KVR Audio

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:29 pm

Just to share my experiences with this thing.
It seems to work just great.
I have so far tried it out on 3 laptops (Sony Vaio, Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo, Acer - as I don't own the Acer and Vaio I don't remember the exact model descriptions) and 2 desktops (an old Athlon 1gHz on an Asus A7V mainboard and a newer Athlon XP 2800+ running on an Asus A7V600).
It's working fine on all of them.

For those who don't know:
The thing is a combination of a 32 key USB keyboard and stereo I/O audio interface.
And while it has no mic preamp, it's USB powered (comes with a power supply though) if you want (unlike M-Audios Ozone), has the important 8 keys more than the Ozone (so you can actually play chord progressions with a left hand bass) and it's got a MIDI in, pretty much important once you want to connect another keyboard.
Converters seem to sound pretty decent so far, latency should be around 4ms on a fast and well configured USB 2.0 machine, drivers are multiclient-able (so you can use an ASIO application along with some other application using MME drivers), installation is easy.

Comes with a small editor allowing you to graphically edit the settings of the various knobs and faders, which is pretty convenient.

After all: If you need a small and portable all-in-one solution for your laptop or whatever, this is doing the job fine.

waran · Post by **waran** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:38 pm

It seems to work just great.

This is absolutely true! I've used it with three different fully featured PCs as well as two Notebooks. Latency is wonderful and the quality of its sound absolutely sufficient.

Wouldn't change it for anything.

Frank
free full song-downloads: http://waran.wusik.com

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:40 pm

I had one and it was nothing but trouble for me...I took it back, payed the difference and got a FW410...

The driver was way too unstable. I'm galad it works for somebody...

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:47 pm

Ford Prefect wrote:I had one and it was nothing but trouble for me...I took it back, payed the difference and got a FW410...

Weird, really. But then, all the machines I used it on were rather slick configured music-only machines (apart from my old 1gHz Athlon), so maybe that's why.

xander · Post by **xander** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:00 pm

Ford Prefect wrote:I had one and it was nothing but trouble for me...I took it back, payed the difference and got a FW410...

The driver was way too unstable. I'm galad it works for somebody...

Yo Ford - I got my PCR-1 at Yodobashi and it is indeed truly cool - super low latency and excellent sound. Only 25 keys, but this lil' baby is da bomb for Laptop DAW users and the keys feel heavy and velvet - mucho better feel than the PCR-30/60/80.

But to me, the USB audio is a way big plus, because I now have two seperate audio I/O states without any extra outboard hardware (in-built audio card and PCR-1 USB audio) so it means I have a dry monitor out when I need it.

I highly recommend it meself.

Ford Prefect · Post by **Ford Prefect** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:10 pm

Sascha Franck wrote:
Ford Prefect wrote:I had one and it was nothing but trouble for me...I took it back, payed the difference and got a FW410...
Weird, really. But then, all the machines I used it on were rather slick configured music-only machines (apart from my old 1gHz Athlon), so maybe that's why.

As were mine...

Xander wrote:
Ford Prefect wrote:I had one and it was nothing but trouble for me...I took it back, payed the difference and got a FW410...

The driver was way too unstable. I'm galad it works for somebody...
Yo Ford - I got my PCR-1 at Yodobashi and it is indeed truly cool - super low latency and excellent sound. Only 25 keys, but this lil' baby is da bomb for Laptop DAW users and the keys feel heavy and velvet - mucho better feel than the PCR-30/60/80.

But to me, the USB audio is a way big plus, because I now have two seperate audio I/O states without any extra outboard hardware (in-built audio card and PCR-1 USB audio) so it means I have a dry monitor out when I need it.

I highly recommend it meself.

That's a newer better animal though...

xander · Post by **xander** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 4:45 pm

Ford Prefect wrote: That's a newer better animal though...

Give it a dance next time your in the Yodo if you haven't already - pretty nice & no outboard P-supply, so it's international outta da box. Around Y30,000 but I do believe it's one of the better buys I've made in the last coupla..

DHR53 · Post by **DHR53** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:09 pm

I've used the hell out of my PCR-30 since I got it last year... It's great (Mac)... I've been considering selling it and getting the audio version, though! but, that PCR-1 sure looks sexy...Hmmm... I was kind of waiting for the ESI firewire kybd./audio thing?? No word lately...

xander · Post by **xander** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:32 pm

DHR53 wrote:I've used the hell out of my PCR-30 since I got it last year... It's great (Mac)... I've been considering selling it and getting the audio version, though! but, that PCR-1 sure looks sexy...Hmmm... I was kind of waiting for the ESI firewire kybd./audio thing?? No word lately...

I was this close to getting the PCR-30, mainly for it's extra seven keys, but when I realized I had to also have that lumping big UA module to go along with it and outboard power and all that, I opened the PCR-1 box and plugged it in, fell in lust and bought it. No regrets.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:55 pm

Xander wrote: I was this close to getting the PCR-30, mainly for it's extra seven keys, but when I realized I had to also have that lumping big UA module to go along with it and outboard power and all that, I opened the PCR-1 box and plugged it in, fell in lust and bought it. No regrets.

As said, you don't need any external power supply, even if it comes with one.
It's working just nicely without it over here.
I guess the power supply is there to have it work with weak USB connections (almost all newer computers, even laptops, don't seem to suffer from that).

Markleford · Post by **Markleford** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:02 pm

Sascha Franck wrote:I guess the power supply is there to have it work with weak USB connections.

Or to work on outboard gear, without any PC involved at all!

Love my PCR-30.

- m

smellytongue · Post by **smellytongue** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:04 pm

I,know the edirol is a lot cheaper but how does this keyboard stand up to the remote 25 extreme, anyone tried both?

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:08 pm

Markleford wrote:Or to work on outboard gear, without any PC involved at all!

WTF is outboard gear???

Markleford · Post by **Markleford** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 6:23 pm

Sascha Franck wrote:WTF is outboard gear???

Crossinger · Post by **Crossinger** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 2:00 pm

DHR53 wrote:Hmmm... I was kind of waiting for the ESI firewire kybd./audio thing?? No word lately...

Seems to be postponed to September because of some trouble during manufacturing process (summer holidays).

I'm waiting for the ESI A.On keyboard, too! Although PCR-1 is my 2. fav, there are still more features of the A.On:

- Aftertouch
- Separate Phantom-powered XLR-Input
- Midi In/Out!

Ohhhhhh.... always decisions, decisions, decisions...

J.

Edirol PCR A 30 - a good one!