Novation Launchkey 49 MK4 – 49 key Semi-Weighted, USB, MIDI Keyboard Controller with DAW Integration. Chord & Scale Modes, 8 Drum Pads, & Arpeggiator — Includes Software Bundle for Music Production

This is the smallest keyboard with usable keys, and all the features I need. I had been using a keystep, but found it lacking for fast idea input. It's not terrible, the launchkey mini is just better. It typically costs a little more so that makes sense. I was mad that a regular 3.5mm cable wasn't enough to get it working with a polyend tracker+, but that's polyend's fault for using a dumb midi standard. I needed to make an adapter chain, but I'm good now. I like being able to assign midi channels from settings. I like having the separate pads. I typically dislike mini-keys, but accept them as a compromise to get more keys. These are pretty great. I'm mostly worried about velocity. I use it a lot. This does velocity great. Feels good to use. It's just heavy enough that it doesn't feel cheap, but just light enough it doesn't feel poorly designed. Seems to work with everything I use. The price is fair. Good job Novation. The MK4 mini is a win. If you want extra credit, add a midi mode slider beside the port on the MK5.

I did a lot of measurements before I bought this keyboard controller. All my estimates were off, it's actually smaller than I thought! Perfect for me. I'm trying to make my "mobile command center" fit inside the backpack (pictured above it's the Lenovo hardshell something). As you can see, it fits beautifully. I included pictures in front of a computer screen, next to a 17" laptop, and next to a standard computer keyboard for reference. With the app downloaded, it was plug and play into Waveform Pro, and I imagine any DAW that can read USB MIDI will find the keyboard no problem. In my opinion having played with it and the drum pads is the hardware itself is worth the price and is a great deal. For the negative, it's all to do with the "extras" they bundled with it. "Oh wow, Ableton lite! Multiple expensive instruments! (the Orchestral thing is 300 euro), all for free what a deal!" Every. Single. One of them. Requires you to sign up for a separate account, give full permissions for web tracking, give them your address and purchase info (bank, credit card, paypal), download a separate app because their expensive software doesn't have just a VST plugin. It has to have that software up and running on your computer to work with your DAW, which means potentially Meta (Facebook), Google, and several others I stopped reading in the agreement could be watching everything you do on your computer directly. I started with the Orchestra one and signed up through the whole process before realizing that every other one was a different company and required all the permissions. If you don't mind the EU spying on you along with Big Tech (Yes, the Orchestra instruments one is from Germany and require you to give EU permission to view your data even if you don't live in EU), then the extra software packages are a great deal. But I'm suspicious of anything that goes from 300 Euros to free just cause I bought a keyboard controller and has no VST, no way to download and delete the account. TL;DR It's a great deal, very small, good price, decent quality, but the addons spy on you and require a different account with a different company for every one, and probably a different desktop app as well.

I own 37 , 49 and 61 keys and I must say this is the best midi keyboard controller on the market using Ableton Live and MainStage it’s just so EASY. You’re in control when you Map it to your liking. Use to control everything in MainStage or Ableton and your nightmare is over!!!

In case that you are new with midi controllers, this is an excellent choice. It has nice software included and the look and feel is awesome. I really love the pads and the configurations included. It makes easier to play and create music with it (The drums and chords configuration are a nice feature).

Just received my 61-key MK4. This is my first ever keyboard of this style. Overall build quality is very good. Infinite knobs and faders feel sturdy and well designed. Touchpads also feel very good and responsive with aftertouch. I don't have much experience with this style of keyboard keys, but on first impression the feel of the keys land somewhere in the middle/upper-middle with good responsiveness and weight- definitely useable. I'm going through the online manual and the layout seems pretty straight forward with a lot of built-in features which I do like and plan to use. The compatibility with Ableton seems very good as well- additionally their site states good compatibility with other software which I'd suspect it is. I've yet to update the firmware but that's on my list of things to do. Overall for the price and initial impression, this is a good buy. If I find any issues I will update.

