Alesis VI25

No regrets

I plugged the device in. I opened Ableton. I chose the built in preset and I was already in control :) Highly recommend!

It is what it is

I only use it to play midi and I love it. Quality is good for the price. Only thing I noticed, and I use it daily, is that if you really can play the piano, don't buy this one. It is perfect for the dummies (like me) to put midi in the DAW. But I noticed it doesn't 100% do what you want to do if you really play on it. It is basic. But I love it.

Good concept, needs improvement

+

Sleek purist product Design & Perfect Layout

16 sequence / drum pads have good response

rotary knobs (stop end to end) feel quite robust

good weight to keys

-

Poor construction feel

Buttons feel poor and have a very cheap 'click'

Keys have some movement and straight out of the box don't appear to be constructed properly as they aren't perfectly in line (this was on my copy anyway)

Overall it feels like the transition from the drawing board to producing the final product was rushed / left incomplete.

By shipping with Ableton lite I would assume Ableton fully supports it. I found this not to be the case and perhaps should have researched this deeper before purchasing. Be prepared for a long tedious procedure of assigning all of its thousands of control combinations to each feature and then getting lost as to whats what.

My personal opinion is go for it if you don't mind endless customization and can keep track of all the midi assigns then this is for you.

its not for me - i am returning and looking for a simpler alternative with auto mapping or full support by the major software kits