M-Audio Pro 88 Stage Piano User Reviews at zZounds

"Perfect Stage Piano" submitted November 16, 2007

By a customer from gmail.com

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Musical Background: Hobbyist, Part time musician, Full time Jammer + Beer!

Music Style: RnB, Funk, Reggae, Classical

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Sound: I run this through 2.1 monitor set, this board sounds surprisingly great. I bought it for stage and home use and have no complaints. Board has your real basic bread and butter: Piano, EPs, Organs and strings. Feature: Basic features, but exactly what I wanted. I do have a Yamaha Motif, this board is obviously not comparable in terms of features. But hence, that ain't bad at all, it's a Stage Board and it does what it's supposed too. Set your splits, layers and yer all set! Effects are typical, don't expect mad quality. Ease of Use: Simple! Don't even need to read the manual. All the settings are easily labelled. Quality: Board feels solid. Took me a few minutes to get used to the keys, they tend to feel on the heavier side and aren't graded (bass to treble), all feel the same. Looks like this will last, it's thick and solid! Value: I picked up a B-stock floor model. No problems at all. Solid and easy to use. Awesome price! Did I mention it includes a sustain pedal? And not the cheap square little ones, this is good quality pedal. Manufacturer Support: No idea, haven't needed it yet (cross fingers). Includes manual, didn't open it lol The Wow Factor: I needed something basic and affordable for now. I do plan to switch to a Nord Stage/Electro in the future. But i'll prolly keep this anyways...Blue lights, yummy! lol Overall: Awesome purchase. No complaints. First piece of hardware from this company. Good job M-audio!

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"Not the best, but for the money, it is." submitted July 4, 2006

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Musical Background: Composer

Music Style: New Age

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Sound: Most of you out there would have heard from M-Audio that their piano sounds extremely great. Dead wrong. All the on-board piano sounds are extremely horrible especially in the mid-range. They sound tinged and fake. BUT... Don't forget you get other sounds that comes along with it. And here is where I didnt gripe. The warm pad and strings are really lush and vibrant with added effects. As for the other sounds though (E-piano, Bass, Clavi, etc.), I find nothing too awesome about them. Feature: Sustain pedal that was sturdy and with authentic feel included. 3 independent volume faders for main, layer, and split, complete with bass and treble knobs, pitch bend and mod wheel. Earphone jacks were also really nice. It also doubles as a MIDI controller (Which I am using it more for.) Its feature-packed. BUT Hammer-action style needs a bit of getting used to No stand included No sound producing capabilities (you gotta hook it up to speakers or an amp.) Ease of Use: Install the driver, plug in the cables and you are good to go. However I dont really like the control interface. The blinking and numbers can get very confusing at times; especially if you are impatient in changing effects. However, just bear with it for once, set the reverb and chorus to the appropriate values you want and it saves the setting for you. That's where its nice. Quality: For a sub 1k piano, its really very heavy-duty. It does not require a stand; it has 4 little studs ready to sit on your (long enough) desktop table. Of course, its pretty heavy. Dont try testing its durability by dropping it. Value: For a stage piano with these much features and overall ok sounds, its definitely a good buy for the price. Manufacturer Support: M-Audio has one of the worst customer support. Out of 5 emails Ive sent, only 1 responded. It was a test though. I have no problems with my prokeys. Yet. The Wow Factor: I have a weakness for blue lights. This piano has it for effects and sound buttons. It looks great from any angle. But then again, who cares about how good it looks. Its how its suited to your preferences. Overall: Considering the way the hammer action keys work, this piano wont last through your whole career. But its really a good, good choice for any budget musician starting out and looking for a hammer action piano. It should keep you happy for at least 2 years.

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"Exactly as described. No more, No less." submitted August 24, 2006

By a customer from yahoo.com

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Musical Background: Hobbyist

Music Style: 20's 30's 40's

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Sound: My goal was to get a good sounding piano without sacrificing an arm and a leg to get it. That is what I got with the M-Audio Pro Keys88 digital Piano, excellent sound. No complaints about the other bells and whistles either. Manufacturer Support: Only time will tell.

