Few weeks ago my MIDI lost teeth. Two front ones.
Not my fault. It resulted from it's shitty design. All keys on the same stationary board. Keys move which is obvious and with time they broke off this platform.
It is probably easy to fix but I considering is there other midi keyboards with better arps?
I have Akai MPK Mini MkII and it have very handy button to turn on Arp.
But setting this arp isn't handy. To set it I must run App and I can't run DAW. I must first run the Akai Editor app, set arp then sent to the hardware, quit app and then run DAW. When I play in DAW I can't change Arp settings. I must quit DAW and then I can run app and change settings.
I wanna midi keyboard which I can change settings of arp directly on it.
Some midi keyboard with LCD maybe?

















I have an eye on Novation 25 SL MkII. But I didn't see arp function? Does have it?

 

I recently got a Native Instruments KompleteKontrol M32

This one has 32 mini keys instead of 25. But they also have the KompleteKontrol A25, which comes with pretty much the same features.

They have Scale/Chord/Arp functions. In your DAW you can run any VSTi via the KompleteKontrol plugin and then use those functions, without having to setup anything else.

 

Maybe 32 keys will be better for me. But I don't like this touchable pitch and modulation. XY Joystick on Akai is little annoying and weird but touchable pitch and modulation looks like much worse to me.

 

Last edited: Dec 20, 2020

Nice post fucknut.

The SL is very nice, my brother has the 61 key MK1. How do you handle the limited octaves though? If you mean a sequencer then the MK3 looks good or do you not want to go with the same category of Novation?

 

novation launchkey mk3 series. i have the 49 . LOVE IT!

 

I've got the Komplete Kontrol A61, I really dig it.

I use it with Ableton and Maschine, so I can't say how it works with others, but the buttons are responsive are the keys are good for my sausage fingers. Added bonus is that it works as a Live control surface so you get the transport and you can use the encoder to navigate tracks and clips, record straight from the keyboard and so on.

If you use the bundled software (Kontrol, either standalone or a plug-in) then you can navigate patches from from the keyboard and with NKS compatible software (Native obvs, but u-he and plenty of others have) then you've got mapped controllers, of course you can create your own mappings or just use it as MIDI CC kind of thing.

*edit:* those touch strips on the M32 look like the one on Maschine (though shorter and vertical), the strip itself is very responsive, but yeah, having two for mod and pitch looks a bit iffy. The A and S series have very chunky wheels.

 

Something like this

 

I have my hands full with just one device. If you have the space and dough, you should go for a larger keyboard. That way if a library has keyswitches or you just need more octaves at hand, you can experiment easier plus you get velocity, aftertouch data which you don't get with a computer keyboard. Since you're getting a new keyboard anyway, you might as well future proof.

 

I'm not a big fan of the touchstrips for pitchb and modw either. They aren't too bad but I'd prefer some wheels. The KompleteKontrol A25 has some "real" wheels.

You should also keep in mind that you might run into conflicts if you're using NI softwarez. At least if you'd like to grab the additional software content their keyboards ship with. Native access for registration and all that...

 

I think We have a winner!
I throw out my eye on the manual and seems like this is all I need! I probably buy it

I love the look of it! Nice red like my bra!






Manual:

 

I've just got the 25 keys version as a present. Somebody at ebay-kleinanzeigen.de offered it for free of charge. I wrote him and he gave it to me. The launchkey 25 mk3 is brand new, not even unpacked. Sometimes you need to have a little luck.

 

hi, i use it, whit automap software is just pleasure !
have fun!