There are two reasons you should choose this
keyboard over others at this price. so what do you get when you take just the best features of
the Oxygen Pro keyboard and make a more affordable version? well you get this. this is the brand
new M-Audio Oxygen line of keyboards. Oxygen Pro... Oxygen. this is the 25 key version of the Oxygen
and it costs $129. here's the 49 key version which is $179 and there's also a 61 key version for
$229. that's pretty affordable and it puts the 25 key version in mini keyboard price territory!
but this keyboard has two key benefits over the others. watch until the end because i'm gonna
compare it to other popular keyboards so you have all the pros and cons. if you're new around here
i'm Sanjay C. i have lots of keyboard reviews, music production tutorials, and a Saturday music
year news report series on my channel. consider subscribing if you haven't already. i always get
to the good stuff first to help you make your home production journey smoother. all right let's
get to the first good thing - the key bed. there are two reasons you should choose this keyboard over
others at this price and this is the first. i'll get to the second later in the video. the keys are
full size. they feel fine and velocity is good too. this is not a premium key bed, but i'm still easily
able to be expressive and it feels natural. the keys do feel like cheap plastic compared to
the Oxygen Pro. the quality difference is very evident. if you don't like mini keys, this is
a great value. of course it's not going to be as portable as a Minilab or M32 which have
impressive keys as well even though they're mini. by the way if you're interested in buying
one of the new Oxygen keyboards, I'll put links to the best prices in the video description below.
now since we're talking about the key bed, given the larger size of this keyboard, i have to say
that the 25 key version feels a little limited. since you're already choosing full size keys
I highly suggest you get the 49 key version. you're going to be much more comfortable not
having to raise and lower the octave all the time. the 49 key version only costs 50 dollars more and
and you get faders with it. nine faders in addition to the eight knobs. i'll talk more about the knobs
and faders later. i want to talk a little bit about the pads and the build quality right now. the pads
feel fine in their default setting. they're not very sensitive. you have to hit them pretty hard to
get it loud. but you can adjust the velocity easily. there is one thing i miss on other keyboards and
it may sound kind of silly, but i really prefer the lights on the pads on pretty much every other
keyboard out there. this kind of just looks like they added a single LED behind each pad and it
makes this keyboard look pretty cheap. the Pro has beautiful colored pads - 16 of them. and even
other $100 keyboards have nicer looking pads. but yeah let's talk about the build quality next. now
keep your expectations in check here and remember the price. the look is on par with the previous
version of the Oxygen series and i really wish they had updated it - even if just getting rid of
the rounded edges. it would have been more modern looking. now design is subjective so maybe you'll
like it. the rest of the keyboard kind of matches the quality level. the pitch and mod wheels as well.
aside from the plasticky look and feel, everything is pretty tight and sturdy on this keyboard.
other modern mini keyboards just look a whole lot sleeker than this. but hey many of those keyboards
don't cover DAW control the way the Oxygen does. let's get to the next key benefit of this
keyboard over the competitors. before we do if you're sharing your music on Instagram or
Youtube, you're probably using music visualizers. if you aren't maybe you should consider Videobolt,
the sponsor of today's video. they've got some great options for creating unique visualizers.
the interface is super easy, no need to understand video editing at all. and they're updating their
interface to make it even better. look for that soon. Videobolt offers some cool features including
SoundCloud integration, and you can download the finished video to repost it wherever you like. I'll
add links to Videobolt in the video description. use the discount code "Sanjay C" to get a discount on
the service. so let's talk DAW control. this is the second winning feature of this keyboard. remember
this is a midi controller keyboard, meaning there are no internal sounds, no speakers. connect this
to your computer, play software instruments, and control your DAW. that's how the Oxygen keyboards
are meant to be used. and the great DAW control of this keyboard works the same on all sizes
of this keyboard. i tested it with FL Studio and it worked really well - play, stop, record, volume
control - all good. i also tested it with Studio One and it worked really well again. even Logic worked
well using the Mackie Universal setting. it can also control Reason by the way. since this keyboard
uses the Mackie HUI integration standard, you can use it with pretty much any DAW. the more
expensive Oxygen Pro is advertised with auto DAW mapping on the Pro screen but i didn't miss
that feature at all. in Ableton Live, you'll be able to control the transport, volume, pan and
devices. but clip triggering isn't available. by the way i have an early release of the
keyboard so i couldn't actually test device control. but M-Audio says it'll be available soon
i should also mention that the Oxygen keyboards are fully compatible with the new MPC Beats
software. oh by the way the knobs are not endless. would have been nice to have those. so let's talk
about the performance features - the arpeggiator, chords, and scales. i want to know if you actually
use these built-in features on your keyboard or do you just use your DAW? comment below. the
performance features are where the Oxygen keyboards have really been updated from the
previous version. you cycle through performance features by pressing shift plus the mode button.
you can set the arpeggiator up, down, random, and it also has settings for gate and swing. not
as granular as the settings on the Oxygen Pro but good enough for most needs. let's check
out the chord mode next. select a voicing, a key, and choose either major or minor and
now you've got full chords with single keys. and as you play they actually
record the full chords to your DAW. i actually had fun with the random setting
in chord mode. just keep pressing one key and it keeps generating new chords. this may
be useful for some inspiration. nothing revolutionary here but if you don't know music
theory there are some cool cheats. scale mode is useful too, if you need help playing melodies
in the right scale. no mistakes when you use it. these features are kind of on par with some of
the latest modern midi controllers out there like the Akai MPK Mini, the Novation Launchkey Mini and
others. so how do the new oxygen keyboards compare with other keyboards around the same price? well
around $130 or less, most keyboards with all of these kind of features are mini keyboards. so yeah,
if you want full size keys the Oxygen 25 is a really great buy. it's just ten dollars more than
the AKAI MPK Mini and the Arturia Minilab and 20 more than the Novation Launchkey mini and the
Nektar Impact LX25 by the way the Nektar LX25+ does actually have full size keys as well and
it's probably the closest in size and performance but the Oxygen does have more chord and arp
features than the Nektar. honestly, if you use Ableton Session view, there are some better
options for clip triggering like Novation gear or even the Oxygen Pro model. this keyboard
includes Ableton Live Lite, MPC Beats, the Hybrid 3 synth plugin, and Mini Grand. now virtual
instrument control is not its strongest feature. you're going to get better virtual instrument
compatibility and integration with Arturia and Native Instruments keyboards. those keyboards
integrate really well with their own software packages. so the Oxygen fits well in the price
range that it sits. and if you get the 49 key version i think it's an excellent value for a full size
key keyboard. if you have any questions about the Oxygen keyboards, leave them in the comments
below. keep making the music you love and if you want to check out more keyboard reviews on
my channel check out one of these videos next.
