Customer Reviews

M-Audio AXIOM 25-Key Semi-Weighted Keyboard USB MIDI Controller

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I just bought this keyboard yesterday. I played around with for about 3 hours last night. So far it's everything I wanted it to be and more. It's one of the few midi keyboards that has trigger pads on it I've seen. The Enigma software from M-Audio is very easy to use. I mainly use Fruity Loops 5 so I have to spend some time to get the settings right. All the keys are very accurate to pressure you hit the keys with. It's very lightweight, maybe about 5 or 6 pounds. A very good buy for the price.

This keyboard works fine for me. I'm not a sound engineer, just a home studio hobbyist. I use Pro Tools LE to do most of my recordings. I also program MIDI parts on that software using the pencil (note by note!). So I decided to get a controller keyboard to facilitate the job. The semi weighted keys let you program different velocities when playing creating a more interesting and human effect (especially on cymbals)

Difficult to program? I don't think so. I downloaded the Enigma software from the M-Audio website and the job was automatically done. Programming keys on a Mac is piece of cake, just drag and drop! BFD can also program the keys in auto mode. Don't be fooled for those who are saying is complicated to assign sound to the keys.

Low price, great specs... it's up to you.

I bought this about a two months back. I've been using it with Reason, Logic and other software programs. They keys are a bit heavy, so they're amazing to touch. The functions on the midi-controller allow you to do anything. It takes some time to get used to all the functions and controls, specially assigning new functions, but once you get used to it, it's a beautiful midi-controller.

It's not as portable as my Edirol PCR-1 but it does the job. I love everything about it and would recommend it to anyone interested in a good, small sized midi-controller.

BTW, REASON 4 will not recognize this keyboard automatically, you'd have to choose yourself from the M-AUDIO choices...

I am a semi pro jingle writer and audio post producer and was looking for a "smallish" midi keyboard that would help to speed things up in the Studio. I also have an older Ozone which I love, but I was looking for something with a few more features. As I'm already a fan of M Audio gear, I started by looking at their site. The Axiom 25 fit my budget and my desk, so I decided to give ti a try. What a winner! Keys are a million times better than the Ozone and the transport controls allow me to control Nuendo without having to be right at my workstation. I did have to do a bit if headscratching to get the drivers installed, but the issues I was having were due to my system being overloaded with external USB aduio devices and controllers and I found my answer quickly in the M Audio forums. So no complaints on this front. Build quality is once again much better than my old Ozone and I MUST give a shout out to my favorite feature: The aftertouch sensitive drum pads! I mapped two of the pads to the filter cutoff frequency and to the fitler resonance and can get some GREAT filter effects simply by varying the pressure on the pads with my fingertips. Somehow this feels much more natural to me that messign with knobs and I am able to get some really cool syncopated filter effects going.

If your looking for a new controller you should REALLY check this one out. Bang for the Buck is off the chart.

I bought the Axiom 25 thinking that it would be better to buy a higher-end (relatively speaking) piece of equipment for adding midi to my recordings than to buy something that's easier to use that I'd want to upgrade from immediately. The keyboard, pads, knobs, etc are all nice - responsive, do what they should, etc.

Before I get started, I want to mention that I DO read the manuals for devices and software to try and get started on the right foot. The problem(s) I had, however, involved mostly the lack of a comprehensive manual and the lack of good tech support for the Axiom, and the non-intuitive way some of the software and settings work. If you have any trouble setting it up, and you go the M-Audio forums for help, you're likely to get a response along the lines of "you can do _______ in the Enigma software" but there will be no explanation as to how you go about doing it, just that you theoretically can, somehow. The manual that you can print out is only about 30 pages long and really doesn't have much in it that's useful other than listing some of the pre-loaded settings and things like that. With many devices like this, you have to read the manual to get anywhere, but when the manual's as short and vague as this, it's hard to get where you're going! I'm using the Ableton Live Lite software that came with it, as I'm assuming many people new to digital recording will (and I don't plan on purchasing recording software until I know damned well exactly what I want out of it, so I'm giving Ableton a whirl to see if I like it better than Cubase), and it took some time to get things working the way I wanted them to. If you're new to digital recording and Midi, as I am, you'll probably be pulling your hair out for a while with this thing. The Enigma software, by the way, isn't as easy as M-Audio and some users claim - I'm finally getting somewhere just using Ableton and the Axiom to "steer" things. Maybe this will change in the future as I learn more, but I kinda doubt it. The biggest hurdle I had was in just figuring out how to get the pads and keys to play separate instruments - I knew that they had to be/were set to different Midi channels and I needed to set the software the same way, but it took quite a while of playing around and doing some of the tutorials in Ableton to figure it out (and even they didn't answer a lot of my questions but they definitely got me pointed in the right direction). Again, I'm a "noob" when it comes to this stuff, so I'm probably worthy of condescension from more experienced users (at least that 's what I've experienced!), but it seems to me like there should be better answers to common problems like these out there!

So, I guess all in all that this seems to be a nice, solid piece of home recording equipment, and for my use I'm pretty sure that it's got lots of things that I'll either come to use as I progress or won't be useful to the style of music that I make (but be glad that I've got the versatility should I need it), and that I'll be happy with it for the foreseeable future (at least until I move into a bigger house!) but, fellow "noobs" be warned - you're going to be doing A LOT of tinkering, looking around on-line, and mumbling swear words to yourself before some functions start to make sense!

I love most things about this controller, and in time I'm sure I'll love it even more. The size, weight and feel of the controller are nice, its enjoyable to work with. The system behind it is daunting to someone with no experience with MIDI so the lack of a printed manual works against it; yes there is a PDF manual but when the applications I'm trying to use the controller with takes up the full screen keeping a PDF open for reference is a pain... and I prefer printed manuals. All the movable parts feel solid and encouraging to pound on, which is what I'll do until I learn how to actually make music. The Enigma software seems useful, but confusing, though that may be an issue with understanding MIDI... I don't know, the hardware and software companies don't want to take responsibility for teaching MIDI (they assume you already know). So it seems like something I have to figure out myself before I can really get to the hardware and software.

Oh, I did enjoy the Live LE 6 software, so much I did the free update to Live LE 7, then ended up buying Live 7 outright (the modestly priced $150 keyboard escalated to buying $400 software... ouch).

Very easy to use, I am doing lots new of things. If you do music or remix with abbleton is great !!!

This is an excellent keyboard. The keys are semi-weighted and the pads make it easy to bang out a nice drum pattern. I have Windows 7 installed on my workstation and it worked flawlessly. Another great feature is the Transport control. This makes recording a lot easier. I definitely reccommend this keyboard.

Plugged it in and started playing. How's that for a plug 'n play instrument?

at first when i got this i was kind of mad because it didnt come with instructions so i didnt know what the heck to do so i spent a couple days searching the internet how to assign the pads and everything. once i got it working it worked amazingly. love it. if you like making beats/instrumentals definitely get this. i think this is really good for starters