Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A61 Reviews

A61 first glance

So after few hours fiddling with this keyboard

The build quality is great and key action is a little bit on the heavy side, which is good.

The sound library that comes with it is really good, especially the Gentleman piano and Scarbee electric piano, high quality.

Not to mention the tons of other sounds.

However there are some drawbacks.

Usability is not great.

The data screen is very small and not very helpful.

It will take you some time to learn all the functions because this product is not very intuitive.

If you want better usability take a look at the S series which comes with big color screens.

There is no option to set the global velocity curve and no way to set global volume from the keyboard.

Both these features are usually taken for granted and you may be disappointed when you find out they don't exist in the A series.

To sum up, good value for money.

The action is pretty decent

I bought this to use together with presonus 4.6 professional since there was a recent update that enabled you to use the various features to improve the workflow with the DAW. I must say that I am pleased with the action although it is light, the constructions is solid and slick. The VSTs that come with the MIDI are an excellent addition! My only problem is the amount of programs you need to install in order to make everything work together, its a bit of a pain to make it setup correctly, but once you do it feels great!

The best value for money

In my opinion, this keyboard is a nice tool for home studios.

It has enough controllers and options for the regular tasks if you compositing something or just play for fun.

Pros: Low price, quality, design, good brand (NI), it doesn't need any additional drivers.

Cons: I didn't find them. I guess this keyboard gives you many benefits for such a low price.

5 stars

Great keyboard, keys are great as well. works with no DC!

Top keys, but lacking features

I bought this piano after comparing all 61 keys midi controllers, and this seems to be the one with the best integration in Studio One.

Best:

The good point are the keys and seamless integration with all Komplete products I have. It reminds me the feeling of a real piano, it's no so plasticky and looks like a premium unit. Another good point are all transportation buttons that it has, useful for DAW and also for the Komplete Kontrol plugin. I can control some basic features from Studio One which is what I was looking for. Also, I need no mapping at all, I love plug and play things without messing around with configuration files and so on :)

Cons:

It's quite heavy and bulky, so you need a lot of space for it. The clicking sound from the buttons is really loud, really. The little screen is useful but it should be at least bigger or similar to the layout of the S series MK1.

No aftertouch, which in 2019 should be a standard in this kind of hardware.

I think this type of units can have more controls, as it has two big empty frames on each side, but it happens the same with the S series.

In sum, for this price it's an affordable piano that can do almost all that I need, so I'm happy with it and I hope it lasts so many years.

Just fine

It won't connect with Reason; you can't use transport controls or assign parameters to buttons and rotators...

No power?

Keys are decent enough for everyday use, the unit doesn't give the option of connecting a power supply though which makes it i.e. impossible to use along with iPad music applications since the unit consumes too much power to be run only on iPad bus power. A big let down for people using i.e. the Korg Module.

Amazing Keyboard

I use the keyboard for music production, its been a lot of help for me because I don't have good enough musical knowledge. Scale function and chord functions are phenomenal. Recommended.

Pros.

keys feel great easy to get used to

easy to navigate in komplete kontrol

build quality is amazing

Cons.

There is no on/off button on the keyboard.

Worth the money!

I am very happy with purchase!

Not really...?!

Very disappointing that does not have transpose button! Unacceptable from that company...Good keybed