Music Live! Birmingham NEC: The Midiman stand was a hive of activity with several new items on show - Propellerheads were based here too.

We were treated to the Oxygen 8 mini controller . Don't let it's diminutive size fool you into thinking it isn't packed with features. It can run on batteries or straight from the USB power (nice). As well as the 25 key (just over 2 octaves) it features 8 MIDI assignable knobs, one assignable slider. Not only that but it Inputs and outputs 16 channels of MIDI to and from your computer using the power and convenience of your USB port. Power the Oxygen 8 with the USB port or 6 "AA" batteries for complete portability, or with included power supply. We will be getting our mitts on one asap for review.

We also saw the latest version of the funky looking SurfaceOne, this unit we first saw at NAMM in January. The unit takes a unique hands on approach to controlling midi equipment and sports a number of innovative control surfaces that are velocity sensitive. Kind of hard to explain - take a look at the Surface One pages. It's very near production now and is expected to be in the shops Dec/Jan at around 699us$ Available from Midiman / M Audio

http://www.midiman.com

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