Unlock Steinberg's software range with this special dongle. The Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser) is a copy-protection unit (sometimes called 'dongle') which is needed to use Steinberg's software range. The Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser) is required to run Steinberg VST instruments, but is not included in all the product boxes and must be purchased separately if no Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser) is already present on the system. The Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser) is actually a tiny computer which stores licenses for Steinberg products, and is connected to a USB port on your computer.
All current Steinberg products that use a copy-protection device use exactly the same system. The Steinberg copy protection system allows the storage of several licenses on the same Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser).
![Midi Midi](http://pianoandsynth.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/alesis-qx49.jpg)
May 5, 2012 - Forums Hardware (Instruments and Effects). I'm thinking of the Cakewalk A500 Pro or the Novation Remote. I had a short opportunity. If all your are looking for is keyboard, you might look at the Alesis Q49. I mean seriously, these keys are unusable for anything other than synths. How to Write a Sonar Instrument Definition.ins file By Rich the Tweak.
Licenses can also be transferred between Steinberg Keys (USB-eLicensers) with certain limitations. This can be very useful, for example in the unlikely event of a Steinberg customer wishing to sell a product. The Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser) is included with the following products (all sold separately).: Cubase 5 Cubase Studio 5 Cubase Essential 4 Nuendo 4 WaveLab 6 WaveLab Studio 6 The Steinberg Key (USB-eLicenser) is not included with the following products: HALion 3 HALion Player HALion Symphonic Orchestra The Grand 3.
I rarely give 5 stars and never would imagine I'd be giving a $79 midi keyboard this reward but it earns it. The keys are full size and it's four full octaves. The midi features are easy to access and will be familiar to anyone who has used any of the Roland PC-200 or PC-300 models. Overall it is light weight and compact, I've been using it on a Mac Pro running Logic X and this is where this keyboard has been such a joy, everything works like it's supposed to, no manual required, truly plug and play. I'm a technical guy, I can tweak with the best so that is why I really appreciate complex processes that make things easy, in a $79 keyboard?
Brilliant, the musician definitely wins with this. Next is the feel of the keys and their response, can you play light and get soft? Can you play hard and have it get louder? Can you slam it and make it bark? YES YES AND YES The touch dynamics work great and feel just right to me. Finally is the Pitch Wheel. I have a lot of keyboards in my studio, Kurzweil, Moog, Yamaha, Hammond, Prophet 6 and more.
I'm very particular about the WAY a Pitch Wheel behaves, can it allow you to achieve natural sounding bends? Sounds simple but so many have strange taper pots or software and don't let the performer get a natural response.
This Alesis Q49 has a great Pitch Wheel on it, with no tweaking required. I've been bending bass notes in some new age comp's we're working on and it is so great to be able to have this little keyboard in my lap play and record so expressively.
When the Q49 is connected via USB it is powered by the host connection whether it is a hub or direct into a computer port. I have an OWC Thunderbolt box connected to a Thunderbolt port on my Mac Pro Cylinder, the OWC box has USB ports on it, I plug the Alesis Q49 in one of those and it works great. Good music to all! I bought this four years ago and it worked fine until a few months ago.
The left A flat key occasionally failed to work, until eventually that key stopped working altogether. So I had to replace it. On the plus side, it is compact and easy to use. A feature I wish it had was an on-off switch - the octave LEDs are on all the time if you leave it plugged in to the USB port of your computer. My replacement controller has a switch, which I appreciate because it's annoying having those LEDs staring at me when I'm not using it. I used it for composition with Notion, and most of the time the 25-key range was adequate because of the octave switching, but a three-octave range would be better. I replaced it with a 49-key controller, but that's actually more than I need.
The Keyboard works, mine stopped functioning properly after just 6 months. Lost the midi connection to the computer. The 2 stars is for the customer retention, although they somewhat are kind, they seem to want to get rid of the problem quickly. I am talking about the Alesis manufacturers them selves.
I paid the 80 buks for a product that worked partially, the returning process was a hassle, still had to pay 30 buks for shipment. I sent back the keyboard and the cable and the other small components that came along, but the replacement merely came with the keyboard itself, not a single cable. Very disappointed and felt like I was played and manipulated by them. I would give 1 Star. But at least I can now go back to my music. Alesis, work on your customer service and handling of deficient and product return.
