Review of the Novation 61 Key SL MkII
I’ve had my SL MkII keyboard for over a week now and I have to say, it is the best controller keyboard I’ve owned or played. It has brought back the joy of programming my soft synth patches.
The software brain of the controller, Automap Pro (at writing, version 3.2) is phenomenal at using Reason and handling Ableton Live. It’s also a joy to work with some of my VSTi’s such as Rob Papen’s Predator, although I reassigned some of its parameters to my liking. The included Bass Station VST is a nice bonus. The fact that I can configure any parameter on any MIDI compatible device and save it as template washes away any hassle of complicated configuration that I’ve experienced with other controllers.
The touch sensitive controllers took a short while to get use to. Any metal encoder or fader will “focus” the 144-character display to that parameter at the slightest touch of your fingers. Also, you have the ability to have Automap automatically popup in your computer’s display as a semi-transparent window as you adjust to get an instant overview of assigned parameters. The Speed Dial knob will automatically map to any knob you have in focus in the DAW.
Other things I enjoy about this controller include the x/y touchpad (works wonders with cutoff/frequency filters!) and the aftertouch, which is quite firm. I like the option of hooking up an expression pedal, although I haven’t tried it yet. The second MIDI out port which will come in handy when I buy that rack synth I have my eye on. And even with all the LEDs and display, Novation has kept the controller bus powered. Amazing.
The feel of the semi-weighted keys is quite spectacular. Even without the gazillion other features the SL has, I would almost pay the same amount of money for just the keys. They feel solid and seem to made out of a tougher plastic than other controllers I’ve played on. The keys feel like they can take quite a bit of abuse. The construction of the entire controller itself feels solid and substantial.
The small gripes I have are inconsequential. The endless encoders feel strange, like it takes more or less rotation than necessary to change values. The LED rings around the encoders are a bit useless (although really cool looking). They don’t convey the actual value in sort of meaningful way. Plus, from a seated position, the top LEDs in the ring are hidden behind the knob - so you do have to lean over the keyboard to see them. It doesn’t matter anyway, since the actual value is in the display above it. The display itself is rather small for my liking. The way it truncates the parameter names takes getting used to - I find myself using the Automap heads up display instead.
All in all, this is a wonderful controller. I’m glad I bought it.