Published 5/7/04
Affordable five-octave USB MIDI keyboard
M Audio's new Keystation 61es is a 61-key semi-weighted, velocity-sensitive USB MIDI keyboard, with pitch and mod wheels, an assignable slider control and a foot pedal input. The unit also features octave up/down buttons and can send program and bank change messages.
The Keystation 61es is Windows XP and Mac OS X class-compliant, meaning that no additional drivers are required, and drivers for Windows 95, 98, ME and 2000 and Mac OS 9.1 are also included.
It can be powered from the USB buss or by the included mains adapter, and a single MIDI output means the keyboard can be used to control external MIDI hardware.
The Keystation 61es is available now and costs £129.
M Audio's new Firewire 1814 audio and MIDI interface, announced at Winter NAMM, is also out now.
Priced at £449, it provides eight analogue inputs and four analogue outputs, with two phantom-powered mic preamps, plus stereo S/PDIF input and output (coaxial or optical) and multi-channel ADAT optical I/O. There's also a MIDI input and output and two headphone outs. More information can be found on the M Audio web site.
T M Audio UK +44 (0)1442 416590
