S-Series users may be disappointed with the lack of light action on the buss-powered start up – especially with the Light Guides missing – and the keys aren’t lit up unless they’re in use, so you might find yourself squinting to see what does what. Elsewhere, on the right, you get three fewer buttons for navigation, but the Shift button doubles each one up, as it does with other keys. Other aspects on the S and A keyboards are similar – the transport, select and navigation areas are present and correct as are the eight rotaries. It’s not going to fall apart any time soon. Okay, it’s not as sturdy as the S, but I can’t see anything too flimsy about it, either. The A49 on test was a ’carry up the stairs under one arm’ job when I took it in my studio which, probably because I’m always lugging gear around, I see as a good thing. The S-Series is reassuringly heavy, well built and sturdy. The other main difference between the S- and A-Series is weight. That’s a hundred-odd quid for a keyboard and a whole bunch of instruments, all ready to go and talk to one another. To test this, on the A-Series you also get a hefty software library thrown in with Monark, The Gentleman, Reaktor Prism, Scarbee Mark I, and more. I’m okay with the bulk of these cuts, as long as the NKS integration – how the hardware sets up with whatever software you control – is as slick as that on the S-Series. The screen is much smaller on the A-series (plus the S-Series now has two) and you lose the touch strips, a pedal input and the keyboard now has a ’custom NI keybed’. And, yes, they look bloody lovely too, so I shall miss them. These are the lit-up keys that help a lot when it comes to the scaling options that KK offers, and give you an indication of where all the different samples, keys and articulation sets are on a typical Kontakt-based instrument. The first and perhaps biggest difference is you don’t get the Light Guides. NI has listened and the A49 on test here is streeting at £149 – a full £300-odd less! The A25 price is half its old siblings at £109, while the largest A61 is just £189, £400 less than the S61. I’ve since looked at the Akai Advance series which did its own successful take on giving you less computer-screen time and, more recently, Novation’s SL MkIII – another type of controller entirely and one that breaks down control barriers with both hardware and software.Ĭan NI keep up then? The A range is a cut-down version of the S-Series which has been criticised for its pricing – indeed, Googling the current S49 shows it to be around £469. However, four years is a long time in the world of control – an area that’s been hotting up. With excellent screens and controls, the S-Series almost seems to suck the software from your computer and place it in the hardware, making you turn less towards your computer screen and more to what you’re actually playing you’re less technician, more musician.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |