Brand New M-Audio Oxygen MIDI Keyboards

M-Audio have updated their incredibly popular Oxygen USB MIDI keyboard controllers. Borrowing features from the premium Oxygen Pro range, the new Oxygen MKV MIDI keyboards offer everything you need to control virtual instruments within your DAW at an amazing price. The series is made up of three keyboards - a 25-key, a 49-key and a 61-key model, all of which feature touch sensitive keys allowing you to play with expression and dynamics. A USB MIDI keyboard is an integral part of any home or pro studio, and these new M-Audio Oxygen MKV models, with their mixture of pads and keys, are ideal for producers and performers of any genre.

All three keyboards have full size keys, with a good keybed making playing chords and melodies easy. They’ve also all got eight velocity-sensitive pads, which are really useful for playing in beats or triggering loops. The combination of the pads and keys mean you can play a whole range of virtual instruments with expression so that they’ve got the right feel - this means you don’t have to tweak the MIDI as much, if at all, within your DAW after. The Oxygen 25 MKV has eight knobs that control a variety of parameters within your DAW, and the 49 and 61 have a range of faders too. What’s even better is that all three Oxygen MKV MIDI keyboards have auto-mapping to most major DAWs, so it’s really just a case of plug in and play. 

The new Oxygen MKV range takes a few features from some of the more premium M-Audio products. These MIDI keyboards have Smart Chord and Smart Scale on board. These features allow you to play full chords with just one finger, and set certain scales up, so that only the correct notes play. This makes it easier to get great results, if you’re not a seasoned piano player. They also have an on board arpeggiator, which is a great way to add excitement to your music, whether you’re recording, or playing live. You can use this in both Momentary or Latch mode, covering all bases. 

As well as all of this, you also get a bunch of software products for free, including MPC Beats and Ableton Live Lite, plus some great virtual instruments, so you’re ready to make music straight away.