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Hey all, I'm looking for a new 49 key MIDI keyboard. I like the Novation series, can anyone give me their opinion on the Impulse series or the SL MKII? Thanks in advance. I have read reviews online, but I see mixed reviews of both.

The Axiom has always served me well

novations have nice features but tend to be a little bit cheaply built.

akai mpk49 is pretty dope and solid as fuck. the pads do need modding to even be considered usable in my books though.

M-Audio Oxygen 49, not a ton of features but a decent price and good quality/gets the job done.

I use an Oxygen 25 and its great

M-Audio Axiom 49

recently got an akai mpk49. upgraded from an m-audio oxygen 49. The akai is amazing night and day difference over my oxygen. The keys feel very solid as they are semi-weighted and just have an overall better feel than the m-audio. It has the exact same knobs etc as my apc 40. As said before though the pads aren't the best out of the box. they are usable but a lot of people easily mod the pads so they trigger more easily and reduce the mushiness. The controller has a lot of weight to it too, it doesnt feel like a plastic piece of crap like the axiom felt to me, Quality all around. It also has nice arp options too if you are into that.

I hear the Automap feature of the Novations surpasses any other model in that price range. How is mapping with the Akai APC?

Nunz wrote:I hear the Automap feature of the Novations surpasses any other model in that price range. How is mapping with the Akai APC?

automap is sort of a gimmick in my opinion. you can get any other controller setup just as well as novations.

Eat Bass wrote:

Nunz wrote:I hear the Automap feature of the Novations surpasses any other model in that price range. How is mapping with the Akai APC?

automap is sort of a gimmick in my opinion. you can get any other controller setup just as well as novations.

yeah i never saw the point in automap - automaps to what exactly? the pitch on oscillator 1? the decay on envelope 2? the wet/dry control on an insert effect?

i like to choose what i'm mapping my keyboard to. cubase has quick controls that you can set per channel and ableton has a midi learn button, couldn't be easier.

Alesis QX49 is pretty nifty for the price.

If you want a novation, get the novation though - they make great products.

Second that, the slmk1 is schweet


@mark it maps everything, it's surprisingly good. I was hella skeptical at firtst too but it adapts anytime you click on a plug-in/synth

Since the Axiom was mentioned, I have the old 25-key version and the knobs drive me insane. Dunno if they're linear on the new ones but on mine it's damn near impossible to do a smooth sweep with them. I'd totally go for an MPK49 if I was buying a new controller.

Eat Bass wrote: akai mpk49 is pretty dope and solid as fuck.

Yeah I may now purchase an Akai MPK on ebay or something. Thanks guys.