C
CPhoenix
CharlesAllen/ BMR Studios
I recently purchased a Novation 49 SL MKii and felt compelled to write a review on it. I don't do too many "official" reviews, but this board deserves it lol. I was lucky to find this board at a local music store in NYC and grabbed it at $275. It goes for around $379 second hand in general, and i believe $499 brand new. I was prepared to pay $379 already for it lol. Just got lucky on this one.
The overall construction of the unit is sturdy. It's not a tank and it's not console... but it shouldn't be. It's light weight, but solid enough to take some abuse if it has to. Doesn't have the "cheap plastic" feel that I got from my older M-Audio boards (Radium, keystation, etc). You feel like you have a professional keyboard in front of you.
- Keybed
The keys are exactly how they should feel. Nice & responsive synth keys. They have aftertouch which is a big plus- it's something that you don't realize you need it until you've used it and don't have it lol. The Fatar keybed is worth the price alone to be honest. The keys don't make any weird unexpected sounds. They behave as they look they're going to. Velocity curves are fine 'out the box' for me... but I believe they can be adjusted if necessary. It's the type of keybed that you can feel comfortable playing ANYTHING on it: piano, drums, strings, synths, pads, whatever. I've had keybeds where the keys feel spongey, they stay depressed just a little too long, you can feel the mechanisms behind the key... yuck. This isn't one of those.
The pitch/mod joystick is awesome. I will never use wheels again. Much easier to control pitch bends. With a good grip you can even do nice tremolos (sp?). Great for programming guitar riffs & solos since you can bend and trem at the same time much easier than juggling the pitch and mod wheels separately. No longer do i have to perform two takes... one for my pitch wheel and one since my brain couldn't process doing the mod at the same time. The mod wheel can be set to snap back to zero also which is a great feature. Just look under the board, press a mechanism and slide over the lever... done.
- Control Surface
The controls is probably the reason most people look at this board... and rightfully so. I have very few complaints about these. The endless rotaries are smooth and predictable. As you turn them, you feel like you know what value you're turning it to, which is very important. The knobs are the same. They have a consistent resistance that I like, and again you can expect the value just based on feel alone which is great. They don't twist too fast or too slow. The only weird thing is once you get to 127 value, you can still twist a little bit without changin the value. There's definite space after the 127 value. So if you have the knob fully twisted clockwise, and you begin to descend from 127 to 0, it takes a few moments for the values to start going down. Not a big big deal since it's quick, but i did find that a little weird. Far from a deal breaker. The LED buttons on it are perfect. Not much to talk about here.... they do what they're supposed to. All buttons on keyboards should be made like this lol. Soft but functional.
The faders are good enough for me, but i can see how some would complain about them. I'll start by saying they are not flimsy as some describe... i was pleased to find that out. They move smoothly up and down. Do NOT wobble them side to side because they will definitely not hold up for a long time. They aren't fragile, but don't push your luck lol. I like how they lay flat and have a nice indentation for your finger to fit in. Great for automation. I automate with them more than the knobs and rotaries. Again... they have consistent resistance. The LED screen is great too. Nice to get a visual of your values without looking up at the computer screen.
The only thing I'm not crazy about with the controls is the design's placement of the buttons on the left side. They placed a row of buttons between rotaries and knobs. Since the controls are touch sensitive & the LED screen focuses on the values of the row you're currently touching, it makes it difficult to access that button row without accidently switching the LED screen's focus. Not a deal breaker because you honestly don't need to even look at the LED screen if you're only pressing a button, and it doesn't happen at any other time... but I would have preferred to have all of the buttons placed below the knobs to avoid this. But again... no biggie.
- Drum Pads & XY Pad
Drum pads & XY Pad... don't even bother using them lol. They aren't worth it. The drum pads are said to be improved... so i'd hate to see what the last ones were like. They just don't work well. Not a predictable response. Too small. I'd rather them take the drum pads out and add an extra row of knobs. To get the XY Pad to work, you have to push down waaay too hard on the surface. Too hard to incorporate it in regular use. It "technically" works... but it's just not useful at all. I'd like to see it's sensitivity dramatically improved. It reminds me of a Fisher Price toy. Again... you probably wouldn't buy this board for either of these features... but they'd be nice to have as a bonus. They are no bonus.. just takes up space. Don't expect to use them. You can find a cheap alternative if you really need pads and an XY pad. I believe Korg makes a good one for cheap. Either that or you can find plenty of inexpensive pad controllers without the XY pad.
In regards to Automap, I don't currently use it. Presonus S1 has a built-in control assignment system called Control Link that I find works very good. I prefer to use that to assign my controls to parameters since it's what I've been using. I hear that Automap works fine... for those who read the manual. It didn't seem to complicated to me when I glanced at it. Once you get it set up... it should work well for VSTs.
Overall... this board is hands down the best improvement to my setup so far. The feel of the control surface has me automating more parameters than I ever used to. I use the mouse less bc I'd rather adjust my compressor/synth settings with a tangible knob than by pointing and clicking. It's a little faster for me... better feel. Better feel = better music IMO. I feel attached to my projects now. It's making me want to learn more about programming synths. I never got that urge before. I've got it now b/c I feel like the synth is on my desk instead of on my screen.
