M-Audio Key Rig Keyboard Soft Synth (Macintosh and Windows)

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Four software instruments in one package.

Building a music system around a computer typically means researching, buying and integrating numerous hardware and/or software products;each with it's own price tag and learning curve. Now we've put everything you need for the average session or gig into lethal virtual racks costing a mere pittance comparatively. Use them at home or in the studio with your favorite host software--or play them in stand-alone mode to gig with just a laptop and controller. Download your trial versions today.

Key Rig from M-Audio covers all the basic needs for today's keyboardist in a single virtual rack. Compatible with most Mac and PC environments, Key Rig delivers four great-sounding modules that can be used in stand-alone or plug-in mode. The SP-1 Stage Piano module serves up grand pianos, Wurlitzer, classic electric pianos, FM, clavinet and more. The MS-2 Polyphonic Synthesizer delivers a new, easy way to call up and edit great synth sounds. The MB-3 Electromagnetic Organ emulates the classic Hammond sound complete with rotary speaker. And the GM-4 General MIDI Module is great for sequencing the rest of your backing tracks. The master MIDI/Mixer section lets you route, split, layer and mix these four powerful modules in whatever way best suits your performance and recording needs. A master effects section even allows for adding a common effect in addition to the individual effect section included with each instrument.

Features
4 top-quality virtual sound modules:
-- SP-1 Stage Piano

-- MS-2 read more Polyphonic Synthesizer

-- MB-3 Electromagnetic Organ

-- GM-4 General MIDI

Use stand-alone or with a sequencer

Variable velocity and controller settings, optimized for M-Audio keyboards

Independent MIDI channels

Integral mixer

Split and layer modules for performance combinations

Dual effects processor for each module

Master effects section in addition to individual module effects

Compatible with most popular software including Logic, ProTools, Ableton Live, SONAR and Cubase

It's all there in black and white -- The SP-1 Stage Piano module serves up grand pianos, Wurlitzer, classic electric pianos, FM, clavinet and more. Each preset can hold a combination of two instruments with individual settings for mix, octave, detune, velocity and tone. Owing to a dual effects section, each preset also has its own effect settings including delay, chorus, phaser and more.

Brave new synth -- The MS-2 Polyphonic Synthesizer delivers a new, easy way to call up and edit great synth sounds. Each preset consists of sub-presets for each major section: filter, amp, mod and FX. Creating new sounds is as simple as combining these sub-presets in different ways and tweaking any associated parameters from there as desired.

Get organized -- The MB-3 Electromagnetic Organ authentically emulates the classic Hammond sound complete with rotary speaker. Standard features include nine drawbars that are pre-mapped to M-Audio brand USB MIDI controllers, percussion and variable key click, three chorus and three vibrato settings. Rotary speaker emulation includes tube overdrive, speed and tone controls to yield everything from glassy jazz chords to smoking rock leads.

Bring in the band -- The GM-4 General MIDI Module delivers 128 GM instruments plus a great GM drum kit. It instantly plays GM-compatible standard MIDI files from host applications and provides an extremely easy way of sequencing additional backing tracks.

Multiple effects -- Key Rig modules each feature their own dual effects processors for delay, chorus, phaser and more. There's also a master effects section that further processes the combined output of all modules.

Flexible mixing and assignment -- You get an internal mixer and assignment controls that allow you configure independent MIDI channels for each module. But that's not all--you can easily create splits and layers for things like left-hand bass with right-hand keys, piano/string layers and any other combination you can think of.

Use it your way -- M-Audio's virtual racks let you use them as stand-alone instruments or with most host sequencers. Lots of people, for example, are just taking their keyboard and laptop to live performances. Compatibility with AU, VST and RTAS also means that you can use it as sound sources for your tracks in Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Ableton Live, and, well, pretty much any popular music software.
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Compatibility: Win/Mac, AU Mac, VST Win/Mac, RTAS Win/Mac

iLok compatible

Minimum system requirements PC:
-- Pentium III 500 MHz or AMD7 (P4 / Athlon 1 GHz or faster recommended)

-- 256 MB RAM

-- 600 MB free hard disk space

-- Windows XP

-- VST 2.0 compatible host software

-- MIDI interface

-- CD-ROM drive for installation

-- Internet connection (on any computer) for software activation

Minimum system requirements Mac:
-- G3 500 MHz (G4 or faster recommended)

-- 256 MB RAM

-- 600 MB free hard disk space

-- OS X 10.3 or higher

-- VST 2.0, AU or RTAS compatible host software

-- MIDI interface

-- CD ROM drive for installation

-- Internet connection (on any computer) for software certification

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 401-658-5765

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 5 out of 5 stars. (12 ratings)
Submitted September 12, 2011 by a customer from yahoo.com

"Review by semi-pro gigging musician who LOVES Key Rig!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I have been using this product for over 2 years now and am extremely happy with it. Have used it on multiple laptops (including a tiny netbook computer (you gotta have at least an Atom Dual-Core N570 or faster to make it worth your while and avoid latency, but I HAVE gotten it to work on an N570 - just so you know). I plan on using it until the day I can afford a Nord Stage EX that has all the same "swiss army knife" sounds as Key Rig.

