I was interested to read in the review of the Casio Privia PX330 that it had a microphone input that you could route through the speakers. The versatility this would add to an already pretty good feature set made it very attractive to me as a second piano for some of the smaller gigs I do. So I was surprised when I went onto Casios' website and downloaded the manual to see if you could adjust the volume of this input sperately and found that there was no mention of a microphone input at all. Apparently there is only a stereo line level input, according to Casio.

I live in an area with only one music store that has a decent stock of demo keyboards. However, even with that, they don't tend to put out any controllers, so I rely on reviews and what I can find out on the internet and so on to learn what I can. Recently I bought a Roland PCR 500 and was incredibly surprised and disappointed to find that it actually does not receive program change messages, leaving the only way to acceess presets to be with a rotary knob, which just is not practical in the live setup I was intending to use it in. (I guess I should also mention that it was a disappointment to find the short keys as well. I just hadn't even thought about that being a possibility).

I am trying to do my homework a little better, but I do rely on your reviews to have the pertinent and correct information. In all my subsequent research into controllers, I have not been able to find one that receives program change messages and find this very strange and it seems like something maybe your reviews should also address. In your latest review of Logic and Mainstage, you went into detail about the new MIDI output feature and said you hooked it up to a ridiculous amount of external gear, including some controllers and that it all kicked much ass. So what controllers were you using? As I mentioned, I have not been able to find any that will respond to much MIDI information at all, much less what would seem to me to be essential, such as program change messages. I am looking specifically for a 49 or 60 key controller, so maybe there are some 88 key controllers, (that don’t have little brothers), which have better MIDI reception. But in fact, it would probably be more likely for someone using an 88 key contoller for it to be the "master" keyboard and not really need MIDI reception quite as much as the smaller ones that are more likely to be integrated into a larger rig with a different master keyboard.

I loved your review of Novation's SL MKII. It seems perfect for my needs. However it has taken a few calls to England to try to find out about it’s MIDI IN capabilities, as it was not addressed in the review and is not addressed in the specs or owner's manual on their website. I am still hoping for a call back on this. But unfortunately there is another issue with this controller, also not mentioned in your review, which is that the SL MKII only has 8 faders. I realize many users will not necessarily ever be simulating B3 drawbars, but I'm sure many others will... and for those who won't, they certainly aren't going to complain about having another fader… and for those who would, it is a major bummer to be a fader short. It’s just a very weird design choice to me in this day and age and something I think the manufacturer should be called on in a review.

Ok, thanks for hearing me out. And as long as I am writing my first letter, in over 30 years of being a Keyboard subscriber, can I also just say that I think it is a little crazy that Leon Russell has never been featured in the magazine. I know he is a notoriously difficult interview, but still there must surely be some way to pay tribute to an amazing artist and keyboardist, who has been at the forefront of nearly every technological advancement in the music/keyboard industry, at least through the 60s, 70s and 80s. And he’s still out there kickin’ it today.

Maze, thanks for your letter.

A lot of points here to address, beginning with the Casio mic input issue. Just wanted to let you know I read through this whole thing, take your questions very seriously, and will respond as soon as I have pertinent info.