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"Great sounds, okay keyboard action, amazing value" submitted September 21, 2005

By a customer from earthling.net

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Musical Background: Active Musician

Music Style: Rock

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Sound: The piano is quite good, and more than acceptable for accompaniment work. I was able to dig in and enjoy. The Rhodes was tasty, the Wurly honked, and the Clav funked. M-Audio chose the right sounds! The organ is okay, too, but without a Leslie sim it is useless to me. The electric bass with cymbal makes for a very fun split. Feature: The action is fairly loose, especially compared to the RD700SX that was right next to it. And at first it felt bad to me, but after playing this for a bit, I saw that I could get used to it. Very few sounds, but most of them are excellent. Quality: Seems okay, but not that solid. Value: For $600, this is an incredible value, and it has just the sounds that a gigging keyboard player needs. I wish it had more onboard effects (a la Nord Electro2), especially for the clav patch. The Roland RD700SX is a better board in every way, but it's over $2000, and the ProKeys 889 has most of what I need. The Wow Factor: For the price, it's amazing, and this is the appeal. I wish other manufacturers would price like this! Overall: If you can handle a mediocre piano action and limited effects and expandability, and just need *killer* piano, EP, and Clav sounds, this is the axe for you.

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M-Audio Pro 88 Piano Customer Review submitted December 12, 2010

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Sound: Sound ok based on the price. Quality: I have personally repaired this keyboard about 5 times in the year or so I've owned it. 1) Keys are klunky sounding - This is due to the weights that are used. There is felt to dampen out the sound of the weights flopping up and down. But since these can flop from side to side to (no bearings, etc) this generates a lot of noise. After evaluating this to try to design a fix, I finally came to the conclusion that this would be virtually too time consuming and difficult to accomplish. 2) Sensors fail quickly if this is used as a serious "every day" piano. These are simply rubber based (hollow, containing two conductive pads below). When you hit the key, this rubber piece is depressed, forcing the two pads mounted to the underside, to touch the printed wiring board below it. They fail due to being squashed/hit too many times .. and fail to pop back up, resulting in a stuck "annoying" key. 3) Changing sensors is a big pain. To do this you have remove the back, the front, unscrew the left and right sides. You then have to remove the keys (strips come in a full octive) 4) Keys are a pain to reliably get in/out. There is a release that must be depressed to get the key to release. Since this is also plastic, it can get depressed .. so that the key won't stay in. (spring action is gone). For example, you put it all together .. you hit this key .. it pops loose .. and to fix it, you have to totally disassemble the keyboard again. Now for the really bad part. This little tab is fragile, and if it breaks, the key won't stay in . The keyboard consists of plastic sections that snap together. The bad thing is that the plastic sections are melted together (with heat? or some sort of glue) to cheaply connect these together. I spent a while trying to see how to just replace a section .. and finally gave up. Couldn't remove any section due to this method without simply destroying the keyboard. 5) Per #4, if the key locking tab has been broken, I've found that you can no longer ensure that it will remain locked in place (I've had to generate a workaround, a screw into a piece of rubber adjusted to allow key motion, but prevent the key from popping loose). It appears that there was an original mechanical solution, that has since been removed (valued engineered to save money) Since the sensor strips are very inexpensive, I would have no problem fixing this piano continuously, if the design allowed me to quickly get at the keyboard. Currently, this takes hours. When the sensor goes bad, typically, it collapses, resulting in the key being down always. My theory is that they have made this mechanically complicated to take apart and fix, because they don't want you fixing it. If I had paid someone to fix this thing the last 5 times it's failed, I would have been better off just biting the bullet and buying a good Yahama keyboard. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! If I were playing professionally and depended on this working .. I'd make sure I had a spare prokeys 88 laying around. Just can't trust this to work reliably. Yeah .. this was cheap originally. But if you're not mechanically inclined .. and you have no electronics background .. stay away from this keyboard.

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"Don't Buy It..." submitted August 30, 2011

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Musical Background: recording engineer, musician

Music Style: jazz, r&b, gospel, pop

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Sound: the acoustic pianos really, really sucks...other onboard sounds aren't bad. the key bed responds very nicely which is what i really bought the keyboard for. Feature: 88 keys with the wheels...playability is good...not great... Quality: the quality of the keyboard is actually very good... Value: would have bought a dedicated controller for the cost, again the acoustic pianos are atrocious... Manufacturer Support: no need for support yet... The Wow Factor: disappointed, if i hadn't thrown away the shipping box, i would quickly return it and bought an M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 MIDI Controller instead...at least i would have had the additional sliders & knobs...

