Well to save a little of your time,
yes it is true. The VMK 188+ is an excellent piano keyboard - very expressive - very solid.
However the manual states that the controllers (sliders/knobs) are repeated as BANKS - This is not true and what you see is what you get.
I wrote to one of the guys that actually developed this model and was told from the horses mouth that the vmk's contollers could not be set up to work as seperate banks and that the advertising and the manual were simply wrong. Shame, as the VMK is deserving of a 10 out of 10 rating, however I give it 8 out of 10 due to studiologics slight of hand.

When my old Midiman Radium controller keyboard finally gave out, I have to confess to having been somewhat relieved. Whilst it looked just the ticket when I bought it, with all it's (then) new-fangled sliders and knobs, I never really worked out how to use these effectively as controllers for my DAW (Sonar) and, more importantly, found the keyboard to be unresponsive and erratic.

Previously, in the Dark Ages, I had used my old faithful Digital Piano - one of the first produced, I believe (a Technics PX5) - as my master keyboard and enjoyed the sensation of playing a realistic instrument, even when programming drums and synths. So this time around, I wanted to relive those feeling of control and interraction with my choice of replacement. And the Gods were smiling: the next day Sound-on-Sound arrived on my doormat, featuring a review of the CME UF80 master keyboard. From that review, it appeared to be the answer to everything and I liked the layout particularly. However, online searches consistnetly brought up a combination of inherent faults in the software/firmware/build, coupled with the sense that customer support was pretty much non-existent.

So I searched for other weighted 88-key master keyboards and time-and-again found myself directed to Fatar's Studiologic VMK 188-plus. What was consistently reported was that this is a reliable, well-built keyboard, with a responsive action and bullet-proof casing (well, perhaps not literally...). I can confirm that all the above is true in my experience of this keyboard: it really is a joy to play; looks like it would withstand a minor earthquake and is also pleasing on the eye. I find the action to be nicely waited and smooth, with no glitches or quirks and as a drummer/percussionist myself actually enjoy programming drums and percussion using these keys, as you can really get a feel for the velocty and sample-layers.

If you want a keyboard that will instantly start and stop your DAW (it has transport controls but they aren't preset in any meaningful way that i can see), control your plug-ins (similarly, the knobs and fader presets don't speak to my software) or make the tea, then you might be better-off looking elsewhere. However, the controlls are sensibly laid-out, are reasonably well built (though not in the same league as the keyboard) and can be programmed to suit pretty much any eventuality and all the settings saved as a user preset. Whilst this was at first time-consuming and irritating, I see the purchase of such a fine instrument as a long-term investment and I think the flexibility of the controllers means that they will be useful for making on-the-fly tweaks to mixes and plug-ins, where a major-league MIDI controller is not required.

So I would give this keyboard 9/10 for performance, 6/10 for ease of use, 9/10 for value for money and a bonus for sheer elegance. I'm sure that we will have a long and fruitful relationship, with the emphasis on playing music and not twiddling knobs. (can I have my free headphones now, please...?)

This by no means a proper musical instrument, but it isn’t a toy either. I guess the best way to describe it is - it’s about a much fun as you can have with your clothes on. Give it to a friend to have a go and you won’t get it back. Check out the numerous videos on YouTube to get a good idea of what it can do. Within about five minutes of turning the thing on you can get results that sound, well, truly professional - It feels like cheating when it’s that easy. It’s a new age stylophone, it’s just fun. Go on buy one, go on, go on, go on, go on, go on............

Having just woke up from the morning after our Gig.
We finally got the chance to run our new fantastic looking P.A. speakers,with our Top 80's Synth show band Rubixcube.co.uk who really sounded amazing, we were not going to be dissapointed and the crowd were in for a real treat on their ear drums.
The Mackie s225 have such tremenders power and punch combined with true clarity, they have to be this good, to deal with what our synth guy's will be throwing at them on the road. Thanks guy's for all your help.

Chill.musicsolutions@googlemail.com

Very good action keyboard. Aluminium casing. Bought it for my wife and she enjoys it. Very nice keys with strong (and heavy) feel. Unfortunately it doesn't work with Vista via USB (at least on one of our PCs), but works very nicely with Windows XP out of the box. I believe it can be hooked up to a Vista PC by using a MIDI-to-USB converter. However in that case the keyboard will have to be connected to the power outlet.

Dolphinmusic delivery is fantastic: placed order 12PM, received the keyboard 7AM next morning!

well made cases at a reasonable price

excellent low price telecaster

I personally want to learn piano and control my synths using one device. There are 2 choices: CME and FATAR. While CME seem to be more orienated on synths(z3ta, massive), Fatar looks to be more "real piano" friendly.
Lets talk about FATAR.

Touch is fine heavy and resistent, so u can really hit keyboard as much as u want. It provides full dynamic range with no tweaking.
If u apply just a bit of nonlinear velocity curve compensation with any piano plugin, u will get amazing expressivnes too!
Simply wow your girlfriend by playing romantic ballad in tender pianissimo and go straight to intense explosions in forte FORRTISSSSSIMMMOOO :DD

Ok, now synth conrols. Knobs, faders and buttons does the job. they are very simple and nothing special in this area. Configuring and maping conrols is quite easy. I just read manual and in 30 mins i got it all.

Aftertouch works:)

I didnt test all controlers as velocity pedals yet. I just use simple sustain pedal which i got free in this package:D

Build is very fine, very heavy. No cheap plasic.

So if u going to buy keyb controller preferably for piano plugin, and u want more, such as composing in sonar/cubase, conroling modern synths like mssive,z3ta ,or to put some nice vibrato and crescendoss on strings using mod wheel and aftertouch - its great choice.

