Inexcusable indulgences

Are what most of us partake in on a daily basis. Whether it be buying ourselves a $940 Prada handbag that could probably fit a PSP on a good day, or a custom-fitted pair of Adidas trainers that we then throw into the closet for safekeeping, or a brand new Sigma lens and a hotshoe extension cable, such indulgences make us feel whole again.

That is, for as long as we actively enjoy our newfound luxury. Then we get thirsty/hungry, head on over to the nearest cafe, take out our wallets and oh shit - we realize, all too late, that our choices come with hefty price tags.

But what the hell, we’re all going to die in the end anyway, and we might as well die happy, right?

Enter the M-Audio Axiom 49. The MIDI keyboard to end all MIDI keyboards.

Ok, not really, but in my case, on the scale of extravagance from 1 to 10, this ranks about a 25. For reference, my PS3 and 24″ HDTV monitor rank about a 15.

(Non-audiophiles may want to have a tab on Wikipedia ready, since it’s a little late and I’m not going to waste extra time explaining some technical jargon in the rest of this post.)

I was actually looking around for a new MIDI keyboard ever since I had finally decided that my old Creative Prodikeys DM just wasn’t the kind of keyboard that I was going to stubbornly stick with for my (admittedly amateurish) audio work, and had settled on several choice alternatives, including contenders from all over such as E-MU, M-Audio, Yamaha and even Casio. (Yes, I know there are a billion more manufucturers out there, but when it comes to music/audio, I’m not exactly what you’d call inexperienced. I’m of a far lower caste.)

I decided, last Friday, to head on over to the local music store and see what they had for offer. In my mind, I had kind of settled on M-Audio’s Oxygen lineup, specifically the Oxygen 49.

So imagine the waves of annoyance that swept through me when the salesman proclaimed that the Oxygen series defunct and ‘antiquated’, suggesting instead several other ‘newer’ models, which, he failed to mention, were significantly more expensive than the Oxy49’s MSRP. I was about to up and blow the joint, so to speak, when my mom pipped up about M-Audio’s other offerings (Incidentally, my mom and sis are pretty decent with a piano; the same can’t be said for me or my dad).

Which was when she suggested that I get the Axiom 49. Like, she’d be paying and all.

I was like, what, I don’t need all those functions and shit and that’s semi-weighted keys and I prefer synth action and wait you’re the one paying

Standard pitch and mod wheel controls, along with a fuckton of other shit I don't even know how to use.

Four hundread and eighty dollars, Singaporean, yes siree. With ASIO4all drivers and my SB Audigy (yes, it’s shitty, but at least I’m not using onboard sound) I’ve managed to get the lantency of the keyboard down to around 3 miliseconds with 144 samples at a 48khz sample rate using Reason 4.

It’s like playing a dream, and my fingers are like the nightmare that you wake up from. It’s like yin meets yang, and yang kicks the stuffing out of yin because his name just ain’t as cool.

49 keys, as the name implies. 480 bucks, as the look suggests.

The keyboard itself uses semi-weighted keys (which my mom hates for some reason) which means that while it’s not as light to the touch as synth-action keys are, they have some manner of resistance to them, and feel a little more comfortable to those who are used to playing on piano grande. Since I don’t even have formal piano training, they feel pretty damn good to me.

The 8 drum pads, 8 rotary knobs and 9 track sliders are pretty fucking sweet, but honestly, I think so far I’ve only gotten to using about 3 of the track sliders and maybe used the drum pads to test some beats; I don’t think I’ll be doing live performances anytime soon, so I literally don’t know what I’ll do with the other controls. Especially the programmable buttons. I haven’t even figured out what half the other buttons do yet.

So far, I’ve pretty much gotten accustomed to the feel of the keyboard over the past 3 days, and even though there are quite a few grumbles over how M-Audio seems to be handling its Vista 64-bit driver development, I’m happy to say that I plugged the Axiom in and started assigning controls in Reason 4 with no real problems (apart from not being able to assign the Record button without getting an assignment conflict with the mod wheel) or bugs.

And I haven’t just been playing Mary had a little lamb, either. I even came up with something!

Folk Beat

I actually didn’t intend for it to be a remix at first; but while I was deciding on how best to flesh out the song I loaded up a sampler with piano soundfonts and started playing around. Then I decided to play some old tunes that I had remembered from my classes and suddenly it hit me that this would sound fucking awesome if I could fit it in.

And so I did. I’m actually working on it some more, and I may make it a full-length piece instead of leaving it as a short test. But for now, I think 3 days of playing around with this is quite enough. I’m going back to attacking my aural senses with gunshots and explosions for a while. Keeping things fresh and all that.

Entries: Kicks, punches and fireworks — Parting Shots

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