Best 49 Key Midi Controller

[oblique strategies]

What about a good 61 Keyboard? I was thinking of augmenting my M50 with a strictly MIDI controller at some point and want a 61 key so it fits on 2nd tier of my dual tier stand and will fit nicely in the corner where the M50 currently resides. I am looking at as much as $500 US.

I recommend the E-MU Xboard 61 for all the same reasons I recommended the Xboard 49.

Another route to take is getting a good used synth as your controller. Kurzweil K2000 line has an excellent keyboard -much better than many of the current MIDI controller keyboards. Plus you get a good synth/sampler too. There are a lot of older synths that cost big bucks when they were new that have really good keyboards.

[abl385]

I have an MPK25 and I love it to death - friend has an MPK49, and although there was a small issue to begin with, keys-wise, they fixed it for him free of charge and since then he loves his keyboard.

I own an AKAI MPK25 too and it's pretty decent. It's also really portable (like all the 25s of course), which is nice when you're travelling with planes and you don't have much space in your luggage. The automapping is just great. What I don't like very much is the pads, as they are too hard to push even though I raised their sensitivity.

Thinking of buying a 49-key MIDI now and even though the AKAI MPK49 is quite a temptation, I'll probably go for a cheaper one with automapping if possible and then buy a separate MPD32 with 16 (I guess more sensitive?) pads instead of 12, which by the way offers more versatility like wreckcode said.

[matthews]

A bit more expensive, but the Novation SL49MK2 is an animal, and plays very nice with Ableton. Maybe give it a look?

http://novationmusic.com/products/midi_ ... rs/sl_mkii