If u want play fast synths and control them on fly, there are better choices with no hammer keyboard mechanics...


In one sentence its:
Keybord for playing preferably piano, but it does not put any resrictions to use it in different areas, thanx to its full spectrum of features.

I was thinking about this keyb when it was cca 500 pounds, when i saw it for 300 I didnt wait to buy.

Ok.
I've had one of these for a few weeks now.
I bought it for studio/composing work and I'm quite picky about the feel of the keys.
I had a korg triton Le61 and a korg m1 before but after I started using mainly virtual instruments on my work I decided to sell the synths and go for a good piano weighted controller instead.

I have to tell that I got the CME VX8 first but for some reason it came with a cracked bottom so I had to return it. I still got the test it though for it worked despite of the crack.

I liked the feel of its keys though I had to set the velocitycurve myself first to get a usable dynamic response. I would have gotten the same one for a replacement but my plans changed when I found out that I would have to wait for several months to get one because there was not a single one on stock and CME didn't have one either (wonders?).

At that point (propably luckily) I turned my look to the Studiologic VMK-188 Plus.

Creativeness is the most important factor for me when I choose a tool for making music. When it comes to a keyboard it shoul feel natural and intuitive dynamically and I'm happy to say that the VMK does the job for me. No tweaking. Sraight from the box. It's just a joy to play a virtual piano or anything I tried with this one. I currently own the EW/PMI bosendorfer 290 library and it feels great. It's easy and intuitive to get all the dynamics from soft to hard so I can just consentrate on creating music.

The midi-features on this thing (as many other reviews I've read on the internet have already stated) are not so great but the faders, knobs and buttons work well on sonar when you map them through the ACT-control-surface and thats all I need now. I desided that if I would need more control over midi I should get a real midi-conroller with real touch sensitive motorized faders which the VX8 didn't have (they are just motorized and were sticky on the one I tried).

So the bottomline from my perspective is that the VMK-188 Plus is a great midikeyboard at this pricepoint if feel and playability come first (of course that too is a subjective matter so you should try it first).
If you need a lot of flexibility in the midi department you might be better off with something else.

4/5 Build: Feels sturdy. Pretty heavy though if you had to carry it all day long.

2/5 Features: It feels really good for playing and has some basic midifeatures.

5/5 Feel: Feels great to play. It's got a good action. Ides will just start to flow through your fingers.

5/5 Overall: For the price it's a winner for me.

I picked this up at a local music shop for 150 bucks, as they were having a huge sale.

The SL-990 xp is an awesome midi controller for the price. It's good for basic functions, and is personally the first midi controller that I've used in my home studio. I haven't wanted to upgrade or switch, so that in itself says alot about this guy.

The feel is wonderful. Other weighted-key controllers seem to have too much resistance, to the point where I had to make an effort to press a bit harder when doing runs that require quick and subtle note-playing. But this one seems to have a perfect balance. So if you're using this for piano pieces, especially, the feel seems natural. The fact that it's weighted AND an 88 key...and for such a low price...also gives this product a huge advantage in my mind.

The pitchbend and mod wheels are easy to use and comfortable, with a divit in which to put your thumb or whatever you use for tweaking these values. Personally, I wish the modulation wheel had a bit more resistance to it instead of just laying and remaning where you turned it, but I can understand why they designed it this way.

Doesn't come with a sustain pedal, but that wasn't a huge issue.

This thing has withstood alot of abuse, too. It's been toppled over (by someone who wasnt aware that gravity tends to pull items DOWN), and accidentally left powered on for over two weeks when I was on vacation somewhere. Still works amazingly.

Overall, I'm extremely happy that I bought this piece of hardware instead of the mainstream M-audios that everyone likes to make fun of. Cheap price, looks professional, and best of all, works and feels like a charm. Definitely worth it if you need a simple, basic, weighted 88-key with no frills.

~Laura~

After spending quite some time searching for a sustain pedal I found that this is almost certainly the best one to get for the money, and dolphin also sells it cheaper than Iv'e seen elsewhere. The postage was very quick and I had no problems with the order overall.

The pedal itself is exactly what it says, no more and no less, solidly made and with a suitably long enough wire (really helpful but often overlooked in design of these things). I have had no problems whatsoever with it, installation was very easy and have used it in both recordings and a live performance and on several different keyboards. Overall a great product for the money, I'd reccomend this to anyone looking for a budget sustain pedal

This is not so much a review as a pertinent comment on part of the information provided, which talks of "a remarkably increased dynamic range".
All any keyboard can do is utilise the range of MIDI values from 1 to 128. Whatever the design of the mechanism in this keyboard does for its feel, to suggest that somehow it increases dynamic range is like Nigel Tufnel boasting that his Marshall goes right up to eleven (one more!).
Don't expect you to publish this; just get your reviewer to think about what's being said.

I bought this as a MIDI controller for my computer not so much for live performance. It's brilliant! The action is brilliant, aftertouch is there, velocity curve is spot on. All it needs is to be plugged in and played with your software. If you have a good collection of soft synths they really shine with this thing. And the action...I haven't played one like it for the price. Great for a synth player who needs more espression but feels a fully weighted hammer action keyobard would be too much. Only one thing..certain short sounds produce stuck notes on occasions. These can't be heard during playback that much, only when you have stopped playing. Long notes such as strings never seem to do this. Reseting the softsynths sounds stops the problem. It's nothing really. All the knobs and sliders give you hands on control of your soft synths too, all I could ver want from a MIDI control!