What midi controller/audio IO keyboard to buy? M-Audio? CME?

[mcmonkeys1]

hey all,
i've got about €450 to spend, maybe slightly more, maybe slightly less.
wat i want is 49 - 61 keys keyboard, a few knobs/sliders to twiddle, and a decent audio interface. must be firewire/USB 2.0 to connect to my laptop... I would be using this for live performance as well as studio type production

I was looking at the M-Audio Ozonic,
*OR* CME UF6 w/ optional UF400e firewire audio IO add-on,

*BUT* read some piss poor customer reviews about the reliability of the drivers for both of these controllers, having to reinstall them constantly, crashing entirely, but leaving last note playing, etc..
generally useless for live stuff..
i've had similar experience, and heard the same stories about M-Audio drivers for other gear, and am probly defo not going for M-Audio by the looks of it.

anyone got any suggestions of other controller interfaces, experiences (with afore mentioned or other gear), general hints??

cheers lads! :-)

-ros...

[redtop]

i just got an alesis photon x25, its only 25 note but its a gd controller i hear! havent used it properly tho coz i havent set my little studio up yet

[alsynthe]

ive just bought a terratec phase 26 usb sound card it has 6 outputs and 2 inputs and midi in/out defo does the job, cost me 140 pounds, not sure wot that is in euros

[mcmonkeys1]

they look like decent products. i'd need more octaves for live playing, i'd be interested to hear about the reliability of alesis drivers though.
buying separate audio IO, and midi controller keyboard, would be a last resort, as i only have one free usb port, and one free firewire port in total, terratec seem to make quality products though, i believe they had one of the first 24/96 cards for a mere 200yoyos.

found the Novation X-STATION 61, looks amazing and synth thrown in too, slightly above my price range, but if i heard good reviews...

This one isn't put yet Novation XIOSYNTH 49, could it be worth waiting for??
I can only imagine Novation products being pure quality, am i wrong??

-ros...

[alsynthe]

buy a usb hub then! splits a usb port into 4 and only costs about 15 pounds!

[mcmonkeys1]

buy a usb hub then! splits a usb port into 4 and only costs about 15 pounds!hmm.. would there not be the possibility of glitching in the audio stream when using the midi controller, as the usb hub switched between devices? or does it work like that???

[alsynthe]

nope it wouldnt affect it at all