midiplus i61 USB MIDI Keyboard controller

For the price, it can't be beat! Got this for my home recording studio and to also learn to play boogie-woogie style piano on a full size keyboard. My main concern was that it take up as little space as possible, which it does and is affordable, which it is. Key action is fine but my boogie needs work. It's been collecting dust in the corner for a little while now but honestly this is it's primary job - dust magnet. Time for more practice! I own 2 smaller scale keyboards with fewer keys that I use for midi input but this one, with 61 keys, allows me to try and get back into piano playing and not waste my parent's 5 year attempt at turning me into a piano player. Hated those piano lessons. Well, my proficient piano skills never happened but I got very good on drums and decent on guitar and have spent lots of dough on those instruments. Oh yes, I use it with Cakewalk Sonar Platinum and a very up-to-date PC with Win 10, 16 GB DDR4, and so on.

Great budget midi controller. Plug and play, instantly recognized by my music software. I like the feel of the keys and the velocity sensitivity (although if someone can tell me how to adjust that or turn it off, that would be great as there are certain situations where the sensitivity isn't needed). My second Midiplus product, and I'm impressed by them both. Can't comment on longevity as I've has it about a month, but the build quality seems to be very good.

I had high hopes for using this keyboard with my GrandOrgue virtual organ as a second manual. (My first manual is an old inexpensive Yamaha 61-note MIDI keyboard that plays flawlessly (and always has).The white keys of the Midiplus generally play just fine, as long as you play them on the front edge of the keys; when I press them with fingers between two black keys, the white keys play about 50% of the time. The black keys play less than 50% of the time, regardless of where I press them. I have purchased another inexpensive Yamaha keyboard; all the keys work perfectly, but are on MIDI channel 1. I am in the process of programming an Arduino to change the MIDI channel from 1 to another channel. I tried another MIDI controller (Nektar), but it had the same problem. I'll stick to Yamaha.

Ordered the i61 in February of 2021 and have used it nearly every day. I was looking for a controller designed for a 1st time user and this fit the bill.Pros:Straight out of the box it connected seamlessly to my DAW.Easy to use, practical, very lightweight so it's easy to move/transport.The casing is of simple no-frills construction with rounded edges.USB and MIDI ports, connector for a sustain pedal, pitch bend and modulation wheels, data entry slider, easy to assign MIDI channels and a number of other useful tools to aid in composition.Easy to understand user manual. (You will need to download it from their site. It's in PDF format.)Cons:The keys were initially a bit "springy" to the touch so, for me, they were a bit stiff to play compared to my pro gear. Over time they have loosened up a bit, but are still a little hard. The keys are also shorter than a standard keyboard/piano, hence the "springy" action. I have found that I need to press the keys as far to the front as I can. Otherwise they become more difficult to play the further back your fingers travel.The power slider and USB port on the back are a little loose. Meaning, each can be seen and felt to wiggle when sliding the power switch and in/out with the USB cable. So if you plan on transporting this quite a bit, you will need to be mindful of these as the power slider feels it could break rather easily. The USB port could lose its tension with repeated removal and insertion of a cable. Mine is stationary and only used in my studio.As mine sits on a flat surface, it had a tendency to slide forward during use. Maybe it was me and my playing or due to it being so lightweight. So I laid some nonslip shelf liner under each foot pad and that has kept it from creeping forward.Every now-and-then it has lost "connection" to my DAW, but it may have been due to my style of playing. But usually a quick off/on does the trick.So all-in-all I'm pretty happy with my purchase and would recommend this controller for a novice user.

I'm a classically trained pianist/organist and needed a small, light inexpensive keyboard to take with me for jam sessions. This fits the bill perfectly. The controls are a little obtuse and getting the velocity sensitity set right is a bit goofy, but overall the controller exceeded my expectations. The action is heavy synth style and is fine for rhodes, hammond and piano sample playing.

Ok, if you're going into this keyboard expecting millions of bells and whistles, you're ... going to be sad.This is a great, simple, midi controller. Keys are functional. Not piano keys, but they're weighted somewhat. Plug n play. Easy to use.

I purchased this midi keyboard controller to use with a software product called Hauptwerk which results in a virtual pipe organ. My desire is to construct a fully functional 4 manual organ with pedalboard conforming to the AGO standards. However, I want the organ to be compact rather than bulky like most pipe organ consoles. This i61 from midiplus fits the bill very well. The external case can be removed so the keyboard and its electronics can be stacked with others to form a modern, attractive organ playing unit. The keyboard seems to be well made, and the keyboard has all the functionality needed for this application.