I needed a smaller keyboard for my home studio and this "fits the bill". In combination with the Novation ZeR0 SL MkII I have COMPLETE control of the DAWs -I use Record & Live). By itself, it does a great job as a controller. I'm very familiar with Automap and the nocturn is designed with Automap in mind -it requires it. Construction is rock solid, with impressive quality of the keys. For the price, I was not expecting such a nice keyboard. The drum pads are OK, perfect for triggers, not so much for beats. If you use ProTools, I would go with M-Audio, but for Reason, Record or Live, this is a sweet compact keyboard controller. I give it a 4+, if the drum pads were better, it would be a 5.
