We’re more used to some level of instant mapping for our hardware these days too, and everything on the Oxygen 8 has to be physically assigned. But each macOS update pushes the Oxygen 8 further and further into obsolescence.
MIDIMAN OXYGEN 8 DRIVERS
I have been able to find the drivers online, shared by fellow users. Midiman would eventually evolve into its next form, M-Audio, which in turn was taken over by Avid, and official support sadly ended long ago. Though it remains physically solid, those drivers are out of date. Therein lies the issue with using it in 2020. Unlike more recent class-compliant hardware, software drivers were required for macOS 9 and Windows 98 and higher. Given how much gear I’ve amassed since 2002, it’s amazing that the Oxygen 8 has survived. I expect it’ll be a bit of a job cleaning those off now…
What Live did have though, was MIDI mapping, so the knobs and keys on the Oxygen 8 were put to full use – launching clip and scenes, and controlling audio effects – which is part of the reason why it has so many now-yellowed scraps of tape stuck to it.
When I first started using the Oxygen 8, Ableton Live didn’t have MIDI tracks, instruments or effects, and I was composing with the underrated DAW Metro from Sagan Technology, which is still going at. Though the vast majority of us, myself included, have largely moved on to more creative hardware controllers such as Ableton’s Push, Novation’s Launchpad and Native Instruments’ Maschine, there is a simple joy that comes with using a small keyboard for the same functions. The octave buttons allow the keyboard to transpose up or down over eight octaves, and there’s a healthy level of assignment potential, available through using the MIDI/select button in conjunction with the other controls, including a data-entry slider and the keys themselves, all labelled according to their particular assignment functions.Īll external connections are at the back of the unit: sustain pedal, two MIDI outs, USB, power switch and mains input. But it’s the eight control knobs that typically see more use in my setup.
MIDIMAN OXYGEN 8 MOD
The keys are velocity-sensitive, with pitch and mod wheels placed above them. If used away from the iMac, it could also run off a nine-volt mains adaptor or six AA batteries, inserted underneath.
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