Of course the best 61 key controller is the one that Christian (@FantomXR) built for me 
Before that, I was using the Akai MPK 249 quite happily - the somewhat shorter keys werenât really an issue, the keybed feels really solid and trustworthy (unlike the Alesis VI 49, which just felt too âcheapâ). The spring-loading of the keys is something to get used to - thatâs to me the key difference between synth keyboards. For the Akai, the spring-load is a middle-ground - tight-ish, but not too hard.
What I really like about the Akai are the backlit (!) pads with customizable colors and the faders, pots and buttons (fully assignable). You have four banks of pads and controls, so tons of options. If I hadnât invested in Christianâs custom-build, I would probably have moved to MPK 261 for my upper keyboard.
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Torsten