M-Audio continues to revise and reboot its classic Oxygen range of MIDI keyboards, with the latest versions - known as the MKV models - getting smart controls, auto-mapping, and a built-in arpeggiator.
There are 25-, 49- and 61-note models in the range, all of which feature full-size, velocity-sensitive keys, faders, trigger pads and more.
The Smart Controls relate to chords and scales. With the Smart Chord feature, you can play full chords by pressing a single key, while Smart Scale ensures that you’ll only be able to play notes from your chosen scale.
Both of these features are customisable, and you get more than 15 different scale variations.
The Auto-mapping feature is designed to make setup a breeze, with multiple controls - Transport, Faders, Pan, Record Arm, Solo, Mute, Select - being automatically configured for your specific DAW.
It seems that the majority of major DAWs are supported, including Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, MPC Beats, Cubase and Studio One. It should just be a case of selecting your preferred DAW on the Oxygen (MKV) and making the appropriate preference settings in your DAW.
The customisable arpeggiator, meanwhile, lets you adjust Type, Octave, Gate and Swing settings, and can operate in Latch and Momentary modes. It can run either at the tempo you set on the keyboard or sync to your DAW.
As with so many MIDI keyboards, the new Oxygens come with a range of software tools (see below for full details) along with 60 free lessons from Melodics and a 3-month subscription to Skoove.
The Oxygen (MKV) series keyboards are available now priced at £90/£130/£170 for the 25/49/61-note models respectively.
Find out more on the M-Audio website.
Oxygen Series (MKV) Features
- Full-size, velocity-sensitive keys
- Preset and DAW buttons for auto-mapped DAW instruments and plugins
- Assignable faders let you mix your productions with ease
- Smart Chord mode enables playing of enharmonic or custom chord voicings
- Smart Scale mode eliminates wrong notes making it easy to craft a perfect song
- Arpeggiator with Type, Octave, Gate and Swing controls
- 2 banks of 8 velocity-sensitive trigger pads with Note Repeat for beat production
- 8 assignable knobs for manipulating virtual instruments and plugins
- Transport buttons let you control your DAW without reaching for the mouse
- Display provides instant parameter feedback
- Ergonomically designed pitch and modulation wheels & 1/4” sustain pedal input
- Includes MIDI editor software and a complete software production package
Software bundle
- MPC Beats
- Ableton Live Lite
- Hybrid 3 - Multi-oscillator synthesizer
- Mini Grand - Acoustic piano
- MPC Beats Producer Kits - Multi-Genre Beat Production Pack
- F9 Instruments Beats Edition - 25 High Quality Instrument Samples
- LANIAKEA Sounds – TrapSoul & LoFi Production Pack
- MSX Audio - Soulful Drums Collection
- ADSR - LoFi Producer Collection
