Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A61

I bought this piano after comparing all 61 keys midi controllers, and this seems to be the one with the best integration in Studio One.

Best:
The good point are the keys and seamless integration with all Komplete products I have. It reminds me the feeling of a real piano, it's no so plasticky and looks like a premium unit. Another good point are all transportation buttons that it has, useful for DAW and also for the Komplete Kontrol plugin. I can control some basic features from Studio One which is what I was looking for. Also, I need no mapping at all, I love plug and play things without messing around with configuration files and so on :)

Cons:
It's quite heavy and bulky, so you need a lot of space for it. The clicking sound from the buttons is really loud, really. The little screen is useful but it should be at least bigger or similar to the layout of the S series MK1.
No aftertouch, which in 2019 should be a standard in this kind of hardware.
I think this type of units can have more controls, as it has two big empty frames on each side, but it happens the same with the S series.

In sum, for this price it's an affordable piano that can do almost all that I need, so I'm happy with it and I hope it lasts so many years.

So after few hours fiddling with this keyboard
The build quality is great and key action is a little bit on the heavy side, which is good.
The sound library that comes with it is really good, especially the Gentleman piano and Scarbee electric piano, high quality.
Not to mention the tons of other sounds.
However there are some drawbacks.
Usability is not great.
The data screen is very small and not very helpful.
It will take you some time to learn all the functions because this product is not very intuitive.
If you want better usability take a look at the S series which comes with big color screens.
There is no option to set the global velocity curve and no way to set global volume from the keyboard.
Both these features are usually taken for granted and you may be disappointed when you find out they don't exist in the A series.
To sum up, good value for money.

This MIDI keyboard offers an impressive combination of quality and functionality. With it, I can fully immerse myself in the music creation process with intuitive controls at my fingertips and deep integration with Komplete Kontrol software.

Benefits:

+Playing this instrument gives a great feel and response, but the keys themselves could have been made better, although you can't complain about that for this price.

+Integration with Komplete Kontrol

+Touch controls and 4D encoder are awesome.

Despite its affordable price, the A61 is as good as its more expensive counterparts in terms of functionality.

I was about to purchase an m-audio keystation, but cancelled my order just as these controllers came onto the market. I have absolutely not regrets as these are incredible value for money. They have the best keybed of any entry level controller of this size and the build quality is excellent. I would 100% recommend the Komplete Kontrol A series to anyone considering them. Only downside to me is the lack of a midi out, but that can be remedied with a usb midi host which can be purchased from thomann as well. Note that the setup is a little tricky with Native access and the komplete Kontrol software, but nothing a few youtube videos won't help you with

Build & Quality
Just amazing. I didn't expect everything to feel so well-built. Everything feels nice - the knobs, the wheels feel AMAZING. The mod wheel is smooth as butter. It's heavier than most, but if you're a producer using VST (which, I suppose is 95% of the reason one gets MIDI keys), I can only imagine that being a plus. In general, all the knobs have a good heavy-solid feel to them.

I'm comparing it to some previous keys I've had:
Nektar impulse, Arturia keylab essential, Korg SP100, Novation impulse

The keys are great. As semi-weighted keys, it obviously makes piano expressions much better than non-weighted ones.

The cons:
The only one I can think of so far is the tiny screen. I don't think an LCD screen could've been that pricey. I hope they had put one at least as big as the Arturias