Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A49 Controller Keyboard

I picked up the A49 Komplete Kontrol to replace my old 88-key S-Series that was swallowing my entire desk. This one fits the space like it was meant to be there, sleek, compact, and perfectly in tune with the darker aesthetic of my setup. The keys feel lovely under the fingers: responsive, lightly weighted, and far from flimsy. They’ve got just enough resistance to make playing expressive without feeling heavy, and the build quality gives you confidence that this thing’s going to last. Compatibility-wise, it plays nicely with a range of DAWs. I’m using it with Logic Pro, and the integration is smooth as silk. The auto-configured control assignments are a blessing, no faffing about with mapping, just plug in and start creating. A beautiful balance of form, function, and size. Exactly what my workflow needed.

OK, it doesn't have the amount of knobs and sliders of an Arturia Keylab, or the amount of integrated control the S series NI keyboards have with Komplete or the Arturia has with their products, as a fuss free, standards compliant, well made, sleek, solid controller keyboard you can't go wrong with this at the price.

This is an excellent keyboard for those wanting DAW integration and use Native Instrument plug-ins. It's not a performance keyboard, but ideal where space is limited in front of a computer monitor. Set up was problematic in Windows. In device manager, after installation, the unit was shown as having a missing driver. The keyboard needs a driver which Windows Update does not find automatically. The way to deal with this is by asking Windows Update to display hidden updates. Without this driver it is not possible to download firmware updates. Once installed it worked seamlessly as a DAW controller with both Cubase and Propellerhead Reason. Given the price, the key bed is quite playable but has viciously sharp corners to the keys. When spanning octaves, the edges of one's fingers are painfully reminded of the fact that the edges are razor-like. I'd have been happy to pay a little more for a slightly upgraded set of keys. Otherwise this is a truly excellent product for the money.

I bought this as a midi controller for Cubase. It fired up first time and is a really superb bit of kit. I won't repeat what the manufacturer says in the adverts other than to say that it does all those things and if anything, more. I didn't expect anything great from the keyboard, but in fact it's very high quality. The keys are full sized and with a great feel so that you can actually play it. The whole build is very high quality too. To be honest I don't know how they do it for the price, unless they hope that having bought this people will go on to buy more of their software and kit. I did!

This keyboard was recommended by Pentatonix for their a cappella course. I've played a piano for many years, and found the A49 keyboard responsive and easy to play. It is light, I can pick it up and sit it on my lap. I used it with Apple Garageband, and also the supplied Komplete Kontrol software. It took a while to figure out the Mac permissions to get the keyboard to work with the software and I raised a ticket and got a quick answer about setting those. Very happy with this keyboard, and particularly "The Gentleman" sampled piano. Sounds great.

I got this to replace a very old 25 note keyboard i was using that stopped working This is a fantasic bit of kit If you have Kontact Komplete then you neede this, it makes life much better when finding sounds. it works with your DAW perfectly so much so it has a replaced a harware control fader i was using due to being able to control the mixer on the DAW It is very well built Begining to think I should I got the bigger one now

Buying a NI keyboard makes sense if you are using NI software, in which case the integration is really good. The A25 is solidly built, but keep in mind that it is not the smallest 25 keys keyboard out there, it’s pretty chunky and not particularly portable. The keybed feels excellent and so do the wheels. The integration with the Komplete Kontrol shell software is seamless and can make your virtual instruments and plugins really come to life. The transport controls work perfectly in both Logic Pro and Studio 1.

Great keyboard for small set up.

Sencillamente impresionante. Las teclas son una maravilla y el manejo de 10. Muy recomendable para quienes quieren un teclado de gama alta a buen precio

Short Version: If you are looking to buy a bass deck, and you live in a lot of the Native Insturments’ world of virtual synths, this is a no brainer and dare I say, better than the M32 Long Version: I bought the “Analog Dreams” synth pack from Native Instruments at the start of Quarantine, and was VERY impressed with the sounds and overall 80’s vibe. VERY impressed. But, my main controller is an Arturia. Nothing against them, but the mapping always had to be done manually, and using the stand alone control software for live playing just didn’t work. Since I was mainly looking for a bass deck, I did my research and it was down to the A25 or M32. Everyone raved about the M32, but I didn’t hear much about the A25. So, after some deliberation, I bought one. First impression- This is not a small controller when it comes to 3-octave decks. The matte plastic finish and full sized keyboard were flat out impressive feeling. The discrete label controls also made it look VERY German, and very cool. The keys are a full size “Semi Synth Weighted” affair, and feel fantastic! I have fat stubby hands and I am no concert pianist, so the large layout felt natural. It is also quite a bit taller than your average 25 key deck, but since I don’t intend to try to write anything on a plane, I didn’t care about how portable it was. In fact, the large footprint is a plus as it fit well into a spare mixer stand I had. DAW and plugin integration- While this is a very smooth controller to play, it really is best when paired with Native Instruments software and plugins. The controls are mapped out simply and well, and when running the Kontrol environment app, there is ZERO issue! Although, I found out when installing this on a Mac, make sure you disable all other MIDI devices first. I had my Arturia Keylab 49 and my mixer’s DAW controls active, and the controller wasn’t able to be read properly. So, I had to uninstall and reinstall the Kontrol app and then things worked fine. Once you do that, it works like a charm. Jumps right into ProTools and Ableton without fuss. Even tried it in Reaper (My preferred editing DAW), which is famous for working with ANYTHING, but usually you have to do some routing and mapping no matter what. All I had to do was to decide which MIDI channels to use for the I/O in Reaper, and once again, it worked like a treat! Performance- The semi weighted keys are placed naturally for any piano player, and nothing on the keyboard feels cramped. This controller also rocks the pitch and mod wheels to the left that are a decent size and don’t feel overtly plastic. All together, this just *feels* premium. It really shines as a bass synth, with everything within reach of a single left hand. The only issue is that the LED display is quite tiny, and you find yourself squinting to see what info is on it. But, given. How it performs and at the price, I can overlook that as my attention should be on the laptop if I am tweaking the settings. Speaking of price, it is more expensive than other 25-key controllers, but you are really getting your money’s worth. This is especially true with the free software that comes with it. I have paid for plugins and synths that sounded and performed worse. If you have a home studio that doesn’t need moved around constantly, this is a VERY wise companion to you main controller. As an audio engineer and a musician, I am of the mind you really only need 3 main MIDI components: A large format keyboard, a small format keyboard and a drum pad/sequencer. This is exactly the kind of 25 key that you need for that kind of setup, and would be almost perfect with their Machine pad controller for producers who are looking for a clean, integrated beat production setup. For a keyboardist like myself, this sits above my Arturia and is the best bass key controller so I can double up on multiple tracks.

Ordinato ed arrivato il giorno dopo... il prodotto è veramente ottimo già provato con Ableton Live... lo consiglio vivamente come consiglio il rivenditore per la serietà e la velocità nel spedire.

takes a minute to set up but once it gets going it feels good it plays good Fl studio compatability is there you can record play pause and even loop however its not as quick as it is in ableton, the workflow is much quicker in ableton because of session view which compliments live recording the software it comes with is actually pretty solid nothing great but for what you pay it comes with some great synthesizers and pianos

Ik had al een machine jam en machine mk3 en daarom een leuke toevoeging. Er zijn betere alternatieven zoals een arturia minilab of een novation launchkey als het gaat om controller functies. Maar de a25 voldoet voor mij om als melodie te creëren en de samenwerking met de software van native Instruments.