Warning: M-Audio lies about the Prokeys88sx

[thesoundsmith]

I always think 'system' when I purchase any piece of hardware or software. How will it fit in my system and does it have ALL the capabilities that I require for a specific purpose.

The Prokeys 88sz is lightweight, has decent internal meat-and-potatoes sounds, pitch bend and mod wheel, sustain and expression pedal inputs and even a sostenuto pedal input. The only thing I can't tell from looking at the pics - does it have aftertouch?

So I download the manual, and on page 27 is a midi implementation chart that shows that aftertouch is transmitted.

So I bought the board. No aftertouch - is it broken? I email M-Audio tech support, and they state "The Prokeys88sx does not have aftertouch." But the manual shows it.

Oh. No, it doesn't...

The Prokeys88sx manual shows the midi implementation for the Prokeys88, NOT the sx. Of course this is common industry practice, telling your customers whatever the hell you think will sell product, whether or not it has any correspondance to the truth. This is simply fraud unless they are willing to take the product back and publicly admit a mistake was made.

I am extremely disappointed, I have been waiting for the Axiom 61 to be released, this was to make up the upper manual of a portable live-performance rig.But I no longer can trust the company to deliver what it states in their advertising and documentation, so I cannot purchase this keyboard.

DO NOT PURCHASE M-AUDIO PRODUCTS. IF YOU MUST DO SO, BE SURE THE VENDOR WILL ALLOW YOU TO RETURN IT WHEN IT FAILS TO LIVE UP TO ITS HYPE!

Just a warning, for those who need to know - professionals who know what they require... M-Audio has become unfit for professionals.

Such a shame, they were a pretty decent company (or so I thought.)

[dabbler]

Sorry dude, but you're seriously over reacting. Now, if you bought the wrong thing, that's between you and the vendor, but your slagging off of M-Audio is just wrong unless they are the vendor who will not accept a return.

If you think M-Audio has misrepresented a product by placing an O instead of an X on a MIDI implementation chart, you're nuts. While it may be wrong (ie an error), that is not the basis of a misrepresentation. They haven't indicated in their featureset, either on their web site or in the manual, that aftertouch is a feature. That would lead me to believe that it isn't one. I certainly wouldn't pin all hopes of it being there on a MIDI implementation chart.

The ProKeys88 has an x against aftertouch... hmmm. Well, it's not just copied from there.

Product manuals are wellknown for containing errors.

R.

[Karl Garrett]

Most likely it will transmit aftertouch, just not from the keyboard in the manner that we usually think of. I'll bet you can set a knob, slider, or pedal to transmit it. In that case the MIDI chart is not wrong.

I have been seriously considering buying this keyboard, since the demise of my old KX88, as soon as I get a few personal matters under control. I have done a good bit of research into its specs, and nowhere have I seen aftertouch as a feature of this controller. But you can program all those knobs and faders to do just about anything MIDI can do.

Karl