The Roland A-500PRO (formerly Cakewalk A-500PRO) MIDI keyboard controller combinines the best of Roland engineering with Cakewalk's legendary ease-of-use, the A-500PRO has the features and feel you need to get the most out of your music performances and productions. The A-500PRO is the perfect keyboard for use with a wide variety of software on Mac or PC including Ableton Live, Cubase, FL Studio, Garage Band, Logic, Nuendo, Pro Tools, SONAR and the included Production Plus Pack. Best of all, the A-500PRO is easy to set up — if you can plug-in a USB Cable, you'll be making music in no time at all.
When you perform with the A500PRO, you're tapping into the benefits of over 30 years of Roland keyboard development. A superior key mechanism provides aftertouch and and increased sensitivity for a wide range of expressive dynamics in your performance. Rounded key assemblies offer responsive reaction to your touch and more comfortable glissando. Plus, enhancements have been made to eliminate vertical shake and reduce the already low mechanical noise on key strokes. And with selectable Velocity curves you can fine tune the A-500PRO to match your playing style. No matter what your skill level, you'll appreciate the feel of a quality instrument when you play the A-500PRO.
The A-500PRO has been ergonomically designed to put everything at your fingertips. All controls are easily accessible and intelligently laid out to make performing and producing music an inspiring affair. Whether you're playing your favorite virtual instrument or working in your digital audio workstation, 9 knobs, 9 sliders, 4 buttons, and a dedicated Transport section offers fully assignable control of all the features you need. And the sure-grip, rubber-coated Pitch Bend/Modulation Stick offers expressive control of both functions at the same time.
The A-500PRO Editor for Mac and PC makes it a breeze to customize the A-500PRO for use with your favorite synth or DAW. Just fire up the editor, adjust your Control Map, and hit transmit…it's that easy. And when you're working with an ACT (Active Controller Technology) enabled DAW like SONAR, parameters will remap automatically, keeping you in the flow and focused on your music.
The A-500PRO provides easy access connections on the side panel so that you can have a computer monitor or laptop in the ideal position behind the keyboard — a must for educational use. Connect USB, MIDI IN/OUT, Hold and Expression pedals without having to reach behind the keyboard.
The A-500PRO puts 8 velocity sensitive Dynamic Pads right within your reach. Use these pads to trigger grooves, samples, or one shots on the fly with your favorite DAW, sampler, or virtual Instrument like the included Cakewalk Sound Center or Studio Instruments Drums. Use the Hold control to “latch” the pads. Or assign aftertouch, velocity, and controller data to pads for greater expression in your performance.
Whether you're live on stage in front an audience of screaming fans, or dimming the lights in the studio to capture a mood, you can always clearly see what you're doing with the A-500PRO's ultra-bright backlit LED display and buttons. And the A-PRO works with USB bus power, so if you have your laptop you're ready to make music anywhere.
Don't trust your MIDI to anything else! The A-500PRO offers MIDI Transmission using Roland's proprietary FPT (Fast Processing Technology). You can rely on FPT for stable, high speed, low latency, and low jitter MIDI transmission. In layman's terms, that means that subtleties of your performance are going to be captured regardless of the music application you are using. And when working with virtual instruments, FPT provides lower latencies to give you the inspiring feel of playing a real instrument.
The Production Plus Pack is a powerful suite of music creation softwarethat ships with the A-500PRO. It includes SONAR 8.5 LE recording software (PC only) and three high-quality and versatile virtual instruments for Mac and PC: Rapture LE, Cakewalk Sound Center, and Studio Instruments Drums.
Cakewalk A-500PRO Key Features:
- 49 Velocity-sensitive keys
- Inspiring feel & response for serious players
- 45 assignable controls: knobs, sliders, buttons, transport & more
- 8 Dynamic Pads for finger drumming & MIDI triggering
- Sure-grip Pitch Bend/Modulation Stick
- Expand playability with Sustain & Expression Pedals (available separately)
- USB Bus Powered—no AC adaptor required
- Durable Roland-quality manufacturing & craftsmanship
- Ready to play with 3 included virtual instruments
- Works with any DAW on Mac or PC
- Supports Windows 7 & Mac OS X Snow Leopard
- Includes the Production Plus Pack music creation software
