I'm also a fan of Roland keyboards, but these days I'm pretty satisfied with Akai and Novation keyboards regarding synth action, not piano action. My first masterkeyboard was Roland D-20 and I still love the feel of Roland synth keyboards. All M-audio keyboards feel just yucky and gummy to me.

 

Since my last post, I sold the Axiom and got the Novation Impulse 61. I like the pads, I wanted the Roll/Arp feature, and the keys feel good for these types of boards. The knobs are a bit loose like most reviews said, but it works for me. I took this over Axiom Pro, given the Roll/Arp and recessed faders, and I didn't try AIR. I read that it freezes A LOT. Automap is a bit tricky, and it has since disallowed me from opening Pro Tools 10 with the mapped plugins. I'm still trying to work this out, even though I am leaning towards fully learning Logic X. I've had virtually every problem with Pro Tools, but I go with what I know. And, I paid good money for her~ However, the Automap works well in Logic X. The problem I face is the scanning of all plugins with every launch. Checking the 'Logic friendly' box hasn't averted the issue. But, a few extra minutes isn't catastrophic for me or enough to throw in the towel. This Pro Tools issue could do it for me, if (IF) the Code series and DAW control work well. I'll test and see when they come out.

Now, that I'm actually learning the piano, I kind of long for real keys. But, we all know what we're getting with these keyboards. So, I'm sure I'll be saving to get something strictly for the expressive playing in the future to work in conjunction with the 'toy.'