Carbon 49 USB MIDI Controller

Finally, a simple. inexpensive, narrow profile, midi keyboard that has REAL 5 pin midi out port also has usb. But without that other junk like drum pads,knobs,dials, menus, sliders, lights,etc. That stuff takes up top space and adds cost. Also that stuff all depends on talking to a DAW. This works as a standalone midi kbd. You set the midi channel and start playing. It has velocity but no after touch. It will work with a DAW if you want it to, but there are a plethora of better units around for that use. This is ideal for playing hardware synth units live. Especially vintage synth gear. It feels like a normal organ/synth kbd that is not weighted. Its not a piano. Ignore those brainless Reviewers who disst this product because they wanted piano feel. Its not ment for that. It has the basic midi settings on top easy to see and change on a red led WITHOUT menu diving or connecting to computer. It's lite weight and usb powered. Easy to run a bunch of them from a multi usb charger. The Keys have a slightly stiff not mushy feel like an organ has. The small frame profile makes it easy to stack them up like 3 or 4 or 5. Thats where the low price makes this affordable to do. Set each unit to its own midi Chan and for me it's going to be a 4 manual organ. ---See my picts. For you hauptwerk organ people this is what you want to make a midi console without the big $$$ cost or bulk of an organ consol. CONs: it does NOT stay at the midi chan (1-16) you set after power down. It defaults back to chan1. So You have to reset the midi chan at every use. You also must press ENTER key after every new setting. Thats all a peta, but it's easy to do. Just remember to do it on sound check !!

I have owned several keyboards with built-in sound hardware but have been meaning to try a simple no-frills midi keyboard controller for some time as so much software is available for sound production through midi. I especially like pipe organ software emulators. This product was basically plug and play with Linux and Windows wasn't much more difficult. Really surprised how easy it was. The keys are synth action and a little bit clackety and one has a slightly rough surface, maybe a scratch but really nothing to complain about. Didn't explore all the midi bells and whistles, except for changing channels and transposing. There is a groove that accommodates an iPad. This can actually be used for sheet music if you put in a rigid flat surface ( I used a plastic clipboard ). Very light, small and portable. If you dabble in playing simple organ music for 1 manual 61 keys will cover you. 49 even. Works great with software synths too.

I really didn't expect a lot out of this $83 purchase but I was pleasantly surprised. The build quality is decent. And though the keys are a little bit on the noisey side they are not an issue and they feel substantial and are very playable especially for synth and organ stuff. Though the unit itself is plastic it feels like it's made well. The software was a little hard to get going and took some time to load with my slow PC, but it's got a lot of great sounds. Has a midi port out. For less than $90 it's tough to beat.

This keyboard is awesome! Perfect fit , some decent feeling keys for $80, and tons of other features like the programming (do not underestimate it, the programming feature is really powerful if you know how to use it). The little phone stand and LED are both pluses Aswell. Looks nice, feels nice, works nice. Great affordable 49 key keyboard, definitely worth it.

Despite the positive reviews I saw on YouTube I can't recommend this product. This is the worst feeling key bed I've ever played. It has some velocity curves you can change but when trying to play soft sometimes the black keys don't trigger a note at all. I'll use it when I need a portable set up but not for playing live again.

