Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 MK2

I'm using this keyboard with Ableton Live and NI's Komplete Ultimate and the experience is very different between those two.

I'd start with stating that this keyboard has an amazing look & feel. The keys are exceptional and very pleasant to touch, the aftertouch feels just right. modwheel is solid and the touch stripe is unobtrusive and handy for a bunch of orchestral use cases. The screens allow you to do a good chunk of work without reaching for the mouse. The only hardware issue is that encoders are very close to each other so if you have big fingers you'll have to be careful.

Now, all the magic is contained within NI's own instruments. If you're a heavy used of Reaktor and Kontakt you'd feel at home. The keyboard has a few extra buttons for Maschine too but it doesn't come with a software so those would sit unused (which is sad given I'd love a few more buttons for ableton integration).

As soon as you leave the NI world ? e.g. to use your DAWs built-in instruments (NI is massive et al but I like my Ableton's synths) the keyboard changes. It still retains the basic DAW navigation features but now it's a VERY DUMB midi controller. No chords magic, no arp, everything is contained within the NI toolset (which is sad given how good the built-in arp is). You're left with eight encoders and the piano strip.

To sum it up: it's 10/10 for NIs toolset (unsurprisingly). The LED guide, the instrument picker ? everything is smooth and polished to let you focus on the music.

As soon as you're back to your DAW it's 6/10. It's not too bad ? e.g. you can do arp with ableton and you can load your other VSTs within the KK's tool so that they would avail of the extended feature set. It's just that the keyboard doesn't feel as capable anymore. Low-level Novation instruments would easily beat it in terms of raw midi capabilities.

Bottom line: worth the money if you are heavily investing into NI instruments too.

Hey. I bought it half a year ago. S61 MK2 I use it just for training on the piano using Cubase. My first MIDI keyboard=)

Looks very decent. high-quality plastic coated with matte black paint, the buttons on the control panel are very pleasant to the touch, and have a backlight that does not hit the eye. Work responsive.
Knobs nice and very accurately work when setting any parameters or recording automation, as well as when you touch them from above(have sensors) - show other parameters.
2 display on which all clearly visible, you can configure the brightness, when setting to 100% they are very bright=)
Komplete Kontrol the provides a huge amount of content to create music - personally, I really like "a Gentleman" and "Massive".
Keys with aftertouch - the possibility gives to creativity of ideas=) the keys of very nice material very quiet and have a pleasant sound when you press or just touch.
LED GUIDE is a cool feature.
For six months I have 2 times updated the firmware MIDI keyboard. and also very often go out on bug fixes any products from Native Instuments.
Recommend!

My first MIDI keyboard - which I really like.

I needed a new midi controller. My Novation SL61mKII is past its prime, so I took a look to see what was available in my price range. I wanted a Fatar keybed, and this was the least expensive option for a 61 key controller. After asking about this keyboard to some friends, I was told that NI is fairly abrupt in ceasing support for the software that controlls this keyboard. As Thomann seems to be clearing the mk2s out to make way for the already available mK3, it made sense to determine the limitations of this unit. I am on a Mac, so every year there is an OS update, and sometimes these updates break things, and sometimes developers cease to release new versions to keep up with the OS changes. That is what I've been told will happen with this unit, probably within a couple of years. After NI stops official support for this product, I will have to be careful with my MacOS updates if I want to keep the integration software working.
That is just a point of consideration for anyone considering this model.
The Komplete Kontrol software is the key to this ecosphere. Installation was easy (worst part was downloading stuff @1.7 mbs/sec).
I cannot help but think the software's potential is under-explored. NKS libraries vary in what they will let you do on the keyboard. One of the main things it does is present presets on the keyboard for a given instrument, but some instruments don't offer their presets on the keyboard, so be aware of that.
The filtering system is also a bit clunky. I can't just access a particular collected instrument, rather have to sort by patch characteristics, and that could be better.
Further, many of the parameters that are shown to be available for modification do not adjust when the knob is moved.
They keyboard itself is excellent, no complaints. Integration with Logic Pro was simple, but limited.
I would buy this keyboard again. I recommend it, but be aware of NI's history of canceling software support.