I'd consider this board best in class. It has a few improvements i'd like to see... but nothing that honestly annoys me. There are no deal-breakers with this board. The main things that I wanted the board for (keybed, good controls, & joystick) all perform at a high level. Keybed is a personal thing, but I prefer the keybed over the competition from MAudio & even Akai.
The overall construction of the unit is sturdy. It's not a tank and it's not console... but it shouldn't be. It's light weight, but solid enough to take some abuse if it has to. Doesn't have the "cheap plastic" feel that I got from my older M-Audio boards (Radium, keystation, etc). You feel like you have a professional keyboard in front of you.
- Keybed
The keys are exactly how they should feel. Nice & responsive synth keys. They have aftertouch which is a big plus- it's something that you don't realize you need it until you've used it and don't have it lol. The Fatar keybed is worth the price alone to be honest. The keys don't make any weird unexpected sounds. They behave as they look they're going to. Velocity curves are fine 'out the box' for me... but I believe they can be adjusted if necessary. It's the type of keybed that you can feel comfortable playing ANYTHING on it: piano, drums, strings, synths, pads, whatever. I've had keybeds where the keys feel spongey, they stay depressed just a little too long, you can feel the mechanisms behind the key... yuck. This isn't one of those.
The pitch/mod joystick is awesome. I will never use wheels again. Much easier to control pitch bends. With a good grip you can even do nice tremolos (sp?). Great for programming guitar riffs & solos since you can bend and trem at the same time much easier than juggling the pitch and mod wheels separately. No longer do i have to perform two takes... one for my pitch wheel and one since my brain couldn't process doing the mod at the same time. The mod wheel can be set to snap back to zero also which is a great feature. Just look under the board, press a mechanism and slide over the lever... done.
- Control Surface
The controls is probably the reason most people look at this board... and rightfully so. I have very few complaints about these. The endless rotaries are smooth and predictable. As you turn them, you feel like you know what value you're turning it to, which is very important. The knobs are the same. They have a consistent resistance that I like, and again you can expect the value just based on feel alone which is great. They don't twist too fast or too slow. The only weird thing is once you get to 127 value, you can still twist a little bit without changin the value. There's definite space after the 127 value. So if you have the knob fully twisted clockwise, and you begin to descend from 127 to 0, it takes a few moments for the values to start going down. Not a big big deal since it's quick, but i did find that a little weird. Far from a deal breaker. The LED buttons on it are perfect. Not much to talk about here.... they do what they're supposed to. All buttons on keyboards should be made like this lol. Soft but functional.
The faders are good enough for me, but i can see how some would complain about them. I'll start by saying they are not flimsy as some describe... i was pleased to find that out. They move smoothly up and down. Do NOT wobble them side to side because they will definitely not hold up for a long time. They aren't fragile, but don't push your luck lol. I like how they lay flat and have a nice indentation for your finger to fit in. Great for automation. I automate with them more than the knobs and rotaries. Again... they have consistent resistance. The LED screen is great too. Nice to get a visual of your values without looking up at the computer screen.
The only thing I'm not crazy about with the controls is the design's placement of the buttons on the left side. They placed a row of buttons between rotaries and knobs. Since the controls are touch sensitive & the LED screen focuses on the values of the row you're currently touching, it makes it difficult to access that button row without accidently switching the LED screen's focus. Not a deal breaker because you honestly don't need to even look at the LED screen if you're only pressing a button, and it doesn't happen at any other time... but I would have preferred to have all of the buttons placed below the knobs to avoid this. But again... no biggie.
- Drum Pads & XY Pad
Drum pads & XY Pad... don't even bother using them lol. They aren't worth it. The drum pads are said to be improved... so i'd hate to see what the last ones were like. They just don't work well. Not a predictable response. Too small. I'd rather them take the drum pads out and add an extra row of knobs. To get the XY Pad to work, you have to push down waaay too hard on the surface. Too hard to incorporate it in regular use. It "technically" works... but it's just not useful at all. I'd like to see it's sensitivity dramatically improved. It reminds me of a Fisher Price toy. Again... you probably wouldn't buy this board for either of these features... but they'd be nice to have as a bonus. They are no bonus.. just takes up space. Don't expect to use them. You can find a cheap alternative if you really need pads and an XY pad. I believe Korg makes a good one for cheap. Either that or you can find plenty of inexpensive pad controllers without the XY pad.
In regards to Automap, I don't currently use it. Presonus S1 has a built-in control assignment system called Control Link that I find works very good. I prefer to use that to assign my controls to parameters since it's what I've been using. I hear that Automap works fine... for those who read the manual. It didn't seem to complicated to me when I glanced at it. Once you get it set up... it should work well for VSTs.
Overall... this board is hands down the best improvement to my setup so far. The feel of the control surface has me automating more parameters than I ever used to. I use the mouse less bc I'd rather adjust my compressor/synth settings with a tangible knob than by pointing and clicking. It's a little faster for me... better feel. Better feel = better music IMO. I feel attached to my projects now. It's making me want to learn more about programming synths. I never got that urge before. I've got it now b/c I feel like the synth is on my desk instead of on my screen.
I'd consider this board best in class. It has a few improvements i'd like to see... but nothing that honestly annoys me. There are no deal-breakers with this board. The main things that I wanted the board for (keybed, good controls, & joystick) all perform at a high level. Keybed is a personal thing, but I prefer the keybed over the competition from MAudio & even Akai.
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