Ableton Forum

I want to purchase a MIDI keyboard/drumpad controller and I was looking into both of these. Can anyone give me their recommendation? Strengths/weaknesses of each and perhaps other keyboards I should look at. Thanks in advance

Since they do more or less the same thing, to me it's a question of ergonomics. Do you have room for the 49? If so, get it

I have the 49, I like it because it's more keys.

I like it but they're all basically the same except for the mini one. If it won't fit make or get a stand for next to your desk. I have a table with it on it works great, but can get annoying at times.

footsy wrote:I have the 49, I like it because it's more keys.

I like it but they're all basically the same except for the mini one. If it won't fit make or get a stand for next to your desk. I have a table with it on it works great, but can get annoying at times.

Do you find yourself using the full 49 keys? Or do you think you could easily do with the 25? I think I am leaning towards the 25, I think that it's size would better suit my workstation.

SDdj wrote:Do you find yourself using the full 49 keys? Or do you think you could easily do with the 25? I think I am leaning towards the 25, I think that it's size would better suit my workstation.

I bought the MPK49 first, but it was located in a place that was very inconvenient for when I was recording (couldn't read the screen when using it). So I got a nice 25-key controller that fit on my desk, and literally didn't touch the MPk49 for months... but when I started working on some more dynamic/melodic stuff I ran into several cases where 25 keys was simply too inconvenient; you have your octave up/down buttons which is fine for playing single-handed normally, but for 2-handed stuff I really needed 49 keys.

I managed to fit the MPK49 on my desk, even though it means I only have room on my desk to set a glass of water down. The 25-key controller's now in storage, although I still miss being able to use my desk.

I went and picked up an MPK 49 today. I love it so far, thanks for the help everyone.

How's the 49? I just picked up the MINI... it works really well also. I needed a compact one for sure.

Koopz wrote:How's the 49? I just picked up the MINI... it works really well also. I needed a compact one for sure.

I'm loving the 49. Not sure how it compares to the mini, but it is nearly identical to the smaller MPK25 (only bigger, obviously)