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- Verified Buyer
This is my first midi controller. I have been a musician for decades, mainly playing guitar and composing with other instruments. I do not play the piano, though I studied music on one and know my away around it.I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews for this model. Then again, I had to do some searching to find this particular keyboard here. All in all I’ll say it was a very good find!I am really enjoying the BK492! I use REAPER as my DAW, which is not the easiest to use MIDI program out there (though it’s one of the best all around DAWs out there), but it recognized the keyboard right away and general setup was problem free.The overall construction seems good. The sliders feel solid and smooth. The keys are a bit stiff, but they have either loosened up a little or I am getting used to them. Their initial stiffness is a bit much, so hopefully they will loosen up even more. It is entirely playable as is, and reviews for other models state that the keys do loosen up.All of the keys, sliders, knobs and buttons all work smoothly and seem consistent in feel.If you are a piano player then you may feel differently about this, but I am happy with the keys, especially for the price (just over $100). The feel seems pretty consistent across all keys. I can play a grand piano full force and also hit some quiet notes as well. The keys are full size. I adjusted the sensitivity curve for the keys, which is easy to do.Programming SlidersI was able to program the sliders. One thing that may be confusing (maybe not if you are experienced in MIDI) - the 8 sliders and 8 knobs can all be setup and saved in different “banks”. Bank #1 can have all 16 controls set up to do one set of things. Then if you select Bank #2 you can program them again, giving you a total of 256 programmable sliders and knobs! You need to reprogram the CC values for each slider on each additional bank though so that each separate bank is recognized by your DAW. If this doesn’t make sense don’t worry ;)I’m trying to set this up so that I can use the MIDI keyboard to control the DAW as much as possible. For example, the MIDI transport buttons, once setup, allow you to record, play, and rewind your music without using the mouse or leaving your keyboard. It’s really convenient.Oddly, I haven’t found much use for the sliders and knobs yet, which is funny because they were a big selling point for me. It seems to me that more buttons would be useful instead. I mean, I don’t plan on doing mastering with this controller so I don’t understand what all the sliders are for. Maybe they are useful when playing live, which I do not. I’m hoping a use for them will be made evident the more I use it.Right now, I set up one knob to select a track - spin the knob and it cycles through all the tracks. I can then adjust the selected tracks volume with a second knob. This knob adjusts the volume on whatever track(s) is/are currently selected. So I can quickly cycle through the tracks and change volumes. It would be cool to be able to mute a track with a button once the track is selected too. I thought about saving one of the pads as a mute button, but I don’t know yet.The pads on the controller are okay. The first one doesn’t have a good sensitivity range, but the others do. I’m okay with that at this price. I may just use them as buttons anyways.The LED screen tells you what you are doing as you program the unit. It can also show you how hard each key or drum pad was struck, and the value of each knob and slider as you use it. It’s useful for sure.As I use this controller, I now know what I want in my next one :) But if I had to recommend features to a newbie like myself, I’d say get one with programmable transport buttons for sure, octave buttons, and maybe a few programmable buttons and knobs. If you have a use for a ton of programmable sliders, this is for you.I received this yesterday and in one day I have composed and recorded a small orchestration with piano, cello, violas, violins and an oboe. It’s SO much better to play the notes on a keyboard rather than use a mouse to create them one at a time. Very cool! Really lets you focus on the music. You won’t miss a cool idea because you’re too slow with the piano roll in your DAW.Don’t let the fact that there are only two reviews for this product fool you - it is a great MIDI controller for the price. I am having so much fun with it! It was hard to find here and I think a lot of people miss it.Other notes:You can use this with your iPad and GarageBand, but you will need a power adapter or batteries, or maybe you can run it through a powered USB hub. The iPad won’t provide enough power on its own through the USB port.I will update this review if see fit. I highly recommend this product if you are looking for a budget controller packed with features.
