Swissonic ControlKey 88 5-stars Reviews

Best MIDI controller you can find

First of all, I'm not a professional. I'm a hobbyist so keep this in mind throughout.

I think this is the best MIDI controller you can find. At the very least, it's got the best price/quality ratio, hands down.

This keyboard has most of the features you can ask for in a MIDI keyboard: 8 octaves, sustain and expression pedal inputs, aftertouch and lots of knobs, sliders and pads.

There's also the fact that the keys aren't weighted. This, to me, is a bonus. The way I see it, if the keys aren't weighted, it's slightly harder to control velocity (keyword: slightly) and this helps you learn better control. The hugely lower price (because of not having weighted keys) is a given.

A detail I appreciated, compared to a cheaper keyboard I owned: the black keys' springs are just as light as the white keys'. Meaning you don't get more velocity from one or the other.

The pitchbend spring is very tight, immediately returns to initial position, giving you nice control. If you're into synths, you might like this.

Build quality is excellent. The thing is very heavy and sturdy. It's made of aluminum or some other alloy and very large screws are used. To me it feels very solid though I haven't had it for long.