M-AUDIO Oxygen Pro Mini - 32 Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller With Beat Pads, MIDI-assignable Knobs, Buttons and Faders and Native Instruments Sound Package (NKS Integration)

I purchased the M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini Keyboard as an 'upgrade' from my Akai LPK25 MK 1 and I was not disappointed.I already use Ableton Live on a Windows laptop and the keyboard worked straight away after plugging in and launching Ableton. The faders, buttons and knobs automatically control various functions in Ableton Live without the need to do any awkward 'setting up'. There is a 'quick start' guide supplied with the keyboard and a more comprehensive manual can be found on the M-Audio website in PDF format.The 32 keys are about half the size of normal piano keys (they are the same size as the Akai LPK 25). This makes the keyboard very portable and it can easily be transported with a laptop to a gig or friend's house.The 'onboard' functions are very comprehensive and should meet most needs for music production. For beginners there are Chord and Scale buttons/modes that produce complete chords with a single key press and also correct any 'out of scale' keys played.A standard keyboard sustain pedal can also be used.I have tried the keyboard with an Akai Force and the basic functions are available. The keys work as expected when used on a plug-in track, as do the pitch bend wheel, arpeggiator and latch buttons. The internal clock on the keyboard can also be used to clock the Force.In conclusion, The built quality is very good for the price and the keyboard is quite light. After registering the unit with M-Audio on their website, some software can be downloaded that includes 'MPC Beats' and a 'Lite' version of Ableton Live along with some 'Virtual' instruments. This is enough to get started with if you are new to making music using a computer.

*Double check compatibility if you are running Mac OS Monterey* - 06 Dec 2021Very well made keyboard that is versatile, great to play on, and looks great.Unfortunately, after updating to the latest firmware version it did not properly integrate with Ableton. Many of the functions like play, record, stop etc did not work despite setting it to Ableton DAW. Even the D and E keys were not functioning as intended. After many attempts at re-updating, following the manual guide multiple times over, I decided to refund and go for the Novation brand instead.I really wanted to keep this keyboard as it is beautiful and the 32 keys is a big bonus for its form factor.There is an article on the website that suggested not updating OS Monterey on Mac. This may change very soon but be sure to double-check compatibility so you can save time troubleshooting how to fix this.Happy music making.

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!

Great product but for starters there is no any guidelines how to actually make any music with it. Book of guidelines for each buttons and how they work would be appreciated.

Great product and quality, my son loves playing it

I was looking for a Midi controller after a lot of research I settled on this and I am glad I did value for money is excellent.I am a newcomer to the world of DAW and its a steep learning curve. But this unit has a lot of functionality under the case. There is also a lot of software included to download, ableton lite is fully functional DAW but limited to 8 tracks however I do not get on with it. My choice of DAW is Cakewalk (formally Sonar) but one of the easiest to learn and its free the down side is you need to down load bandlab to use it but it is unobtrusive but needed to download Cakewalk.Oxygen pro mini is very similar to the Akai mini (owned by the same holding company) the controller has built in, start record, play, buttons built in so for anyone who dislikes using the mouse this addition is brilliant there are also templates built in for nearly all the popular DAWs but the instructions for manually setting the controller to a DAW that has no template.There is so much built in to this controller I am sure you won't be disappointed