What I went through was ridiculous. This keyboard has been problematic from day one. About half the time the keyboard simply refuses to function. It doesn't show up as a USB device and won't provide input. Other times the keyboard will function normally, but after a few minutes use it will simply stop working. I love the Ableton software that came with this device and use it extensively without a keyboard, but the keyboard itself is a real disappointment. I've contacted Alesis tech support, and if they can provide a fix or a working replacement I intend to modify my review as it is a decent keyboard when it chooses to function.
Until then, 1 Star it is:(. Edit: After a week of back-and-forth with Alesis support, the keyboard is working fine. The Q49 shows up as a generic USB Device on some systems (mine), which kept me from setting up the controller properly. User error aside, I have no complaints. Upped my rating to 4 stars. Back at the turn of the century, I worked for Edirol which was Roland's spin off company for DTMP, or Desktop Media Production. Edirol put out one of the first small computer oriented MIDI keyboards.
It was so simple it was perfect. I've searched and searched for its equal in recent years but couldn't find it anywhere. A big thank you to Alesis for bringing back a classic.
It's basically a clone of those first Edirol keyboards. The Q25 is well put together, and works great.
The keys are the classic synth action keys with just the right amount of spring. The drives load great in Windows 7, and the MIDI connection works flawlessly with my hardware synths. I also have a large Novation controller with faders, knobs and pads. But I've been playing the Q25 more often because it's so accessible and fun to pick it up and jam like it was a guitar and then put it down (without having to move my computer keyboard out of the way.
Can you tell how much I love this little thing? I was in need of a small foorprint controller to fit in my studio desk computer pullout drawer.
This keyboard fits within 1/8' in height and is very full featured. I wasn't sure I'd like the controller functions being accessed by the various keys, but it works fine and made all the difference in keeping the height down. It's very simple looking, but you can do so many things with the assignments and channels, etc.which are all labelled and use the actual keys as buttons.Cool Idea.great engineering.space saver.and the important controllers for pitchbend, volume/value slider, octave up/down, and midi access controls are right there on dedicated buttons to the left side. This little baby now accesses the general midi sounds from my Tascam 2488 beautifully, which actually has great sound module in the early version, especially when combined with a sustain footpedal for piano, etc.perfect for my needs and the full-size keys feel fine. I'd recommend this. The easiest way to power it is thru USB.I found an A/C to USB(x2) adapter for $3.05 here on amazon.has multiple uses and works perfectly.no computer required. Great job Alesis.and they were very helpful when I had questions.real people.musicians, USA based and actually speak English.local/USA/support.
I am a musician and although I don't play piano I do play guitar, bass and drums, I bought this keyboard for the only purpose to compose melodies for my job ( multimedia designer), as a Midi instrument works great, I'm able to assign different functions to the roll and slide contols using Garage band and Albleton Live, The keys are not weighted but they fell fine, no great, just Ok, at least it does not have the feel of a cheap toy keyboard, I don't see this keyboard as a live instrument tough, but as a MIDI controler it work fine. In the instructions it mentioned that in some computers it will get power from the same USB connection, I have a MAC Book pro and a custom made PC in both of them I need to use the power supply, maybe I'm missing something but it is not a big deal I just mentioned here as a warning, power from the USB didn't work for me, other than that it worth the money. I bought this keyboard in 2011 and it's worked ideally; it had a small latency issue on my software on my specific computer, but that's just me. This review is not about performance.
About 3 months ago, my keyboard started dropping connection to my laptop intermittently, as to why I don't know. What matters is I tried to fix it. Long story short, I ended up melting the pin connections on the board that contains all the jacks, aka the Jack Board. When I gave up fixing it, I searched for this elusive jack board.
Well, now, 3 months later, I've perused the entire internet, called and emailed Alesis people, talked to all the Alesis certified repair shops in America, all to no avail. The thing is, this model is discontinued, so no one's making parts for it. This means that in order to fix a problem with a $3 part, I have to buy a new keyboard. All in all, it's definitely a great keyboard/midi controller for the price, but if yours breaks now, good luck. I got this when my old Oxygen8 started to intermittently fail on me. I wanted something about the same size and with a pitch wheel but I didn't want/need to invest in an Oxygen8 V2, Axiom 25 or something else with knobs/pads because I had recently gotten got an Akai LPD8 (another fantastic buy).
The Alesis has good weight and feels more solidly built than my Oxygen8. The keys feel good, a little more damp and weighty than the Oxygen's. As a bonus, the black finish and red backlights match the Akai's almost perfectly so that's an aesthetic bonus.
It synced right up with Ableton running under Windows 8. For the price, I don't think this keyboard can be beat.