Roland A-800 Pro vs NI Komplete Kontrol A61

[NeoKortex88]

Hi,

iam undecided between those too. Roland has far more/better reviews but a friend of mine swears his life on NI Noire which apparently only works with NI Komplete Kontrol. Any suggestions?


NI has no pads and no aftertouch, and those:

The Gentleman
Monark
Scarbee Mark I
Reaktor Prism
Reaktor Blocks Wired
Reaktor 6 Player
Kontakt 6 Player
Guitar Rig 5 Player
Komplete Kontrol Software
Maschine Essential


Thx

[Elektronisch]

I have no idea where you came up with this "ni noir works only with komplete kontrol" but i guess its because of lack of general underastanding/knowledge. Let me explain.

You can use all that software including NI Noire (wich is a sample library for Kontakt (vst) Instrument) just as it is on your computer. Keyboard has nothing to do with it. Its a software. Meaning you can use any keyboard you desire.

Only thing NI KK keyboard has is total software integration with komplete kontrol out of the box (wich you can map to any midi instrument).

If your main concerns are the keyboard features, get Roland and buy yourself NI Noir and use it.

[mrj1nx]

One of the questions would be, are you a wheel or stick person. For me, being a stick person, the market is pretty small, pretty much only Roland and Korg makes keyboards with sticks. Another aspect is the NKS aspect, do you have/plan to buy komplete, in that case, that aspect might be a nice bonus, I don't personally know how it works or how good it is. My superficial impression is that it feels a little gimmicky but I may be wrong on that part. NI does make some great software.

This is a bit of a tangent, but one aspect that is true with many hardware manufacturers is that they will stop supporting the hardware long before the hardware actually breaks. I have a close to 10 years old Roland A500S (pretty much the old version of the A49), and they've stopped supporting it with drivers even though it's in great condition and works completely fine still. Same with an audio interface I bought from NI at about the same time, iRig Mobile or similar it's called, no longer supported even though I have it in pristine condition in a box. That to me is pretty lame, especially considering the state of the world overall, hardware manufacturers should take more responsibility of the hardware they put into the world using real physical resources. I do understand the economic burden of keeping old products supported but I think that should be part of the cost of introducing hardware into the world.

[NeoKortex88]

My friend had no clue what he was talking apparently.

If your main concerns are the keyboard features, get Roland and buy yourself NI Noir and use it.

Thanks. Iam doing this

[Elektronisch]

Another aspect is the NKS aspect, do you have/plan to buy komplete, in that case, that aspect might be a nice bonus, I don't personally know how it works or how good it is. My superficial impression is that it feels a little gimmicky but I may be wrong on that part. NI does make some great software.

Actually you yourself can try it, just download komplete kontrol and map the knobs, simple as that

Its not really a gmmic, but keybaord offers out of the box integration and those LCD screens. But for noir its not nescesery at all. Actually buying Komplete Kontrol keybaord just for Noir should the be least of concern.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... ete-start/

[3ptguitarist]

Another aspect is the NKS aspect, do you have/plan to buy komplete, in that case, that aspect might be a nice bonus, I don't personally know how it works or how good it is. My superficial impression is that it feels a little gimmicky but I may be wrong on that part. NI does make some great software.

Actually you yourself can try it, just download komplete kontrol and map the knobs, simple as that

Its not really a gmmic, but keybaord offers out of the box integration and those LCD screens. But for noir its not nescesery at all. Actually buying Komplete Kontrol keybaord just for Noir should the be least of concern.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... ete-start/

Btw he's asking about kontrol A series keyboards not the S series. The A series do not have the LCD screens and not the same amount of buttons and controls. It has a tiny led screen and is still useful for using komplete kontrol.

I can tell you that the key action on the kontrol keyboards are really good both for the A and S series. The Roland has synth action. The kontrol A doesn't have as many buttons and no sliders. The roland does. You can play noire or any kontrol software with the Roland. The kontrol A keyboards are designed to switch patches while you may have to find a way to program that on the Roland keyboards.

[Scoox]

I'm interested in more comparisons between the Roland A-Pro and NI Komplete Kontrol A keybeds, thanks.

Edit: Just read the KK A series doesn't have dedicated semitone transpose buttons. There's a workaround but it's too convoluted. A firmware update or an A-mk2 might change my mind but, for now, I'll be sticking with the Roland A-49 which BTW is much more compact.