03-15-2022, 07:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-15-2022, 01:27 PM by Mattias Westlund.)
Last year I bought myself a new MIDI controller since my Oxygen 61 3rd Gen had been deteriorating for a long time and no attempts at fixing it had any lasting effect. I kept having to redo the graphite trick every six months or so, and finally I said screw it, let's just get a new one.
My choice fell on a Nektar SE61 as I wanted something more basic than the Oxygen (in the 12 years I had it, I made use of the knobs and sliders only once or twice), and it appeared to have generally favorable reviews. When I got it, I immediately realized the keybed felt weird. The keys were sort of hard and springy. I figured it was just going to take some getting used to, so I kept it anyway.
Well, I didn't get used to it. And by the time I knew it wasn't going to happen, it was too late to return it. I begrudgingly abided the damn thing for a while, looking for some better option. I didn't want to spend even more money without having a chance to try before buy, and the local music store had nothing in stock that caught my fancy.
Then a couple of days ago a Yamaha MX49 showed up on Facebook Marketplace for around $200. I went over to the seller's place to check it out last night, and as you can see, I liked it:
![[Image: IMG_20220315_053633.jpg]](http://mattiaswestlund.net/misc/IMG_20220315_053633.jpg)
Sure, it has only 49 keys, but it plays really nice. Since I'm not doing much orchestral work anymore, my need for a 61-key controller has lessened anyway. The MX49 being an actual synth rather than just a controller is a nice bonus too. It has a ton of high quality patches from the Motif range as well as some excellent built in effects; it even functions as an audio interface, though I have no intention of using it for that as it has only line-level inputs.
So, yeah. Quite a nice find I would say
My choice fell on a Nektar SE61 as I wanted something more basic than the Oxygen (in the 12 years I had it, I made use of the knobs and sliders only once or twice), and it appeared to have generally favorable reviews. When I got it, I immediately realized the keybed felt weird. The keys were sort of hard and springy. I figured it was just going to take some getting used to, so I kept it anyway.
Well, I didn't get used to it. And by the time I knew it wasn't going to happen, it was too late to return it. I begrudgingly abided the damn thing for a while, looking for some better option. I didn't want to spend even more money without having a chance to try before buy, and the local music store had nothing in stock that caught my fancy.
Then a couple of days ago a Yamaha MX49 showed up on Facebook Marketplace for around $200. I went over to the seller's place to check it out last night, and as you can see, I liked it:
Sure, it has only 49 keys, but it plays really nice. Since I'm not doing much orchestral work anymore, my need for a 61-key controller has lessened anyway. The MX49 being an actual synth rather than just a controller is a nice bonus too. It has a ton of high quality patches from the Motif range as well as some excellent built in effects; it even functions as an audio interface, though I have no intention of using it for that as it has only line-level inputs.
So, yeah. Quite a nice find I would say
