M-Audio Ozonic Keyboard User Reviews at zZounds

"Broken but not in Spirit." submitted July 11, 2007

By a customer from polarismusiqworks.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Producer, Recording Engineer

Music Style: Pop, Rock, R&B and Hip Hop

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Sound: The units overall sound quality isn't bad. It works. I'd prefer it had digital I/O. ADAT Light-pipe perhaps to step up the quality. You are left with the AD converters in the unit. The mic pre is shall I say operable. I'd like a bit more juice in the tank but it's clean. Getting anymore involved into outside gear before the Ozonic's input stage would make your setup not so portable any more. So either you'll like the AD/DA converters or you won't. I can live with them if that's all I had to work with. There are a lot of nice things you could do in a DAW that can make things fine. There isn't much else to it. On the output stage there are a pair of Bal TRS outputs that deliver a solid sound. Another pair of UnBal 1/4 outs can be used too. Feature: The features are pretty much the reason you'd buy it. It's a controller with multiple sliders, faders, buttons and knobs. Great for plugins and could be used for daw mixing and transport control. It's also a firewire audio interface that can be used with a variety of DAW's. Like Cubase and Pro Tools LE. This broad platform usage,that's actually it's best feature. It really needs a second firewire though, there is only one port on the unit. So this puts it at the end of an external drive if you have one, closing the daisy chain out. The audio interface has (2) Bal TRS Out, (1)XLR, (2) 1/4 UnBal in and (1) 1/4 Inst in (Bal/Unbal?) Ease of Use: It may not be as friendly as it should or could be to some. Still this is definitely subject to a user's midi implementation knowledge. Even with the preset in (midi controller assign and mapping app) Everyone won't be a tech geek. "Enigma" has been it's namesake to a few noob friends. I guees it is what it is. Secondly the firewire hot-swap is swappable issue is a drag. You can feel like you have a must stricter setup rather than a mobile one. Warnings constantly advise, you could even destroy the unit if you get a bit careless. Un-swappable unless you shut down the computer. Quality: The fact that my unit went blue-screen after 8 months does give me a bit of pause to it's fundamental concept. You can loose both your controller and audio interface in one shot. This might too big a price to pay if the unit goes belly up in the middle of a poor lads project. Just a thought. Don't make it your end all be all. It's The sliders, buttons and knobs, feel like the average portable controller. The keys are a nice size and have a decent feedback for playing a variety of instruments. The display has no contrast control but it is still bright and clear in most lighting conditions. I still have to demote the quality for dying before a year with only moderate use. I have a full studio and it was used mostly with at home with a laptop most of the time. Value: I think this is a unit that in theory has all the things any portable, mobile user needs. In reality it maybe pushing it a bit. I'd still recommend it though because it does fulfill a need with a valiant attempt. Even if lacks digital i/O, word clock. It does have a nice array of i/o's including an XLR w/phantom power. That's pretty darn nifty for a keyboard controller. Manufacturer Support: They have great feedback and support and my unit will go out for repair next week. The Wow Factor: Its a good looking controller. Well laid out. It definitely looks like it does something special. There is a decent geek factor if you look at it and you will be quite the mobile genus if you implement all it has offer. Overall: Overall the Ozonic does deliver. Period. It works on Mac and XP. Cubase to Protools M-Powered LE. It's sounds good and offers a lot for a decent price. It is a true all in one mobile setup rig a laptop musician. You still have to keep in mind your stakes if this unit breaks on you. The baby and the bath water are tossed. Well until you get it back from being repaired.

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"Overall great item hands down." submitted February 23, 2007

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Musical Background: Recording Engineer and Producer

Music Style: Dance, Hip Hop, R&B

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Sound: Great sound when recording vocals or instruments - especially at 32 bit with Cubase. vst instruments sound wonderful and audio gear tracked in sounds great too. Feature: Being able to custom map the controller knobs and sliders and also having templates with the enigma software. portability and the keys feel good for a controller too - not flimsy cheap. Ease of Use: Setup easily on my pc & mac. I interchange all the time - just plug it up, then turn it on and i don't have to shutdown the computer. the new drivers are flawless. Quality: I have two of these - there that flexible Value: great value since its one unit for a sound card and midi controller. Easier for travel and desk space. Overall: I have two of these and I would definitely buy again.

