I bought this as a secondary keyboard (behind a Korg TR88) to run other instruments in sound modules. It works great! Nice enough feel, adequate control. The only gripe is that it is too light ;-) On a second tier plaform, it slides all around: not enough weight to hold it in place. Solution was easy: velcro.

I purchased this a few days ago. I bought it with the specific intention to get a 'no nonsense' keyboard, because I never end up using all the knobs, faders and drum pads. That's exactly what this is: all the value is in the keyboard itself

You should be glad M-Audio even made this lower priced option, because I'm pretty sure this is the exact same keyboard as the Axiom, but without all the bells and whistles. The Axiom, however, is much more expensive. So, if you want a lot of controls, go with the Axiom, but don't downgrade this keyboard because of the lack of features, because you shouldn't expect them.

That being said, the keys on this (as well as the Axiom) are the most natural keys I've played. I hate the feel of cheap plastic keys (for example, the Oxygen) - I like a feeling similar to a real piano. Everything worked fine right out of the box. Good job, M Audio.

I needed a MIDI controller to do some virtual instrument keys recording, and this turned out to be a great choice. I was hesitant about the "semi-weighted" keys because they are barely weighted, but you do get used to them. I'm not primarily a keys player and I wouldn't want to play out with this board if I were doing expressive piano parts, but it works well for some basic virtual instrument recording work. Quality seems somewhat cheap, but what you would expect for such a low price. For my purposes it wasn't really worth an extra $400 or so for "fully-weighted" keys, though I would have liked them.

I purchased it for use with my Macbook Pro, and it was truly plug and play. Nothing had to be done to configure it, it was ready to go in seconds. The semi-weighted keys are an excellent feature that make it feel like a more expensive piano. The only drawback is lack of programmable buttons, but for the price it can't be beat.

Personally, I am very pleased with my purchase of the M-audio Keystation 61-es.

I gave it a rating of 3.5 for features, because besides it's 61 key/5 octave range, there is a severe lack of features. The keystation has a volume control, octave control, advanced functions button, and a pitch shift/modulation wheel, and lacking all the knobs and after touch that a more advanced musician may want.

The quality is debatable. As far as sound control goes, I couldn't be happier. The keystation offers accurate velocity-sensitive keys, and controls, but the body is made of cheap looking plastic, as well as the knobs, which make this a delicate piece of equipment which I don't recommend for travel.

The controller is well worth the money however, especially since it is in the range of the average musician. You pay for what you get.

Over all, I am satisfied with the controller since I make most of the adjustments on screen, but if you are a more advanced musician, or a fan of analogue synths, you may want to get a controller with more knobs, or it just wont feel right.