M-Audio Keystation Pro 88

Yes, the M-Audio Keystation Pro 88 is built around a fully weighted, 88-note hammer-action keybed designed to mimic the feel of an acoustic grand piano. It includes assignable velocity curves and channel aftertouch to capture highly expressive playing dynamics. This makes it an excellent controller for software piano instruments like Native Instruments' The Giant.

The keyboard is heavily equipped with MIDI mapping hardware, featuring 24 assignable buttons, 9 60mm faders, and 24 assignable rotary knobs. It also includes dedicated transport controls for starting and stopping playback within your digital audio workstation (DAW). These deep mapping capabilities allow it to function as a comprehensive hardware mixing console.

Due to the power requirements of its heavily motorized-style interface and backlit LCD screen, the Keystation Pro 88 requires an external 9V DC power supply. It does not draw sufficient power via its USB connection to operate completely bus-powered like smaller M-Audio models. Users must ensure they have the original M-Audio power adapter to utilize the keyboard.

As a legacy controller from the mid-2000s, the Keystation Pro 88 is not strictly plug-and-play class compliant on modern operating systems. Users typically need to download the specific legacy M-Audio USB/MIDI driver to ensure it communicates correctly with modern DAWs like Ableton Live or FL Studio. Once the proper driver is installed, it functions seamlessly via USB.