M-Audio Hammer 88 Pro

The reason to buy it and the strongest point of agreement. The 88-key graded hammer action — heavier at the bottom, lighter up top, with high-speed scanning and Channel Aftertouch — is repeatedly called piano-like, expressive and a clear step up from semi-weighted rivals, and even critics with faulty units praise the feel. The nits are small and real: Sound On Sound found the resolution at the very lowest velocities coarse across all curves, one long-time pianist called the keys 'somewhat light,' and it's a touch heavy for fast organ/synth runs. No graded-hammer board this cheap draws this much love for its action.

“it's the 88 fabulously weighted hammer-action keys that stand out and justify the price point”

MusicTech

“I've played the piano all my life and to me this thing feels great! The action is inspiring, like a real instrument.”

timoR12 · Thomann owner review

“the overall action feels subjectively livelier than the Hammer 88, and distinctly more adept at playing fast repetitions”

Sound On Sound

16 RGB backlit, velocity-sensitive pads with Note Repeat — a genuine finger-drumming and clip-launch surface, not the token pads on many keyboard controllers, and reviewers find them accurate to velocity. Two limits keep them from top marks: there's no polyphonic aftertouch, and Higher Hz (among others) dislikes the two-rows-of-eight layout, preferring a solid 4x4 block for serious finger-drumming.

“pads respond accurately to velocity”

Sound On Sound

“I don't like the two rows of eight layout and would have preferred to see a solid block of 16.”

Higher Hz

A clear high point: nine faders, eight knobs and buttons, full transport, pitch and modulation wheels, and a small OLED — enough hands-on control to rival dedicated DAW controllers, and reviewers single out how smooth and positive the physical controls feel. The main nit is layout: Higher Hz would rather the knobs sat above the faders than across the panel from them, which makes using both at once slightly awkward.

“the faders, knobs and wheels have a silky smooth action, buttons click positively”

Sound On Sound

“I would have preferred to see the rotary knobs positioned above the faders rather than on the opposite side of the panel.”

Higher Hz

Contested. The Hammer 88 Pro presents preset DAW maps (a Mackie-style control surface) and auto-maps transport, faders and pan to Ableton, Pro Tools, MPC Beats, Cubase, Logic, Studio One and more, plus instant mapping to its own bundled instruments. To some reviewers and owners that auto-mapping is genuinely painless; to others it's generic, do-it-yourself control rather than the deep, plugin-aware integration of a Native Instruments board — and a few owners hit real bugs, most concretely transport record/play buttons that didn't work in Reaper and MPC Beats.

A consistent plus, and a real leg-up for a first studio: three DAWs (Pro Tools First / M-Audio Edition, MPC Beats and Ableton Live Lite) plus a stack of AIR Music Tech instruments (Hybrid 3, Velvet, Mini Grand, DB-33, and more) that auto-map to the keyboard. Reviewers rate it more generous than most rivals bundle — though the exact contents have shifted over the product's life, so confirm the current pack.

“the impressive collection of bundled software”

Sound On Sound

“The Hammer 88 Pro comes with a pretty extensive software bundle, as do most M-Audio controllers.”

Higher Hz

Well-appointed for the class, with a strong pianist-friendly pedal complement: 5-pin MIDI in and out (unusual — the sibling Oxygen Pro boards are MIDI-out only), a sustain jack plus two more assignable footswitch inputs and a dedicated expression-pedal jack, USB-B bus power with an optional external supply, class-compliant operation, and iOS via a camera-connection kit. The gaps are modern-connector niceties: it's USB-B, not USB-C, and there's no CV/gate.

“The Hammer 88 Pro comes with four pedal inputs for sustain, soft, footswitch, and expression.”

Higher Hz

“it would have been even better to see CV connectivity.”

Higher Hz

The agreed weak spot, and an inescapable one: a fully-weighted 88-key action means 18.5 kg and 142 cm of keyboard. Reviewers are unanimous that it's a desk fixture or a road-case-and-two-people gigging instrument, not something you sling in a bag — USB bus power at least keeps the cabling simple.

“it's not easily portable, and you will undoubtedly need a road case if you are planning on using this for live shows”

MusicTech

“Pretty heavy.”

Higher Hz

The one axis where the pros and the owners genuinely diverge. Every editor calls the chassis first-class — a metal panel over the top and back, hard plastic elsewhere, no flex or creak — and most owners agree it feels built to last. But a real cluster of buyers, across separate units and across years, report serious defects: notes that hang or stick, pitch-wheel and octave-shift glitches, even rogue keypresses sent to the computer. Two owners returned unit after unit over the same hanging-note fault. So the materials and feel are excellent; unit-to-unit reliability is the live question.

Broadly seen as strong value: it's routinely called the most affordable way to get a genuine fully-weighted 88-key action with aftertouch, pads, faders and a full software bundle in one box, undercutting Arturia's and NI's 88s. Two caveats temper it — the price has crept from a $799 launch toward ~$899 at US retailers, and the reliability question means the value depends on getting a good unit.

“The Pro 88 represents excellent value for money.”

Sound On Sound

“Most affordable fully weighted action with pads.”

SynthSquid