Joy, Joy Joy!!!
 
I keep hoping one of these pops up on Stupid Deal of the Hour today! 
 
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid
 

Cheers Zargg, still have to register my Air Mini 25 so evidently it isn't showing in my account yet ;)

Just noticed a 20% off promotion on the Alesis VX49 at Musician's Friend. Appears quite similar to the AKAI Advance 49, with the onboard VIP patch display.
 
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboards-midi/alesis-vx49-49-key-keyboard-controller
 
I found this when I tried to see if I could apply another discount code that I received by email.  That didn't work, but this popped up automatically.
 
Don't know how long this deal lasts, but you can pick this up for about $320 with the discount in the cart.  So with the list price at $100 less than the AKAI, and with the promotion it runs a bit less than the $499 that the Akai lists for.

Dude... Amazon has this for $242 right now. I don't know why. I just ordered one. I figure it's Amazon I can probably return it if I don't like the integration anyway haha. Only a few left in stock.
 
EDIT: By "This" i mean the Alesis VX 49 mentioned in the comment above me.

The Akai Advance and the Alesis have the same screen.

polarbear
Dude... Amazon has this for $242 right now. I don't know why. I just ordered one. I figure it's Amazon I can probably return it if I don't like the integration anyway haha. Only a few left in stock.
 
EDIT: By "This" i mean the Alesis VX 49 mentioned in the comment above me.

Thanks for the heads up, dude!  Only 2 left in stock, so I grabbed one too!  This is like a stupid deal!!! 

VX49 (with VIP 3.0) first impressions:
 
Just received my new Alesis VX49 yesterday.  First impressions are good.  It's very solid for a plastic keyboard, at least as good as the ol broke-ass M-Audio Axiom 49 I am now replacing (couple of broken sliders, and several pads quit working, but the keys are still solid - for sale, cheap!!!).
 
I already owned the instruments included with the software bundle, so the VIP v3.0 software was the big attraction for me.  It also came with a copy of Ableton Live Lite.  For those that don't already have the AIR instruments, it comes with Xpand!2, Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro, Loom, Velvet, and Transfuser.  Also has the Eighty-Eight Ensemble piano from Sonivox.  All good stuff!
 
I have just finished the first pass through scanning my VSTs into the VIP software, and I am favorably impressed with the number of synths that it was able to import patches for.  Obviously all of the AIR stuff works, as well as most of the Sonivox, except for the recent singles instruments.
 
The good news is that it also integrated fine with the AAS Player, SynthMaster 2, SampleTank 3, the free TAL synths, the free u-he synths that I have, including Tyrell and Zebralette.  It also picked up the demos of Diva and Zebra 2.
 
Not much luck with most of the Cakewalk synths, except for a big surprise with z3ta+ classic!!!  That is one synth that really needs an updated browser.  Now it has one!!!
 
I would say that the VIP software is fully functional, even without the integrated keyboard.  The fact that you can browse across your VST instrument collection for a particular sound is powerful.  What's the use of having 10.000+ patches if you can't see what you have.  This VIP software really tags and bags it for you!
 
One good example is if you choose the style "atmospheric", it will highlight all of the synths in your collection that have imported patches with that characteristic.  Very cool!!!  I just love having the thousands of sounds in SampleTank and SynthMaster at my fingertips, not to mention all of the cool sounds in all of the AIR instruments, including Structure! 

I'M glad it is starting out positive. I have had mine for 2 years now and I wouldn't want to be without it. I never had any luck with ACT and this was a breath of fresh air. One thing to star with: in lower right corner on comp monitor you will see a gear symbol. click on and select "do not allow duplicate patch" or what ever it is called. I check every once in a while since it got unselected somehow a few times. You will be glad you did. You don't need 37,000 patches and half are dupes. Trust me.  

Sure wish VIP would also work on older M-Audio Axioms.

BassDaddy
I'M glad it is starting out positive. I have had mine for 2 years now and I wouldn't want to be without it. I never had any luck with ACT and this was a breath of fresh air.

Thanks for the feedback! There is a little bit of learning curve, but it's mostly intuitive.
 
I think this setup makes a nice companion to my A-300PRO.  That works well with the Sonar GUI using ACT (with the supplied Sonar ACT plugin, it performs like a dedicated device), as in transport control, channel faders, solo, mute, arm, etc., but dealing with plugins was too fiddly for me.  Stayed with MIDI learn for most of that stuff, as necessary, but it could get messy.
 
Dedicating one controller to Sonar, and another one to plugins makes perfect sense to me!