Novation Remote 49SL Compact

Good build quality, and good action. Not a flimsy feel to any of it. The LED screen is lighted well, and is ample sized for showing your Authomapping activities. I am not all that experienced with programming "templates" that control softsynths and sequencers, so I am coming from a position of, perhaps, laziness. I am also something of a product maven--can see problems and hypes and goodness. There is no doubt, goodness-wise Automap is very powerful. But the power, and not the touted ease of use, creates an obtuse task, trying to decipher how exactly to "allow" Automap to make things easy on you. Most tutorials from Novation Inc are descriptions and reiterations of the product's features--but I know the features. I need a step by step insturction on how to use it. IMO, one should not buy any Novation product simply because it, and no other brand of keyboard, comes with Automap--unless one is already an advanced MIDI-controller template programmer. I do not see that Automap will save you any effort, because it is not in fact "auto", but requires its own learning curve. While this is inevitable, it also, to some degree, obviates the very identity--reason for being--of the product. Very disappointed, and am thinking of selling it. Regret not buying the Xio synth for my needs--I am a keyboard player, not a programmer.
The keybaord itself gets an 8, the Automap software gets a 10 for potential and a 4 for out-of-the-box usability.

This is a basically good product and I am more or less happy with the buy. But I say that with some resignation. The Automap feature isn't the "reason" you should get a Novation with "Automap", unless you know Automap will linkto and control your particular "host"--all the biggies which cost a lot of money, such as rRason, Cubase, Sonar, Ableton. Maybe in the future Automap will become more "universal", like the VST codec is, or even MIDI--maybe it really will become plug and play. But Automap is not plug and play with any "host" I use--Acid, Mixcraft.

The action is good, not great. A bit too springy, and I say this as a pianist whose strong fingers know a good action when they feel one. The springs slightly inhibit flow, but are better than too little resistence. Perhaps one needs pneumatic type resistence, that is, gradated.

The overall fit and finish is very good, not quite excellent--out of the box there is a slight clicking noise when the pitch bend is first moved, even a 32th of an inch. The noise comes from the pitchbend spring inside clicking against its mooring (an educated guess). Obviously this isnt a MIDI issue, wont show up in the "mix", but in my experience this kind of structural flaw foretells of future problems with the product--time will tell; I use the pitch bend a lot.

I was motivated to buy the keyboard in part by the "X-cite Pack" of software included, but, except for the Arturia synth am not happy with it. Ableton Live Lite 6 is no good, not at all--here's why. The "lite" version will not allow more than one VST instrument--outside of Ableton's included VSTi's-- to load. So, for example, you cannot use the Arturia synth--unles just one instument. This is Ableton's mealy-mouthed way of "inspiring" you to buy their overpriced "flagship" version of Live.

To be sure, Live Lie comes with its own set of VSTi's, but I highly recommend avoiding buying this product--for sale on its own--because any company which, from the get-go, up-sells you before you even get their product out of the box, so to speak isnt worth using. Havent you had enuf of that upsell BS? Abletone Live Lite is little more than a working DEMO.

I recommend that Novation ONLY pack bona fide programs that STAND ALONE and dont require a 2 or 3 hundred dollar upgrade to be considered trustworthy of metting your studio's needs. I have, then, un-installed Ableton Live Lite--it's expensive progenitor is obviously a powerful innovative interface for recording music, but the "lite" version, due to its inherent DEMO nature as, basically, a walking advertisement for its thus unafflicted (or is it?) parent , and renders it, in a word, garbage. Whenever you get a whiff of the Big Up-Sell, move on,if possible. Throw the POS out. Your choices, granted will become limited. Listen, I have no "ax to grind", and if my dwelling on this issue--midst a keyboard "review"-- seems like a digression, the included software bundle with a keyboard is always a factor in my decision for buying, and the X-Cite bundle, 20-20 hindsightly, is not worth the effort.