M-Audio Axiom Pro 25 - Advanced 25 Key USB MIDI Controller

Bob,

I've had 3 different control surfaces, and here are my thoughts on them:

Maudio Oxygen61 silver – Inexpensive, didn't want to dole out a lot of money if I wasn't going to stick with it. Bought a 61 key system even though I don't know how to play a piano. Sliders worked fine, rotaries worked fine. Transport controls worked fine. Until it started sending midi messages to my DAW that I was not wanting to change. It would turn up or down volumes on its own or change velocity settings... it became problematic so I took it off the system. There is a YouTube video on the web that shows the setup of the Oxygen 8 to Sonar 6? maybe? Using ACT technology. Sonar X1 has not changed that technology in the least so the instructions still apply.

Akai APC40 – Designed for Ableton Live which I was tinkering with at the time, it took a while to setup for use with Sonar. In the end, I had to use CAKEWALK GENERIC SURFACE setting and go through a lot of steps to get as much as I could program into this surface. Once programmed, this surface did OK, I've not had any major problems since, the pans and other rotaries work fine. The sliders are very good when in the mixing process. I can solo, mute, arm per track. I still use it to this day.

Maudio AXIOM 49 2^nd Gen – Replaced the oxygen61. I realized that I didn't need all those keys for my meager plunking around. I was looking at that and an Akai MPK49. The Axiom was on sale at my local guitar center, so I got the Axiom. The sliders are good and responsive. The rotaries are not that good. But that may be a programming issue on my end. I can't tell that DirectLink works with Sonar, I had to set this up the same as the youtube video for oxygen 8. Have I developed my technique to say that I've gotten the most out of my Axiom? No. I have barely scratched the surface. Do I like the pads? I can't really say, I plunk on them just to see if I can finger out a drum beat, but they are not the end all, be all of my control surface.

The programming of these surfaces are time consuming and tedious. You may like the presets that come with cakewalk, you may want to shake it up a bit. My suggestion may be wrong; but, if the only thing you are wanting to do is control your surface, I would stick with as few KEYS as possible and as many sliders/rotaries as I could get in a UNIT.

Good Luck

I know this is a Sonar forum, but I'll throw this out about live.  I like it for what it is.  Personally I think it is overpriced.  Whether you are in live or sonar, the control surfaces are irrelevant.  LIVE is excellent at piecing together ideas.  There are countless presets and the vst's that come with live have limitations of their own. 

IN SONAR, Matrix simply does not compare to the PER CELL editing that can be done in live.  That being said, I've never made a COMPLETE project that I was ever happy with using LIVE.  What I end up doing is exporting the individual tracks from a take in LIVE.  Start a NEW project in SONAR, IMPORT THE TRACKS and start replacing the "tinny" computerized sounds that LIVE can produce with the more NATURAL sounding material that can be created in Sonar / and Dimension / Session Drummer.

I have a 64-bit computer and I love the power that provides when it comes down to editing and plugins.  LIVE is 32 bit and somewhat limited.  When I'm playing in live, I let my imagination run away with me and I tinker with noises.  When I switch to Sonar, I feel like it's time to get down to business.

Thanks for letting me indulge my own opinion.

Using Oxygen 49 1st Gen (silver) ....works perfectly after 3 years of heavy usage...Not the easiest to set up with Sonar and ACT and the default template Sonar provides was not of my liking....but its doable (after a bit of reading) to make your own mappings for ACT. To say the truth, if it also had aftertouch I would never ever think of changing it, works perfectly, does what it says on the tin ;)

A friend of mine got the Axiom 49 2nd gen (blue).....There is a serious, seeeerious flaw in that controller's knobs....For one, they are kinda "stepped" as in when you turn them you feel some sort of "clicking".......That of course is personal taste (i prefer smooth rotation). The flaw however is that if you turn them fast enough (and it aint "that" fast) they "skip" values in their sent messages for example you turn a knob too fast from position 0 clockwise and it sends like 10->17->25 and so on up to 127. Now that seems like not of a big deal BUT this behaviour coupled with Sonar's "Match" mode (see ACT -> options) causes the knobs to lose synchronisation with the controls they are mapped to everytime. I contacted M-Audio about the issue, asking if there is a "special" acceleration mode enabled for the knobs which I could turn off and unfortunately the respond was "thats how they work, acceleration settings are available only for the faders"..........I instantly hated that controller....

My advice, before buying anything, ask to test them turned on...most of these controllers display sent values in their LCD screen....make sure no matter how fast you turn-slide a knob-fader the values are always running one by one (even if so fast you cant read them on the LCD)....VERY important!

(for me anyways)