The Kontrol S keyboards have a fatar keybed..for my 2c its identical to that in the Novation SLII series, ie about as good as you can get.
 
Anyone who is interested should also be checking out the Akai Advance.
 
With its built-in display and agnostic view of VST vendor it looks to be the biz.. 

Thanks Jim, that answered a few remaining questions. If it is a quality controller with Komplete integration that helps with the price issue.

Good info Mystic38, thanks.

If you purchase the Komplete Kontrol now, I believe you qualify for a free copy of Komplete 10... or a half-price upgrade to Komplete 10.  I bought just before this promotion started.     Oh well... I still like unit.
I am looking forward to checking out the Akai Advance.  Sweetwater has the 25-key version in stock.
I'm interested in the 61-key version...
 

Have you checked out the Akai Advanced???  I've heard folks say it kicks NI in the butt and works/mapped with thousands of vsts. Everything I've seen on this thing is pretty revolutionary and while I don't have either yet, it truely seems to just blows the doors off of anything I've ever imagined
 http://www.akaipro.com/microsites/advance/index.php
audio ignite's focus on the integrated browser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG_18CwmZdY
How it all works, including the cross vst browswer from an Akai lady:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH8LYxVqmuE
 
 
 
30 minute funny but real world kick in store walkthru https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZcsbN5RCs4  Lots more polished walkthrus you can check out but I kinda liked this one; just google.  Personally I wouldn't touch the NI thing after seeing the Akai Advanced.  You can bring up "Bass" sounds across all your vsts, "Strings", "mallets", pads, arps, etc, by catagory (across all instruments, or particular plugins).  you can further go into just "legatto" patches within the strings section.... across all libraries.... This is just HUGE!
 
It also allows you to run up to 8 vsts per track, which is also pretty huge. Saving these combos and compiling play/song/set lists... and managing it all from the keyboard or ur monitor... it's just awesome and not just limited to NI... although it includes their products!  I'm saving now... even stuff like Albion and Loom is mapped... Just wish/am hoping for an 88 key version.  Lots of folks pushing for this so I hope it evolves...
 

I was looking at the Akai Advanced but I'm not convinced about it. You still need to go back to your computer and load the VST inside your DAW before it can be loaded by your keyboard, won't you? Otherwise how will it load the VST into the track the way you want it to such as in Sonar, sometimes I want a Simple Instrument Track, sometimes not which means I'd need to have all my tracks preloaded in Sonar anyway and all this would do is scroll through the sample library for me.

Funny that the special offer came along as soon as the AKAI's were on offer..
I notice that NI is being keen to withdraw features so their keyboard gets exclusive functionality. You can't trigger Arp on Maschine for instance unless you go proprietary, so if you are going third party it's worth checking the keyboard has build in functionality to work around it if you are hooking directly into their products, or stick a real DAW in the middle ;) 

Jim, Vastman and others thanks for heads up on Akai Advanced. Having K9U, this seemed like a rather simple decision but the Akai is throwing a monkey into the wrench. Doktor A makes some good points too. I didn't get any answer as fast  as I would have liked, but that is because there is more to consider. Maybe I will get the Akai and duct tape my Kore 2 controller to it.

Bass... I think this is a case of watching everything on each, perusing user forums , and buying with the understanding that you may want to try them both.  If I had the duckets, I'd try the Akai first as they've included many if not all the NI products into their system AND zillions of others, whereas NI has done nothing outside of Komplete.  As I'm saving for Vegas at the moment, this tempting new development isn't on the table for awhile but I was intrigued enough to spend hours watching all the Akai stuff and what I came away with is once it scans ur system and identifies the vsts, it includes all the patches you have.  I assume it would include all my pluginguru omnisphere, fm8, zebra, serum, razor, and massive patches... I got that impression but would love to know.
 
I'm sure I have 10000 arps... would love to access them all from one place. Same for Orchestra stuff... they've got it down to all the different articulations, search wise... that's just tooo cool! 
 
 
 
Then again, if Komplete is all ur thinkin' bout, it's a toss up.  But Akai is more future proof at the moment and it's their big new play in the marketplace.  Imagine they'll keep updating.

I have no real horse in this race. I han't heard of the Akai Advanced before but it sounds like the better choice for the reasons people have pu out there.