Doepfer MK88 Action vs NI S88 MkII

Just incase anyone else is thinking about this , I switched from MK 88 to the Doepfer built into my desk and I am really happy with it , there is no problem with the velocity scaling or feel which is what I was worried about, and also the weight action is quicker and lighter on the Doepfer!

My goal was to create a more comfortable place to sit more room for my knees and less reaching over the keyboard. It's worked very well best I have ever had.

You mean PK-88 by Doepfer? I have to advice against it. Velocity is unusable and you cannot select any curve. In its current state this keyboard is wasted, although the hardware is pretty good.

In case you want a more thorough explanation, I just recently explained my experience in darauf here:

Wait a second … you really have no problem with the PK-88 velocity response? That is odd! With mine, I don’t get any velocity response under 50 with soft playing. This values I can only get when slowly depressing a key, but it is not achievable within playing music. And in that sense, the lowest part of the velocity response is musically not usable. That means, I have to use a pretty extreme velocity curve in the computer and it leads to less resolution in dynamics. I might be sparked by my Kurzweil Midiboard in the studio, but this seems to me even bad compared to other high quality stage pianos like Yamaha or Roland.

Doesn’t that bother you? Are you a pianist? I am genuinely interested, as I might miss something. But even a Doepfer employee admitted to me that this was not really great and the PK-88 would not reach its full potential.

But congrats on the desk build! It does look quite nice.

Well, two points from me; whether they apply to you or not I don't know. I am basing it on the Doepfer LMK4 + so that right off may mean that my comments are not applicable.

But it's the internet so...

Doepfer LMK4+

1. Velocity sensitivity -- The instrument comes with a manual that, while hard to get through in English, nevertheless offers a very wide range of adjustment curves for sensitivity to velocity. Apart from the global sensitivity curves, you can also alter the sensitivity for the white and black keys; in other words, you can set the black keys so they are more or less velocity sensitive, overall, than the white keys, overall.

2. Even identical models don't feel the same -- I tried three or four in the shop and there was a noticeable difference in the key beds from one instrument (same model) to another. Accordingly, if it's possible, I would audition them yourself to improve the odds of satisfaction.

A Lot of Junk for Sale

I don't know if there is a magic keyboard that's perfect for everyone. I would be glad to pay more and get more. What I certainly found is that keyboards with many features and a low price point had numerous shortcomings -- flimsy controllers, noisy action (clack clack), joysticks or other controllers that start to send random cc data after a while -- all that.

I am happy with the Doepfer I have because it's built solidly and doesn't have those deficiencies. Maybe by now there's something better but I haven't run across it personally.

Good luck!