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M-Audio Pro 88 Piano Customer Review submitted September 2, 2005

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SPOTLIGHT REVIEW

Sound: The piano sounds (the most important ones) sound absolutely awesome. Piano 1 is very dark and full, Piano 2 is very nice and bright. I ablsolutely love the dynamic range too. My big hangup with most digital pianos is that they seem to level off long before I reach what I consider fortissimo. This thing pounds. The other sounds are all very rich too; best of all, they didn't waste ROM space with worthlessly cheesy sounds either, everything on there I use. The only sound I wish they had included was a Choir Aah... but other than that... Feature: Very good list of features for the price range. MIDI controller functionality is nice; now I don't have to run between the keyboard and the computer starting and stopping the sequencer. Built in effects sound good, and are programmable; also rare at this price range. The board lacks a lot of the bells and whistles, like built-in recording, jam rhythms, etc. but what it does, it does really well. Quality: I've only had it for about two weeks, so I don't know how well it will hold up in the long run, but it feels really solid. Nothing I can think of feels flimsy in the least. Value: I looked around at a lot of other stage pianos before settling on this one. Once I heard the gorgeous sound samples though I knew it was the one. It completely blows away everything Yamaha and Roland has to offer for under 2000 bucks. Manufacturer Support: Um, haven't really had to call tech support at all. I guess thats probaly a good thing though. The Wow Factor: Looks professional. Wouldn't feel at all ashamed taking it too a gig. Plus the blue LEDs on the instrument buttons look so dang cool... Overall: I can't really see having to upgrade for a better performance keyboard. If you're looking for something good for electronica music or need a workstation, this probaly isn't going to do much for you though.

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"Go try it - you will buy it!!!" submitted February 13, 2006

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Sound: Piano's are good, the FR and Whirly are really great. All the required sounds are there - nice set up!!! Feature: Came with sustain pedal but also has sostenuto and expression inputs. MIDI clock is really useful and its works well for me as a more than basic controller. Quality: Has a nice toned down quality look - good for stage use as well as being attractive enough in the home. Fees solid with everything well made Value: Sounds and features CANNOT BE BEATEN at this price - NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Manufacturer Support: I called them for help setting up the ride cybal and them were really helpful. The Wow Factor: Love it!! Overall: Would buy another one if this one was stolen - incredible value

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"Stay away from this one." submitted February 16, 2010

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Sound: Good non piano sounds... The organ is horrible and the piano is weak. Feature: The feel of the keyboard is sluggish and inconsistent. Quality: The LED's started burning out shortly after the warranty period, the buttons started becoming unresponsive, and the knobs began to fall off. Value: You get what you pay for... good price, but not worth it. Manufacturer Support: Absolutely the worst. They will not respond to email questions and after the warranty period you have to pay for support. My keyboard (ProKeys 88) stop working all together (no sound)and I still have not had any return feedback from them. Overall: Absolutely do no waste your money on this board. DO NOT BUY IT.

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"Everyone in Sweden owns one or wants to own one, or more even!!" submitted August 10, 2005

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Sound: This thing scared my puppies! seriously, i think they have trouble sleeping sometimes. Feature: it has some but not all Quality: it hardly even breakd when it thought you could do it for someone else. Value: i'm very wealthy. Manufacturer Support: i dont call outside much anymore. but that isn't there problem anyway. The Wow Factor: you could always paint it or put stickers on it, but for me it has a simple urban non-genderedness that appeals. Overall: this is good and simple as simon, which means it won't break, ever.

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"I Love This Piano" submitted January 18, 2007

By a customer from msn.com

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Musical Background: Active Musician

Music Style: Alternative, Experimental Piano Pop

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VERIFIED BUYER

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Sound: Amazing sound, very deep and expressive. With headphones on, this keyboard is so powerful that it makes your ears hurt! Feature: Great Features, great piano sounds! Use for a band with piano and sinigng. Also great string sounds. Ease of Use: Very easy, push a button! Quality: Great Quality! Sturdy metal frame. Great for gigs! Value: Best Value without a doubt on the market! Manufacturer Support: This product is so good, that you will never need to use support, but they are there if you need them. The Wow Factor: Amazing, everything you need and more. Overall: You will not be dissapointed.

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M-Audio ProKeys 88 Stage Piano

User Ratings

"Perfect Stage Piano" submitted November 16, 2007

"Not the best, but for the money, it is." submitted July 4, 2006

"Exactly as described. No more, No less." submitted August 24, 2006

"Great sounds, okay keyboard action, amazing value" submitted September 21, 2005

M-Audio Pro 88 Piano Customer Review submitted December 12, 2010

"Don't Buy It..." submitted August 30, 2011

M-Audio Pro 88 Piano Customer Review submitted September 2, 2005

"Go try it - you will buy it!!!" submitted February 13, 2006

"Stay away from this one." submitted February 16, 2010

"Everyone in Sweden owns one or wants to own one, or more even!!" submitted August 10, 2005

"I Love This Piano" submitted January 18, 2007