Does anyone know if there’s a way to dim or black out those lit up pads on the M-Audio Oxygen49 MKV?
I’m able to ignore all those unneeded sliders, knobs, and buttons, but those lit up pads are really annoying and hard to ignore. I would really love to shut those lights off if I can.
Is there a way?
Thank you @John_E I knew it had to be something simple like that.
I’m actually thinking of masking the entire upper part of the keyboard, so only the key bed and the octave +/- is exposed. Those are the only functions that are useful. The rest is just fluff.
Should be a setting under the software for it that you can turn it off…my Arturia has a mode called Vegas and all the lights sweep and change colors, but it’s just a check box to kill it…
This stupid keyboard doesn’t have any software to control anything. I regret having chosen this one. I’m in process of returning it and getting something more functional. (and hopefully better support)
I have the Arturia Keylab essentials 49…really like it.
Sorry to hear the M-Audio is not working for you 
Hopefully you will have better luck in round #3 
the keyboard works fine, its just all that extra fluff that cannot be explained that annoys me.
I am not sure how getting another one will change anything for you.
After all, it will still be a MIDI controller.
Yeah, I’m starting to notice that. They all seem to have that unneeded extra fluff. I guess these things are not made for people who just want a piano keyboard, but rather for people who like to play around with multitudes of synthesized instruments and use it to create synthetic orchestras.
I only hope the other brands have better documentation and better customer support than this one.
That is the only shortcoming with M-Audio that I have found.
Also with the MKV being relatively new, with additional features the Mark IV did not have, there is not a lot on YouTube about this latest version.
Hey @Sully I looked that one up on Sweet H2O and it appears to have all those same unneeded knobs, sliders, buttons and pads, so I don’t think I would benefit at all from switching to it.
Yeah, if you just want a regular keyboard try looking on there under the portable and arranger keyboards. I think that is more what you are looking for.
There’s literally hundreds of keyboard controllers with just keyboards and no other controls. In fact the M-Audio that people usually buy for the entry level (the KeyStation) just has a keyboard.
There’s a whole lot of keyboards targeting piano players that differentiate themselves via key feel (weighted, etc) as well.
They are out there, tons of them; it’s just that you didn’t choose one, and picked one targeting music production instead 
If you want to GAS, you can get arbitrarily expensive and realistic with these too.
That one is $1400 and has real piano action and wooden keys. Not suggesting you buy it, just pointing out this is another deep ocean you’re dipping your feet in to, and might want to learn about it before you impulse-buy 
My bad. Live and learn, as they say…
It’s not a bad choice at all, actually the keyboard you picked was a good choice for most people interested in using DAWs. It’s just something you learned you didn’t want
Like any instrument out there, there’s a huge range of these things. People are very particular about what they want in keyboard controllers (after all, it’s your interface to the instrument) so it’s likely if you look in to it and research a bit you can find exactly what you want.
There’s also (in the middle) a ton of digital pianos that can actually be outstanding. Korg, Yamaha, etc - a lot of choice there. they are basically hardware synthesizers, standalone musical instruments that just play piano and focus on doing that well. They start at a few hundred bucks, like the Alesis Recital Pro.
@howard my mistake was in thinking all those sliders, knobs, buttons, etc. had something to do with the function of the piano, but as it turned out, are only useful if you do other things with the device such as the things you do.
This has been one of those “learn by your mistakes” experiences that I have had throughout my life, and will continue to have for my remainder. In this instance, it’s not a horrible error, but for the money I surely would have preferred more piano keys and less bells and whistles.