The Carbon 49's best selling points are it's low cost, no-hassle iPad compatibility, and unique iPad-centric form factor. As a 49-key MIDI controller keyboard, it provides all the basics and is suitable as a workbench musical phrase and short performance controller device for DAWs. It falls short in the keyboard feel and key bed construction but does provide better-than-expected quality pitch and modulation wheels, data slider, and data encoder knob. THE BAD: The keyboard feel is disappointing, though about what one would expect from a sub-$100 MIDI controller. The action is ribbery feeling and tight. Fast fingering is difficult because the keys push your fingers up faster than you can lift them away. It's not the worst keyboard feel, but it is only one step above the inexpensive keyboards one might find at Target or WalMart. The manufacturer's claim of "semi-weighted" is questionable and leads one to wonder what they might consider "unweighted" keys. Additionally, I found that if you quickly release the white keys (by sliding your finger off rather than lifting your finger off), most of the keys will send a second note-on and -off MIDI message because the key bounces enough to activate the key sensors again. While the form factor of the Carbon 49 is one of its major selling points, with the iPad-fitting slot at the top-center of the keyboard, some of the details of that slot design aren't apparent until you begin to use it. The slot is, understandably, designed for the original iPad. Samson has kindly included rubber "adapter" shoes to put into that slot for iPad 2 users. While the rubber shoes make the iPad 2 fit more snugly, you must be careful that you place your iPad 2 in the proper orientation, which is the opposite of that shown in some promotional photos. When placed in the slot with the rubber shoes, the gravity of the iPad itself against the right rubber shoe will press and hold the SLEEP/POWER button on your iPad 2 and you'll quickly be prompted to shut down your iPad. Alternatively, if you rotate your iPad 2 180 degrees so the SLEEP/POWER button is at the top left, you can't use headphones because the left rubber shoe nearly covers the headphone jack. THE GOOD: Despite the relatively low quality key bed, it seems the velocity sensitivity, both for note-on and note-off sensing, is fairly consistent. Once you're accustomed to the feel of the keyboard, you can achieve relatively consistent dynamics from the lowest velocity all the way to the highest. The Carbon 49 also includes 4 selectable velocity sensitivity curves (Normal, Soft, Hard, and Fixed, which roughly translate to a linear curve, a concave curve, a convex curve, and a fixed velocity, respectively). Dedicated octave shift buttons are close at hand to the left of the keyboard. There are also 2 key transposition buttons which, by default, shift the keyboard up or down in 1/2 step increments. The other MIDI controller functions of the Carbon 49 are what one would expect of a dedicated MIDI controller. The spring-loaded pitch bend wheel is solid and smooth. It doesn't bounce around when pulled or pushed to its extreme positions then released. The assignable modulation wheel (not spring loaded) is even more smooth and solid. It can quickly be flicked a short distance and won't continue to rotate after your finger stops pushing it. The assignable volume slider is smooth as well. The Carbon 49's internal controller ADCs seem to be calibrated well. The extreme positions of all the controllers results in the maximum and minimum MIDI values, and each controller can be controlled in such a way that every MIDI value from 0 to 127 can be sent. Editing the Carbon 49's settings is relatively simple. Function and number values are labeled above the first 25 notes of the keyboard. Inclusion of the SUSTAIN pedal input jack is essential for any decent keyboard performance input. The MIDI OUT jack is also useful for connecting directly to other sound modules or synths.

(Purchased in September 2016 for Rs. 10,000 from Amazon.in third-party seller Pacific Music) Samson Carbon 61 is a simple midi controller which provides access to five full octaves at any given time. It has: * Function keys to shift octaves as well as perform key transposition. * Pitch blend and modulation wheels. * Volume slider. * Edit functions This controller is primarily for people who want to capture extended performances (piano etc) with simultaneous access to multiple octaves. It is about three feet wide and weighs about three kgs. So, if you never need more than 2-3 octaves at any given time, a smaller controller (49 keys and lower) might be easier to handle. And if you are looking for drum pads and knobs, look elsewhere. A couple of things that keyboard players might be interested in: * The controller only has four fixed velocity curves. So don't expect that all the forces and flourishes from your performance would be captured as is. You can switch between the curves using the edit function (read the manual). * While the controller has full-sized keys, the key action is a bit rubbery. Even synthesizers from the likes of Yamaha (Rs. 20,000 and above) "feel" better in that regard. All this is quite subjective though. I'm not too picky about these things and can use this controller just fine without constant comparisons to my synth. The weight alone (3 kg vs 12 kg) makes the Carbon the easier pick for recording occasional performance and compositions. The controller works out of the box with DAWs such as Reaper and FL Studio on Windows. The package includes a small selection of virtual instruments from Native Instruments (NI) called Kontakt Elements Selection. You have to register on the NI website before you can use the provided license key. Overall, it's a nice enough controller for around Rs. 10,000 (Amazon US price: $129 in September/October 2016). However, if you are a keyboard player, don't mind the 49 key experience and can spend a little bit more, the Roland A-49 ($179) should definitely be looked at just for the key action.

Excellent budget keyboard with 61 keys, well made and the key action is very good for the money. The keyboard is easily as good as other controllers costing twice the price. Very easy to set up, just plugged in a usb lead to a laptop and it was instantly recognised. Using it with Sonar X2 no configuring was required. Native Instruments supplied with the keyboard worked ok once it was registered and would cost half the price paid for this keyboard to buy seperately making this even more of a bargain. I was originally going to purchase a midi controller a lot more expensive but was put off buy some of the negative reviews of other controllers and decided to take a chance on this one and am very happy to have done so. I will be looking to purchase another to go with other music kit.

I've been looking for years for a mid-sized MIDI controller with USB and 5-pin MIDI out functionality, and nothing more. This is the only thing I could find in 5 years that fit my needs. You have to really slam the keys down to get a note out on most the sensitivity ranges, which is fine because I play pretty rough on my keys. It was a fantastic deal and it works wonderfully in my home studio setup.

Acheté pour le cadeau de Noël de mon conjoint. Il en est fou! Il est comme un enfant! Très contente de mon achat!

Hace casi un año que lo tengo y estoy muy contento con el producto. Funciona a la perfección y como primer MIDI a mí me parece perfecto: buen precio, muy buen tacto de las teclas y hasta el momento no me ha dado ningún problema