Roland 49-key MIDI Keyboard Controller, Black (A-500PRO-R)

Are you a budding pianist looking for a way to practice your craft away from home? Or maybe, looking for a nice midi controller for your home studio? If either of these are true then you’ve probably been looking through the plethora of midi controllers on the market. And when I say plethora, that’s exactly what I mean. In my case, I recently had a need for a portable midi controller, which could fit into a medium size suit case and still leave me enough room for a weeks worth of clothes. Now that’s a tall order, because not only does it need to be small and light, but it also has to be tough. Well, with all the above prerequisites in mind let me introduce you to the Roland A-300 PRO a 32 key portable midi controller. That really is portable! Most of the smaller midi controllers on the market have either 25 or 49 keys, so you might be thinking that 32 keys would seem a little odd. I know exactly what you mean. However, it actually turns out that 32 keys might be the perfect compromise. Not too many, making your keyboard too big and not too few, making your keyboard hard to play. The Roland A-300 comes packaged with a rather weighty looking USB cable, a 90-page instruction manual and CD containing all the drivers, controller editor and a digital copy of the manual. The box is pretty sturdy and would make a great carry-on if necessary, (if your suit case is just a little too small and not up to the challenge). Build quality is always important, especially in a portable unit, so how does the Roland A-300 stack up? It’s been well put together and feels strong, even the sliders and touch keys have a quality feel to them. The bender lever feels solid and has a dual action including both pitch and vibrato. The A-300 comes in at a featherweight 6 pounds and 7 ounces plus has a tiny footprint of 24 inches wide by 10 inches deep and 4 inches high. The keyboard is pretty good considering the cost and features 32 keys with velocity and channel after touch. Now don't get me wrong, this keyboard is not going to feel like your grand piano at home (I wish), but for a portable unit it’s pretty good. Having tested other midi controllers in this price range, I can honestly say that the A-300 has one of the best keyboards for the money. This midi controller has two 1/4 inch jacks for hold and expression plus dual midi connectors, a USB connector and a DC in jack for use with an external power supply (not included). Again, everything feels well built and the connectors all feel tight and sturdy once installed. The A-300 features a whole host of programmable controllers, including 9 rotary knobs, 9 sliders, 8 pads and 8 buttons. All can be programmed and used on a selection of DAW software applications. The display is a 16 character, 2-line LCD with a backlight nicely installed in the top left corner of the keyboard. Now, obviously this keyboard is probably going to be connected to a computer so with that in mind let’s get into the software side of things. The instruction manual has you download the latest and greatest drivers from the Roland website, then plug in the keyboard. The installation process is very straightforward and didn't take but 5 minutes. Once set up, the keyboard was recognized as a midi device within the audio midi setup application (on a Mac) and can then be used by almost any piano or daw application. I tested the keyboard using Pianoteq, MainStage and GarageBand, and they all worked perfectly. Those nice people at Roland have also included on their website an A-300 PRO Control Surface Plug-in for Logic Pro and GarageBand. If you install this plug-in you will get a standard keyboard and slider map for the A-300, making it the perfect companion for controlling a bunch of features and options within your favorite apple daw. I was able to get the plug-in working with GarageBand straight away and it felt nice to have that level of control and integration especially when away from home base. As far as tablet use is concerned, I did try and connect the A-300 to an iPad with no luck. This is probably down to the fact that the A-300 gets it power from the USB connection and an iPad is not built to supply that kind of juice (300 milliamps). I’m guessing that if you were to connect the keyboard to an external DC power source, such as the optional AC adaptor things might go a little better. So, is this keyboard worth $219 of your hard earned cash? Absolutely, yes! You are not going to find a better-built midi controller with the features and build quality of this thing. It’s portable and functional, plus with the great integration offered by GarageBand and Logic Pro the A-300 will get your musical juices flowing, even when you’re away from home!

I'm not sure why this isn't more popular. Inexpensive, reliable, sturdy, and just the right amount of keys for portability. I'm extremely picky with what I spend my money on, and I return about twice as many things as I keep, but I'm beyond happy with this.This keyboard came with me on a 3-month, 8 country tour of Europe and Africa in my (soft) checked bag, protected by nothing more than the 2 styrofoam end-pieces from the packaging, one layer of cheap bubble wrap, and some clothes (see pictures). After being thoroughly used for 3 months, and after dozens and dozens of plane, train, and automobile rides, most likely being thrown quite a bit, it's still in 100% perfect condition (and so is the styrofoam).The combination pitch/mod stick is awesome. After playing this, I can't imagine using separate pitch/mod wheels. The keys feel great, the pads are excellent, the knobs and sliders feel good and offer just enough resistance, and the inputs are all on the left side so you can push it right up to your laptop. The rubber pads on the bottom keep the keyboard in place. I had no trouble programming the buttons in my DAW, and it works great with the Yamaha FC5 sustain pedal. One note on that - sustain works, but doesn't seem to be recording live-sustain into my DAW. Could be user error. Haven't investigated this issue deeply. It's not a huge concern.I had previously tested Akai, Arturia, and M-Audio, and I wasn't satisfied.The Arturia Keylab 49 is a nice unit, but it's too big and heavy for my use. Plus the Roland has MUCH better pads. The Roland pads are more responsive. The Arturia pads need to be hit REALLY hard to get them to work.Akai doesn't offer anything between a 25-key (too small to really play) and a 49-key (not portable), plus I wasn't impressed with the feel of the units I tried. The keys, the pads; it all felt cheap and spongy.M-audio seemed decent, but the only offerings between 25 and 49 keys have hardly any features. I will say the Axiom Air Mini 32 was pretty good for the price ($100), and is ultra-portable, but I returned it and got this Roland.Other than sustain-pedal recording, the only complaint I have is Roland customer service (eager to help, but not very knowledgeable), and the instruction manual.I'm generally an instruction-follower, but I tried to change the settings/programming to work with my DAW (Ableton Live 9) exactly as instructed, and nothing would work. An hour on the phone with Roland didn't help anything either. They suggested I take it to a music store with my computer and have someone figure it out for me. The solution? Ignore the manual. Just plug it in and play it. It's that simple. At least with my DAW.