is the MPK 49 a good choice?

i would go for the microsampler
from what i've been reading. or a korg anything for that matter.

i had the mpk 25. fuck that shit. fuck that price. find an OXYGEN8 on craigslist, ebay, or used.guitarcenter.com.

novation xiosynth are real cheap at guitarcenter right now. that doubles as controller and synth. the synth wouldn't be my first choice but it's like the same price as a mpk but with, not one; but two uses. and for a limited time you can have one of these... ok ok just that.

i got one xiosynth25. is a cool controller and it has (some) nice sounds (expecially some basses); for the crappiest sound (the trance house ones...no offence for any trance house head, but...) you can however apply some little synthesis (3 lfo,pitch,fx,mod, arpeggio etc) as well

there you go.
if i get a novation then I will wait for the new nova3 (or whatever it's called) but the xio has crossed my mind before.

if it's only a midi keyboard your after, im waiting until november for the korg microkey, only £89. looks dope. got the same keys as the other "micro" range. however, it is only midi over usb as far as i can tell.

keyboard or midi-keyboard or synthesizer?
yeah, i heard the microkorg or the alesis micron are good synthesizers, don't know much about midi-keyboards, though.