M-Audio lets you take CTRL

M-Audio’s CTRL49: access the virtual instrument and effect library right from the keyboard

A new 49-key production-ready keyboard controller, with VIP software integration and hands-on VST instrument and effect control, is now available

Music production technology brand, M-Audio has announced the availability of the CTRL49 – a new keyboard providing control of virtual instruments and DAWs via a full-colour high-resolution 4.3-inch screen, a 49-key semi-weighted keybed and a cluster of hardware controls organised in a workstation-style layout.

The controller can be used to trigger samples, one-shots, melodics and loops using eight velocity- and pressure-sensitive multicolour-backlit pads. It can take command of VST plugins or DAW parameters using eight 360-degree fully-assignable encoders, but also map to a DAW with eleven Mackie Control/HUI multicolour-backlit switches and nine Mackie Control/HUI faders.

Included with CTRL49 is the Virtual Instrument Player (VIP) v2.1 software, which features a patch browser that integrates sound patches from the user’s collection of VST virtual instruments and effects. VIP auto-maps CTRL49’s controls to the selected plugin, and displays critical parameters directly on the full-colour display. Songwriter-producers will benefit from VIP’s facilities for setlist generation, key-zone splitting, layering of up to eight instruments per VIP instance, virtual effect stacks, expansive custom mapping capabilities, and support for any VST instrument or effect plugin.

“The CTRL49 is a game-changer for serious producers,” remarks M-Audio’s Walter Skorupski. “Now they can access their entire virtual instrument and effect library right from their keyboard, without ever being distracted by a computer, which makes the creative/performance process smoother than ever before. Working together, the CTRL49 and VIP unlock your VSTs and enables them to function like actual instruments. Once you get used to this, there’s no going back.”

The software package includes Ableton Live Lite, AIR Creative FX Collection, AIR Vacuum Pro, AIR Loom, AIR Hybrid 3, AIR Xpand!2, AIR Velvet, AIR Transfuser and SONiVOX Eighty Eight Ensemble. M-Audio’s CTRL49 is available immediately at a suggested retail price of £329.99. For more information or to find your nearest dealer, visit m-audio.com

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