Best keyboard midi controller for Ableton?

[3ptguitarist]

I'd get sl mk3. It's designed with ableton in mind and might have the best workflow with ableton compared to the keylab and mk2. I dont think it was advertised for external gear. Their website says novation worked with ableton while designing the sl mk3. The pads are smaller than the other two keyboards, but they are also velocity and (and maybe pressure) sensitive so they will work similarly to the keylab and mpk.

Keylab will work, but when I had the keylab 61 mk2 it was difficult for me to assign midi, but that's also from a lack of experience with midi on my end. The keylab pads are ok, mpk pads are probably better. Mpk keys are slightly smaller in length than the keylab. The keylab's keys are synth action so they are lighter than the mpk, but mpk's are more stiff and shorter in length.

I currently have a s61 mk2. The keys action are the best keys I've ever played on. Feels like a lighter weight piano. Amazing! But they dont come with pads. I have a maschine mk3 for that. Though it would've been nice to have a keyboard with pads.

[JoeCat]

I get the impression that the SLIII is configured to work with Live 10 without any setting up. I have an original SL25 which automatically configures its controls for Live when you start the program.

It is, as the rest modern keyboard controllers. Nothing special in this...

For standard keyboard, pitch bend, mod wheel, yes. But for encoders, transport controls, it's a mixed bag. I have the NI M32 - love the form factor and it has 8 decent encoders, transport controls, etc.. But it was obviously designed for Komplete Kontrol first, and the Ableton scripts are klugy. You need to shift-key your way around, and it goes in and out of mapping. They may have updated it recently, but point is that if if the controller is not appropriately scripted, it's hard to just "use it". There are user-scripts and workarounds but they have limitations.

The Novation stuff works out of the box - most importantly for Live users, the encoders map directly to the macro knobs in Racks. You can launch scenes and clips (hence Launchkey) directly, and transport works properly.

If you're really just looking for a Live controller, I don't think Novation can be beat.

Now if they'd only produce 37-key form factor I'm itching for!

[roman.i]

The screens on the SL show you which control is assigned to what function, and what value its set to. Sounds like you've already decided on the Keylab anyway ...

When I work with a mouse I can do one thing at a time, but when I have a controller I can do two or more actions with buttons in a much faster way. So when it isn't a static function per button on the current screen, it missed the whole idea of having a controller over the DAW. What is the advantage of looking at the controller's screen, trying to understand what the button does right now and then trying to correlate this to what I have currently on the computer screen over the mouse? Mouse is faster in this situation. The only advantage I see in four screens on the keyboard is to work with external gear, or live performance, when there is no computer monitor right in front.
The same goes for the NI Kontrol keyboard with the screen, it made for musicians playing live with laptop and NI instruments. Why would anyone prefer a small 4 or 5 inch screen over 24 inch screen in the studio?
I like the layout of the Keylab, but Akai MPK also has a similar layout too. It looks like the Akai is more for beat makers(hip hop etc), and Keylab is for musicians. So right now it seems that Keylab is the best choice.

[roman.i]

For standard keyboard, pitch bend, mod wheel, yes. But for encoders, transport controls, it's a mixed bag. I have the NI M32 - love the form factor and it has 8 decent encoders, transport controls, etc.. But it was obviously designed for Komplete Kontrol first, and the Ableton scripts are klugy. You need to shift-key your way around, and it goes in and out of mapping. They may have updated it recently, but point is that if if the controller is not appropriately scripted, it's hard to just "use it". There are user-scripts and workarounds but they have limitations.

The Novation stuff works out of the box - most importantly for Live users, the encoders map directly to the macro knobs in Racks. You can launch scenes and clips (hence Launchkey) directly, and transport works properly.

If you're really just looking for a Live controller, I don't think Novation can be beat.

Now if they'd only produce 37-key form factor I'm itching for!

Hi, thanks for the input. If Lunchkey was a controller in the "premium" range I would consider it, but it's really basic and doesn't have the features and quality level I want. Their flagship SL is bloated with features for external hardware and screens I would never use, so I don't want to pay for that.

[Pacific05]

Ok, no cheap plastic toys.
So the answer is:

Novation (choose any)

But if you like Arturia, then Arturia is the best.

[mitchiemasha]

I'm surprised at how much little talk there is about controllers.

[canadian_moose]

I have the Sl 49 mk3

It’s the best actual keyboard integration you can get with Ableton. The only thing better for workflow would be push 2 but it has no keyboard.

Fantastic piece of gear and instantly maps to all ableton functions.

[Modlift]

Hi guys I have the Novation Peak synth and I've been looking for a good keyboard. It seems the current Novation and Arturia options won't work for me though because I want 61 keys and theirs with this many don't come with a sequencer. Someone recommended actually getting a standard keyboard synth to use as a controller for the Peak. I could do that if the price is right, around $600 or less and even could consider used. That would especially be good if it's an analogue synth. Let me know any recommendations, thanks!

[canadian_moose]

Hi guys I have the Novation Peak synth and I've been looking for a good keyboard. It seems the current Novation and Arturia options won't work for me though because I want 61 keys and theirs with this many don't come with a sequencer. Someone recommended actually getting a standard keyboard synth to use as a controller for the Peak. I could do that if the price is right, around $600 or less and even could consider used. That would especially be good if it's an analogue synth. Let me know any recommendations, thanks!

The SL Mk3 comes in 61 keys and most certainly includes the sequencer. It also has a ready to go hardware template built in to control the Peak directly from the controller.