Alesis V49 | A Comprehensive Keyboard Review

In this article, we'll be taking an in-depth look at the Alesis V49 USB MIDI Controller and the top features buyers count as essential or desirable in a MIDI controller to see how the Alesis V49 stacks up. We will also compare the Alesis V49 to other similar products in its price range to check which one delivers the best overall value.  

The Alesis V49 is a MIDI controller, driven and powered through a USB port. The V49 is manufactured by Alesis, a U.S.-based company that is part of the inMusic stable of brands of audio and musical equipment.

When the Alesis V49 was released in 2014, it was touted as a step forward toward design simplicity, ease of use, and affordability. These characteristics are shared by nearly all Alesis products since the beginning of the company back in the 1980s.

Before we look at the features and specs of the V49, let's see in short what a MIDI controller is and does, and what basic features buyers are looking for, especially in this price range —i.e. the lower end one.

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a data standard that breaks down audio and other information into events that can then be beamed to various devices that can control the output. A MIDI control device, such as the Alesis V49, can send parameters such as notation, pitch, velocity, vibrato, and many others to another MIDI device or to a sequencer for recording and further processing.

The thing to remember when you see a MIDI keyboard is that without a connection to another device or some form of output, the keyboard itself will not make any sound. It is not a digital piano, even though it looks like one, so it cannot produce music on its own.

At its most basic, a MIDI keyboard usually offers:

In some MIDI keyboards, the number of keys may be as large as 88—the same number in a piano—and the key “actions” can be of varying sensitivities and weights to mimic the action and effects of real piano keys, which make louder, sharper sounds the harder and more quickly they are being pressed. Also, there should usually be many more programmable controls on a larger keyboard.

Now, let's look at the features and specs of the Alesis V49.

The Alesis V49 offers the basic features of a MIDI keyboard but includes some additional components that can make it useful not only as a home studio input device but even as a live performance instrument.

The Alesis V49's basic features most users are after include 49 full-sized, square-front keys with synth action, ten basic assignable buttons and knobs, and pitch and modulation wheels. The keyboard also includes eight velocity- and pressure-sensitive back-lit pads for beat production or launching clips. Also, there is a port for a foot pedal, which can send or sustain data or other MIDI signals.

In addition, popular production software Ableton Live Lite 9 is available as a free download.

We've picked a few similar products available on the market to see how they compare.     

Conclusion

All the MIDI controllers we've examined will reliably interface with a computer and appropriate software and beam those MIDI signals that will be shaped into music. The differences in devices like these brought up by advanced users may seem fairly esoteric to beginners. For instance, the “feel” of the keys may not be as much of an issue if a person has never learned to play on an acoustic piano. But key “sensitivity” and “velocity” are important issues even to players who are solely trained on MIDI keyboards.

Also, drum pad and control buttons and sliders have increasingly become expected parts of the MIDI keyboard layout, so just having an array of responsive, weighted, piano-like keys is not always going to be enough to justify a price in the opinion of many buyers.

While the Alesis V49 is a really good value for the price, in our comparison, the Akai Professional MPK249 was the best all-around value, with the highest rating  (4.6/5 stars).