Akai Professional MPK49 Key MIDI Controller good match with Waveform Pro 13?

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

Apologies, if I've posted in wrong area.

I've just upgraded to WF 13 Pro. My Arturia Essentials 49 crapped out on me (liquid spill; not Arturia's fault). I've been making do with a borrowed 25 key Akai Mini, so I'm looking for suggestions for a midi keyboard controller that works well with Waveform.

Ideally, it would be a keyboard that has a midi template map for WF

~$500 is my budget.

I think my needs are simple: transport controls, aftertouch keys, velocity sensitive pads.

I just saw reviews for the Arturia Keylab mk 49 iii and mk ii users said it was a downgrade, plus, there's no aftertouch in the keyboard. The mk ii goes for the same price at Sweetwater, and other places I've looked, so I don't want another Arturia, as much as I love the company.

I'm open to having my mind changed. I've considered a separate control surface with only transport controls and pads, then, a keyboard, as long as they can be linked.

I keep coming back to the Akai Professional MPK49 49 Key MIDI Controller. Thoughts?

I can get this used for ~$300 less from Guitar Center. I'm a guitar player, and have bought tons of used gear, but never bought any used midi controllers, so I'm not sure how fragile these things are. So, new vs. used? I don't care about any free software, as I have tons of plugins/synths, etc.

Input/thoughts would be appreciated. I'm leaning hard towards the Akai 49, but willing to admit midi controllers are way out of my area of expertise. 

Thanks much in advance!

[Peter Widdicombe]

I have an MPK261. Looks good, feels solid. Some notes:
- 49 keys is good. 25 (I have one of those) gets really annoying if trying to play even simple piano, organ, or even string parts.

1. Keys are channel pressure, not polyphonic. No individual key pressure. Velocity works nicely,
although you might want to tweak the curve settings a bit - but this is the same for any
good controller.
2. Pads, oddly enough, are both velocity AND polyphonic pressure(aftertouch). They are really nice
although I only use them for percussion, so can't vouch for how WELL pad aftertouch works.
3. There are 30 "preset types" available. At the time none matched the few in Waveform, so I used
generic; the defaults included Bitwig, Protools, Cubase, etc, plus some for their supplied
VST's. They allow you to preset colors for the pads, curves, pressure settings, button and slider
customizations you may make. I only use my customized default one.
4. Waveform "MIDI learn" will allow you to fairly easily roll-your-own.
5. Pads a bit more convoluted. You need to find the note number (if using for percussion) and
note the MIDI numbers they use. Or you find out the default in the MPK what is sent, and then
update note mapping in the VST. You then edit the VST or the MPK settings.
- I chose the MPK to customize that because the VST may get updated. Not sure whether that's
the wisest choice, as the mapping may not be the same if I use another VST later. Hopefully
the note # for percussion is fairly consistent.
6. Arpeggiator used either internal clock, or external. External is needed if you want note timing to match the DAW. But then if just noodling around on the keyboard, ARP enabled means the keyboard is dead unless the DAW is "playing".
7. I also manually adjusted the sliders to effect the first 7 tracks' volume, and #8 master volume
Rewind, forward, stop, play, record all mapped the same way - MIDI learn.
8. Some of the advertised software bundle are no longer available, and rely on iLok; the only one I actually tried was MPC Beats, and at the time it just annoyed me.

It's possible with all the new controller definitions in Waveform, something might match already;
but I'm used to what I've mapped.

[GuitarPlayerinNYC]

Mr. Widdicombe! You literally changed my life, when you helped me sort out my midi keyboard (m-audio) that wasn't recognized in T4-Waveform 11. That, led to my purchase of the Arturia Keylab Essiantial 49, which, imo, is a great starter/budget midi controller.

Thanks for such a detailed response. I've since learned, the Arturia Keylab mkiii has all the specs regarding aftertouch for the keys (monophonic), and the pads are both velocity and aftertouch sensitive.

Akai is known for their pads. I agree that 25 keys is too tight a space to work in. I'm a "white keys" player, being the guitar is my main instrument, but I find a keyboard well-suited to figure out voicings.

I like the aftertouch feature just to give life to stringed instruments. I really like writing "cinematic" things, and that often includes strings. So, I don't need the polyphonic aftertouch.

Personally, I think attempting to map every vst control is madness. I don't believe Arturia keyboards are mapped to every control, in say, Pigments (which is a fantastic synth, imo). So a mouse for that, is fine for me, and where possible, saving a preset.

The 25 key Akai mini was just gifted to me, along with the software. I agree the Beats software is annoying, and virtually impossible to work in. However, I do like finger-drumming some things, to humanize my percussion.

I'm holding off for a bit, before I decide. The Akai MPK49 is 10 years old, and, from what I've read, they're a terrible company to work with. I didn't know until this evening, that InMusic owns Akai/Air Instruments, and a bunch of other music related companies. Just registering a product, and software, can lead to being sent to 5 different links, including iLok, and the InMusic authorization managers.

It's possible with all the new controller definitions in Waveform, something might match already; but I'm used to what I've mapped.

Yes, I see now, in WF's Control Surfaces page, a very long list of vendors. I realized, and your post solidified it for me, that there's no perfect controller, no matter how much it may cater to your DAW.

I managed with the Arturia Essential. I may have to pay a bit extra for aftertouch, and velocity sensitive pads, and the few extras thrown in (arp, scale, and chord modes), but that's fine.

Apologies, for blathering. I'm attempting to activate some Air plugins, and being sent in circles. This may be enough to never buy anything Akai related again.

Thanks again!