Ableton Forum

I've heard that sometimes novation products are a little buggy at first, but what's the current status of the remote 25sl regarding stability and performance??

There is no consensus on the Novation SL.

In terms of bugginess, however, I find no problems really.

NO problems here. I have a 37SL.

well it looks like the concensus is 'not any problems to speak of'

i also have the sl37. love it

whats up with the sL 37, why'd you choose that over the 25? just curious

It has a built in slicer!

Sorry, I would skim through the beta forum, and see what people have posted about the SL25, it looks rather promising, and some things such as fader jumps have been addressed. I can't wait to try the beta.

will do.

I kind of have my mind made up on the novation just can't decide whether to get 25, 37, or 61

I bought the two octave since I have other keys....

See if you can physically hold one first, it's larger than it seems. Automap is great but it's also being implemented in other devices. From what I know the SL series is the only one to offer text info on what you're controlling. Non-Automap mode is pretty cool too, you can layer templates, so, for example, the sliders can be level, send levels etc, 'any number' of things you want them to be. I'm not a keys player but the 25 version is a bit limiting. 25 keys is two octaves of notes but it's really only 1 octave of playability unless you're playing in 'C' (limit yourself to 25 keys on your own keyboard and play a bit).

The keys feel great, drum pads are too tight (I prefer to drum with keys), nothing feels as good as MPC pads. It's great to have a USB powered device. The LCDs have a somewhat narrow field of view and they all come with lines on them to one degree or another. Editing is very easy with the software and without a computer. Novation and Ableton have been *GREAT* at responding to customer concerns, there used to be some 'squeaky wheel' users but everyone seems happy now.

Live 6 implementation is great, 3 different modes for knob movement (pickup, jump and scale if I remember right). With Live 6 coming out you'll be spending more money soon, budget it out.

I don't know if there's anything out there with keys that feel as good as the SL that's USB powered and automaps.

I always end my SL25 reviews with a mad shoutout to my BCR, best bang per buck ratio of anything I've ever bought, except maybe a 24 pack of condoms. The BCR also automaps.

hth.

DeadlyKungFu wrote: best bang per buck ratio of anything I've ever bought, except maybe a 24 pack of condoms. The BCR also automaps.

Yeah, make sure you have condoms first!!! Otherwise, you might automultiply!

If you are deciding between an SL25 or an SL37, I will tell you this: I find my SL25 keys to be rather stiff, unlike most novation keyboards I've played, which feel absolutely perfect. And when I popped into a local music store a while ago and felt the keys of an SL37, guess what, they felt perfect.

I don't know what's up there, and really I don't mind my keys on the SL25, but I wish they felt like the SL37. I just wanted it as small as possible as I already have a bigger midi keyboard.

grb

DeadlyKungFu wrote: From what I know the SL series is the only one to offer text info on what you're controlling.

Not the Korg Microkontrol & kontrol 49 too?

Yeah, but you're limited to what text you can use with the Korg stuff. You can define your own text with the Novations.

Tarekith wrote:Yeah, but you're limited to what text you can use with the Korg stuff. You can define your own text with the Novations.

That is irrelevant in native mode (similar to automap mode) as the host tells it what to display and it can be anything. Otherwise, yes it is limited to certain parameters in normal control mode, but the list is so big I haven't ever had problems in finding one that suits whichever parameter.