I believe it stands up against most controllers right now. How Does It Compare To Other Controllers? Like any MIDI controller, you’re not gonna get a crazy realistic feeling key-bed, so just be aware of that. The keys feel good and do have some pretty good action. I am surprised by this as we are seeing more and more keyboards having this feature. One feature I wish this keyboard had is aftertouch. I think it feels just like the S49 and I am a big fan of the key-bed on that product. Overall, I like the semi-weighted keys of the A49.

I get some people love the pads, I feel like Native Instruments invested in DAW functionality, rather than adding tons of features. One thing I will mention here is that you can play beats directly from your keyboard, so you don’t absolutely need pads. Just like the S49, there are no drum pads on the A49. You can track directly from your keyboard and control the session if the way that you would like to. Native Instruments has streamlined everything quite nicely to make this process easy. When it comes to recording, it is very similar to the S series. This keyboard will work out of the box immediately with all of your favorite DAW’s for instant gratification. Native Instruments has some of the most popular VST’s and you get access to these with the A49.Įverything is pre-mapped and ready to go with all of the major DAW’s. The synth packs and Maschine essentials that you get with the product are worth it alone in my opinion. The big win, in my opinion, is that you still get all the same software that you get with the Kontrol S series. There are a lot of MIDI controllers that don’t have to screens, so to me, it’s not really the end of the world to have a smaller screen. When you click, “browse” to find synthesizer sounds, you will immediately see your screen start to change as you browse through options. Now, it’s nothing close to the “S” series here, but I feel like this was a great spot to cut costs for Native Instruments. It’s located at the top left of the keyboard and it is an LCD display.

The screen is tiny, but I actually kind of like it.

Komplete a49