S61mk2 keyboard and Komplete

Ha! Oddly enough, I bought one of these two weeks ago, Peter. I got the S61mk2, just like you’ve mentioned in your thread title.

It’s a good MIDI keyboard with transport controls, and you can mix DAW levels and that kind of thing on the fly very easily (probably not in Luna, but it’s flawless in Logic).

The Komplete Kontrol plugin acts like a shell, and you can load up just about any instrument within it. If the instrument is NKS-ready (and lots are - not just NI plugins), it’ll actually show up on the local screens on the keyboard itself. You can also chain effects after the instrument right within the Komplete Kontrol plugin - again, it’s easiest if the plugin in question is NKS-ready (all Waves are, all U-he are, some Softube are, etc.)

In my book, the biggest benefit is that when I’ve been using it the past couple weeks, it’s enabled me to stop looking at the computer screen so much and just play and compose. As you get used to the system, it becomes more possible to not even reach for a mouse or computer keyboard while working on parts that you would play with a keyboard.

A couple interesting caveats:
First, you don’t actually even have to use the NI hardware to use the Komplete Kontrol plugin. Once you’ve got everything installed, the plugin doesn’t care if you’re using an NI keyboard. After a week or so with the S61, I tried putting my Nord Electro in its place, and I picked up a MIDI controller with faders, transport, etc. to see if I could program it to work just like the S61. It turns out it’s mostly possible, but not nearly as elegant, and I end up fiddling around with controls a lot more than I did with the NI keyboard.

The other thing that’s got me a little stuck is that I think I would actually just like to have the S88mk2 for the keyboard feel. I just prefer a weighted key action when I’m playing piano parts. In a perfect world, I could see a place for both an S88 and either an S49 or S61, though, b/c the S61 is possibly the best synth action keybed I’ve ever played. The problem? The S88mk2 is fecking HUGE. It wouldn’t fit under my desk. I wish NI either made a 73-key version, or moved the pitch and mod wheels to the top or something to save space.

Anyway, feel free to ask me anything specific. I found it quite difficult to understand how it all worked until I had it sitting in front of me. But within a couple hours of playing with it, I thought it was just absolutely brilliant. For the most part, it works exactly how you think it should. The light guide is super cool, and there are dozens of scales/modes you can select and force the keyboard to only play notes in the specific scale, etc. Very, very, very cool.
The integration between hardware and software is probably the best I’ve ever seen.

EDIT: to answer one of your questions more specifically, I just bought the keyboard with no extra software - I mean, it always comes with the Komplete Kontrol and a few sound libraries, but I didn’t add on anything else extra. I already owned Kontakt and several Kontakt libraries. I had no idea my various Waves stuff would integrate into the keyboard automatically.

That's the thing: Once you start getting used to this way of working, owning more than one doesn't feel senseless at all. Instead, it feels like you're extending your studio desk - You can have what feels like another workstation several feet away, but it's all based around an instrument.

Yeah, that makes total sense - I understand what you’re asking regarding changing the octave but keeping the keys reserved for switching intact. There are indeed octave up and down buttons on the left, and they’re quick and easy to access on the fly. I haven’t tried the exact thing you’re asking with key switches, but I can check tomorrow. I would think it would *have* to work the way you’re guessing, though, because otherwise you’d lose the ability to hit key switches if you’re in a higher octave, which would be crazy weird.

Kontakt Player is the free version, and there are indeed quite a few 3rd party instruments that work with it. And if it works in Player, it’ll be fully integrated on the keyboard. I bought the full version of Kontakt late last year because some of the libraries I was interested in only work with the paid version of Kontakt, not just the Player.

After your question earlier, I went and looked, and it actually came with quite a bit more software than I realized - I just haven’t installed all of it yet. A couple of packs for Maschine (which I know nothing about) and other stuff.

I’ve become a big fan of Spitfire stuff over the last couple of years, and of course all that stuff is integrated perfectly. As is all Arturia stuff.

Hot dang I might just do it - I mean you’re right, they’re two different instruments: a great 61 key synth controller and a weighted 88 key piano controller, why NOT have both but with the shared features of the product line?

The S88 is good enough for Hans Zimmer and the S61 for Stargate, after all.

I picked up the original KK S25 with Komplete 11 used a few years back and it's been handy as a second right hand sound bank in pit orchestras covering the odd pedal steel or vibes chart. Otherwise it lives adjacent to the console as an overdub spice rack.

thanks for the reply

cheers

Wiz

All right, wiz.

It took a lot longer to figure out than I would’ve thought - I’m very glad to have learned, though.

The answer, however, is not a very satisfying one. The best I can figure is that the answer is “it depends on how the specific library was put together.”

I can say for sure that the keyswitches do not travel with you automatically as you page up the octaves. Some developers, such as Spitfire, include a feature where you can move the keyswitches to where you want them on the keyboard. But not all developers seem to have that feature. If you have a MIDI controller, some of them will allow you to assign buttons to the MIDI notes that are occupied by the keyswitches. That would be one way to do what you’re hoping to achieve. The Studiologic Mixface, for instance, will let you do this.

Another thing I noticed tonight is that the lights above the keys assigned to keyswitches default to red. So you can move the octaves up and down and always quickly see if you’re at an octave that includes the keyswitches. That doesn’t make them available all the time, of course, but at least you have quick visual feedback of where you are, and what you need to do to get down to where the keyswitches are.

Hope that all makes sense.