 which surprised me. I have a lot more sounds to play with, and a lot more control over tonal parameters, in Reason 4, but Keyrig is really great standalone software too. If you just need great classic keyboard and piano sounds then the Keyrig software may be all you need to record or perform with.

This is a great keyboard controller for a home studio style setup. You basically open your software and start playing. No delays are present on my dinosaur PC setup so it should be great on anything P4 or above.