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"The Worst Equipment I've Wasted Money On...Ever" submitted June 1, 2005

By a customer from excite.com

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Musical Background: Pro Songwriter

Music Style: Rock

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VERIFIED BUYER

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Sound: When it works...which is seldom...it sounds good. The interface is strong...when it works. The keyboard action is somewhere between poor and fair...for any price. I wouldn't pay 50 bucks for the Ozonic after fighting with it and reloading the drivers at least 30 times in the span of a month. Feature: I'm giving this an average grade because I had little opportunity to use them because of the driver problems. Quality: The keys are very average for the price. They don't respond evenly...resulting in some notes popping out strong and others weak. It has driven me up a wall. You can do much better for the price. Value: Extremely overpriced for a fair product. I've bought keyboards at Wal-Mart (Casio, Yamaha) that have better key action. If you are a real piano/keyboard player...you'll likely hate the action. Manufacturer Support: It took an act of God to get their attention. Once I had it, they were O.K. After getting rid of it...they claim that they would have taken it back...but only after hounding them persistently. The Wow Factor: It looks sexy...but it isn't worth half the price. Look at other products like Novation and Edirol. If you see the Ozonic in a store or online....run. Looks aren't everything...as they say. It's what's underneath that's important. Overall: I gave up on the Ozonic and don't plan to buy an M-Audio product again. I just bought a Novation to replace it and I've found controller heaven. The people at M-Audio kept telling me that there were driver conflicts with my computer...which was false. The Novation took about 5 minutes to load and start using. The drivers are solid as a rock on the Novation. Fantastic! We're talking about amateur gear vs. professional. Novation is the professional gear. I wouldn't even recommend the Ozonic to an amateur.

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"great idea, bad implementation" submitted October 24, 2006

By a customer from relic.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: paid to work in sound, but no musician

Music Style: gravitational calorism

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Sound: i had nothing but driver problems on my mac. i was using ozionic with ableton live 5 and reason 3.5, both had their audio drop out, or the transport freeze up when I was sending controller data while playing. I updated to all recent drivers and OS updates (running panther not tiger) but i still could not get the ozonic to stream out the audio without glitches. My old EMI2|6 interface was more rock solid streaming 6 tracks of audio out through USB than the Ozonic drivers were running 2 tracks out through Firewire. Feature: In theory, this unit has everything i want; midi interface, at least 4 outs (6 would be better for surround), a decent number of controllers... But if it sounds like crap, there's no point. It also seems excessively finnicky in the hot-swapping of firewire, asking you to turn on and off the CPU whenever you want to detatch firewire. Another firewire through port would also be good for people on a macbook who only have 1 firewire port but want to also hook into a firewire external drive. I would replace this with an Xstation but they only have 2 out, and I need to cue while sending main outs, so that doesn't seem to work. I also liked Ozonic's internal headphone monitor crossfader, simple idea but overlooked by most. Ease of Use: finnicky with setup, you are welcomed by a big READ ME FIRST! document which does not instill confidence in the robust construction of the ozonic Quality: again, primarily low scores for the driver sound issue. Otherwise this feels like your average cheap plastic keyboard. Value: great value... if it worked. Manufacturer Support: no experience with it, after i encountered the sound driver problem right out of the box i went on line, read forums stating that others had the same issue, played with it for another few days before giving up and returning the unit. The Wow Factor: i want it _to_ _work_.

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M-Audio Ozonic FireWire 37-Note Keyboard with I/O

User Ratings

"Broken but not in Spirit." submitted July 11, 2007

"Overall great item hands down." submitted February 23, 2007

"The Worst Equipment I've Wasted Money On...Ever" submitted June 1, 2005

"great idea, bad implementation" submitted October 24, 2006