Sound
Where do I start? I have been a semi-pro musician for 30+ years. I actually HAD a real 88-key suitcase model Rhodes (geez that thing was heavy). I had been looking for a simple yet high quality way to get the "swiss-army-knife" of keyboard sounds (acoustic piano, Rhodes, Wurly (think Supertramp), Hammond B3 (with Leslie), and analog synths). I am in a trio and I am responsible for drum and bass arrangement (I do this on a Yamaha PSR-S700) as well as the keyboard parts and vocals (and sometimes acoustic guitar). THIS SOFTWARE IS THE BOMB! I thought at first that I wouldn't like the acoustic piano, but I found out that the M-Audio Key Rig acoustic piano is EXTREMELY "musical". In other words, it's as though the engineers knew it would HAVE to "fit" inside a typical live band mix and it does! It has just enough brightness and punch to cut through the mix. The Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos are ALSO excellent (and remember, I owned the original Rhodes). Perfectly processed and ready for you to read more add various on-board effects (such as Phaser, Flanger, Chorus, Tremolo, etc.). I even use the distortion effect within Key Rig on the Rhodes patch to simulate an electric guitar. The Hammond B3 is AMAZING! WOW! To think I got this thing for $49. I use an 88-key M-Audio 88SX controller to control Key Rig (running on an older Dell Inspiron laptop with NO lag and NO CPU issues) and I use the Mod wheel to engage the Leslie (speed up and slow down). Unlike the LAME Leslie simulator on the Yamaha PSR-S700 (which sounds like simple LFO mod wheel crap), the Leslie within Key Rig actually spins the low frequencies DIFFERENTLY than the high frequencies. THIS, my friends, is how the Leslie got its distinctive sound (that and you could overdrive it and give your resulting tone some warm distortion). Do NOT be fooled by lame attempts to simulate a Leslie. Roland makes a foot pedal that ALSO does a GREAT job at simulating a Leslie because it specifically rotates the highs differently than the lows. Analog synths are ALSO great and I use them for some older 70s covers (Steely Dan stuff, Spooky, and the like). Not only are the sounds really high quality for live use, but I've used them in the studio as well. Don't just listen to me talk (if ZZounds will allow a URL), you can hear me using all the instruments of Key Rig on our live recordings at the Live Music Archive. Go to: archive.org/details/etree and search for Baja Dunes. Listen to gig recordings starting in, say, 7/2011 (I have earlier stuff, but as a band we start getting good in the summer of 2011). On the recordings, all acoustic piano, Rhodes, Wurlitzer (not used much), B3, and analog synth are coming from Key Rig. Cannot say enough for how great these instruments sound.

Features
Key Rig is extremely easy to use and with a little more MIDI knowledge you can easily use even MORE of the features M-Audio packed into this little treasure. I DO wish it had a way to trigger presets. I use Live Professor (currently in beta, so it's free) to "host" Key Rig (rather than run Key Rig standalone, or within a DAW such as Cakewalk). Live Professor allows me to send patch changes from the 8 buttons on the 88SX to switch sounds.

Ease of Use
Giving it a 9 simply because it doesn't handle switching presets easily. The rest of it is quite simple though. OH (almost forgot) - you HAVE TO HAVE TO HAVE TO go to the M-Audio site and download the update to Key Rig and do things in this order: 1. Install Key Rig. 2. Do NOT attempt to authorize the software (heck don't even run it yet). 3. Download and install the Update and it will "fix" Key Rig so that you don't have to authorize it with M-Audio.

Quality
The quality of these sounds simply have to be heard to be believed. I could ding M-Audio a teensy bit by being real picky and saying that the "fast" setting of the B3 Leslie is just a TAD too fast and it would be nice to be able to adjust the spin settings of fast vs. slow, but I'm quibbling. Go listen to our (Baja Dunes) gig recordings and you'll see what I mean. The B3 simply cuts through the mix like a knife yet still sounds all warm and gooey. The Leslie lets you make the B3 "talk" as you change the speed from high to low speed.

Value
Value for price is simply too good to be true. You can still find Key Rig software for roughly $49 around the net. Or simply buy one of M-Audio's controller keyboards and they usually come with Key Rig.

Manufacturer Support
Haven't dealt with M-Audio other than posted on their site. I WILL say that they were awful nice to put out that Update that turns OFF the authorization stuff. Wish they'd do that with Drum and Bass Rig (but that's another story).

The Wow Factor
The UI of Key Rig is ALSO very nicely laid out and easy to use. Another user complained a little that the acoustic pianos were slightly lower in volume than the other instruments. I noticed this too, so I simply tweaked the acoustic piano to be louder, saved that as a preset and then I switch between presets and I got all instruments (acoustic piano, Rhodes, B3, and analog synth) to be roughly the same. I use a volume pedal hooked to the 88SX controller to let me bring the volume up for solos and then back down again for the rest of the songs.

Musical Background:
Semi-Pro Gigging Musician

Musical Style:
70s feel good music, jazz, easy listening
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