I’m a total noob ragarding music theory and piano. I would like something to start with. Later on i might go for a synthesizer. So far, I can’t make up my mind which of the 3 to buy. I was told that the oxygen has issues on renoise, not being recognized or stucking something and not responding. Anybody has tried Oxygen 49? this
or this
or this one?
I want it to be fully compatible with renoise, just saying. Is every midi controller compatible with renoise? Or if you have something else to suggest, please do. I was told it should have at least 4 octaves… That’s all I know. I can’t afford anything above 150 euro, in case you tell me to save up for something else. I am looking for something to experiment with, something that will grant me the ability to generate sounds through VSTis for now. Thanks a lot in advance.
If you consider yourself as a n00b in music theory I don’t see any reason for you to get an AT LEAST 4 octave keyboard. Sooner or later you’ll sell it and get one with only two octaves. Takes less room, is more portable, cheaper and you still get everything done with it.
I’m using the Oxygen 49 3rd gen, that’s this one. It works perfectly! 4 octaves, velocity sensitive and some knobs and sliders, that’s everything you need to start off…
Thanks!! You persuaded me to make a decision now
Ordering soon
One more question though. I see there are converter cables out there, either midi to usb or vise versa. So if I were to connect this keyboard using a usb midi converter to a synthesizer, would that work at all?
Yep, true, no midi out on this one…
Do you plan to get an audio interface or already have one? A lot of them have midi in/out ports, like this for example, that’s the one i use…
what’s an audio interface for?
so my question is still there, can i use a cable to convert usb to midi? then again, the midi won’t be powered from the usb
also, thomann.de/de/maudio_keyrig_49.htm
this looks sweet and cheaper. it also allows you to manually assign the octaves to ymthe pads…
I got the audio interface to have more output channels, recording inputs and a more powerful output for my headphones…
but it’s not like it’s a must-have.
Well, I’m not sure if I get your question right. What kind of synthesizer do you want to control? If you’re talking of VST instruments, there’s no need to use a cable, the midi signal is transferred via usb. If you thought of some hardware, that has only a midi input, then you’ll probably need a cable, yes.
The keyrig is cheaper, but has far less knobs and buttons as the Oxygen.
I find the transport buttons (play/stop/pause/etc.) and the knobs for e.g. filter cutoff or whatever quite useful. You can change the octave on the Oxygen as well, it even has dedicated buttons for that.
In my opinions it’s worth the extra 30€, but your choice…
9 euro for the bag Should be at my door on Friday Is there an extensive review of this product? I really want to study about it in the meantime, so i’m ready for it as soon as it arrives. How do you assign stuff to the sliders and knobs? That’s done via renoise or with a standalone software ?
Just plug in the Oxygen, install the drivers, and make sure you switch it on BEFORE you launch Renoise.
Then go to “Edit” → “Preferences” → “MIDI” and select the Oxygen as e.g. “In Device A” - you only need to do that the first time you have connected it. If the keyboard is switched on next time you start Renoise, it will “remember” the setting. Step one completed!
The keys to play notes work “out-of-the-box”. Assigning the other controls (knobs etc.) is very easy too:
Top right, next to the VU meters, you see the “midi map” button. Click it, and everything that can be controlled turns yellow (or better: is highlighted, as the color depends on the theme).
Click on the element you want to control and then press the button or turn the knob on the Oxygen you want to map. Click “midi map” again aaaand: Voilà!
Most of the VSTIs have a simlilar midi map mode, and if not, you can use the native “midi control device” and assign your controls to that as described above.
The mappings are saved in the song, or can be stored in a separate file. An expert can correct me here, but i think you can save some of your general mappings (e.g. the transport buttons) in the template song, so you have them already mapped for each new song.
That’s pretty much it. I hope I could help you…
ok so my oxygen 49 came in today and i have been using it the whole day experimenting. can you please tell me how to save the assignments so i can open them before starting a new song and not have to configure them always? btw i love this keyboard it has everything you need as a starter
What kind of synthesizer do you want to control? If you’re talking of VST instruments, there’s no need to use a cable, the midi signal is transferred via usb. If you thought of some hardware, that has only a midi input, then you’ll probably need a cable, yes.
it has everything you need as a starter