I previously owned the Launchkey 37 MK3, which was a great controller for producing music but not for playing most songs with two hands. After moving, I decided to upgrade to Launchkey 61 MK4 since I finally got big enough desk space for 61 keys. These semi-weighted keys are much better quality in comparison and a lot more pleasant to play. I love using the clip launcher in Bitwig Studio, which is my DAW of choice and has a great support for this controller, despite having some initial difficulties setting it up (see further). The knobs, sliders and DAW controls work great. I daily drive Linux, and it's mostly flawless except for one thing - sometimes the controller is not picked up by the system until I replug it. I use PipeWire and I'm not really sure whether it's a problem with my configuration, but I didn't ever have this issue with MK3. Also, the controller interfaces don't have MIDI and DAW in their names, they are just named "Launchkey MK4 61 Launchkey MK4" and "Launchkey MK4 61 Launchkey MK4 #2" respectively, and Bitwig didn't set them up correctly out of the box, so I had to do some trial-and-error to figure out which is which. In case anyone faces the same issue, the correct order in Bigwig is (see the attached screenshot): 1. Launchkey MK4 61 Launchkey MK4 #2 2. Launchkey MK4 61 Launchkey MK4 3. Launchkey MK4 61 Launchkey MK4 #2 4. Launchkey MK4 61 Launchkey MK4 That said, after performing this initial set up everything works great. Except for the occasional replugging issue that I mentioned above. For this reason, I took 1 star off. By the way, the first thing I did was updating the firmware version, which can be done surprisingly easy via a browser on the Novation Components website, which I didn't expect was even possible. One more minor gripe (though not a dealbreaker) is that this controller doesn’t have a dedicated button to switch between MIDI programs. The MK3 had a "..." button for this, which was useful for quickly changing programs in Qsynth. I should’ve caught this detail in the photos, though, so that’s on me. I'm just a hobbyist producer and piano player, and I'm still a beginner, so I can't yet review more advanced features that this controller supports. Nevertheless, I did a lot of research and this seems to be, at the moment, the best "neutral" controller on the market at this price range. By "neutral" I mean not married to a specific ecosystem like Native Instruments or Arturia, resulting in needless price markups for those who don't need those ecosystem features. So, if you don't mind the issues above (which shouldn't even be issues if you're on Mac or Windows), I'd say go for it!

Best controller I ever had!

Me being new to controllers, I did a solid month of comparisons, researching reviews, unboxing/feature videos, yada yada.... This always seemed to float to the top of everything within budget range. Even with holiday sales factoring in everything, I still bought this at full-price versus cheaper discounted products just due to quality of life perks and features that all seemed to make sense. My only gripe, which was kind of expected, but now realized, is that if you're not using a very popular DAW that is already in mind with auto-configurations from Novation, it may take some time and firmware updates to make everything less glitchy with the manual Remote/override signals. For example, my Reason 13 official integration works perfectly, but I was curious why it wasn't as out-of-the-box feature filled in mapping versus the other DAW integrations such as Ableton utilizing all the knobs and faders. I figured no problem and just manually add them on my own with the auto-learning. The signals between Reason and the hardware are being detected manually, but it is very flaky as of this writing (Jan '24), and a mapped fader for instance, only decides to work intermittently in the editor and playback. It's not a timing or latency issue, since the miniscule few Reason mappings out of the box are working perfectly fine (transport, track change, undo/play/record/stop, quantize and pads). So I'm assuming they ran into the same issues I have with the knobs and faders and decided to work on it more for a (hopefully) future bios/firmware update.

Took me a while to get it working through my SteamDeck (Arch Linux) but with perseverance & divine grace I got there in the end. Kinda pricey too but I've spent money in worse ways ngl. The white and grey keys look as aesthetically pleasing irl as they do in the pictures/videos online. My already thin wallet may have lost considerable weight during this transaction but bwoy I am one happy punter.

The product was received in good condition and is fully functional upon testing it.

Great midi device, works well with Abelton, a lot to learn and as Im new to Abelton and midi controllers Im yet to delve fully into its capabilities. Quite a bit of free downloads and tones of stuff available to buy all purchased, It was initially marked as delivered with me receiving a package for another address and not this item, this was sorted out with a replacement organised to be shipped free of charge. Then the day that the replacement was organised I received the item. Great customer service, took 3-5 days to clear up the undelivered item issue and have a replacement organised free of charged.

A perfect workhorse for the modern producer. It seemlessly works together with Cubase. As a pianist/producer, I found the keys absolutely playable and it's light and travels easily.

It is so apparent that it is a used item. An untidy USB cable and the removal of the screen protective plastic are evidence.