N/A

Has enough controls to operate a recording setup or a live performance setup. Works equally well with Logic and Sonar. My live vst host programs (Ableton Live, Cantabile) can be easily programmed to accept control from the keyboard. Has velocity sensitive keys and has aftertouch, and more knobs and buttons than I have use for. Motorized faders are a nice touch, and when the right option is selected in the DAW, can be used on the fly.

Needed to upgrade the firmware to 2.1 before the machine was fully functional. Manual is not very helpful.

The thing is built like a tank. I think it will likely last a long time, judging from the build.

For what I paid, I could not get another midi control device that has half the features. As long as it keeps working, it'll continue to be a bargain.

Support is by wading through the website only. I sent an email asking a question about the upgrade several months ago, and have yet to hear back from them. Because of the discount price I bought the machine for, I feel that if the machine ever breaks, I'll be on my own.

I wanted a decent 3 or 4 octave midi controller for my plugin based synths, and was kinda turned off by the red color. But the price and features won me over, and I ended up with a machine that does so much more than I expected at first. And others think the red color is cool, so that's a plus, I guess.

active musician

rock, metal, techno, ambient

not applicable

Non-western monophonic temperaments, semi-pro trigger pads, aftertouch, deep, deep midi features - which you'll probably never get to work, and certainly never onstage as there's no sensible way to construct or save presets. Keyboard zones don't work after 2 years of firmware downloads.

The manual is nearly inscrutable yet indispensible as there's no way to program the controls without it. Sadly, it's completly out-of-date once you upgrade the firmware. Unless, like me, you are well-familiar with the midi stadard and midi controllers you'll probably give up in exasperation. The VX has a deep set of features that you'll probably never be able to access!

The firmware updates they've released are poor and have bricked many, many units. The chassis is solid aluminum but power button, usb connections and ribbon controller are simply junk. If you bump the power button the unit turns off - disasterous to a PC-based performer. It also will not boot unless the power button is "settled" just so. This has been a known issue for 2 years.

There is no support. It took 2 years for the company to deploy a semi-working firmware download. CME has never responded in any way to any attempt at contacting them, nor do they seem to communicate with their own support board moderators.

Active Musician