Who actually LIKES their controller keyboard?

Hey everyone,
I'm sure this had been asked a million times before.
As I am finally making steps to getting my controller under control lol, I'm finally feeling like I've made a decent choice in purchasing it. Its an Akai MPK261 btw.
Now, a friend recently got a new PC, an audio interface, Sonar Professional and for the controller, choose a (used) Novation Launchkey MK261.
Personally, I'm feeling like he's made a poor choice in the Novation. (Just like i did with my M-Audio Code61).
We can't even get the Novation to send a MIDI signal to Sonar at all. Let alone try and configure it.
So, without going into details about the Novation, the age old question i want to ask is, what are/is the cool keyboard controllers out there that work well with Sonar? Who out there has found a controller that they feel is a good choice?
I've heard good things about Bheringer...

Mine is an 88 key Fatar I got for a song on clearance some years back.
It has a 5 pin midi which is welcome here and a pitch / mod wheel.
 
I suck most royal on keyboards so naturally I love it.

I use the Alesis Q25. Works like a dream, no fuss, very simple. Pure plug and play. 

I happen to have just picked up 2 new midi controllers - Behringer UMX61 and a Nektar LX61+.
 
Both controllers are great, and are class-compliant so need no drivers installed - they just work.  I will mostly be using these for live performance, but work fine within Sonar, as well.
 
The Behringer was $179, and the Nektar was $199.  
 
Bob Bone

It must not be all one world. I've never had or tried a Launchkey, but, I am very happy with my Novation Impulse 61.
As I recall, the setting up required just plugging it in and turning it on. No drivers to install......simple.  Works perfect with Sonar. The feel of the keyboard is my favorite among controllers.

I have a Native Instruments S61 and I like it. I don't use it for controlling Sonar apart from the transport controls, but its great for knob twiddling on VSTis. Being able to see the parameter name by the knob is very useful.
 
The big plus for me is the light guide indicating key-switch and keyboard zone locations when using Kontakt and Battery. I really miss this when I use EastWest play, I have made some templates but they do not get assigned dynamically like they do with Kontakt.
 
I wish it had an extra octave though, I supplement it with a AKAI LPK25 mini keyboard for key-switches on some instruments.
 
 

I have a Roland A-800PRO keyboard and it works perfectly with Sonar. I guess I was swayed by the fact that Roland owned Cakewalk back when I bought it, so there was this expectation that it would be a perfect match (regardless of how naive that sounds). Besides, it had the best key action of all the keyboards I tried in the store. 
 
I'm not a keyboard player and in fact get a lot of my musical ideas down by recording guitar and then converting to MIDI with Melodyne. But for messing around with synth sounds, or feeling out basic chord or bass ideas, I find it invaluable to have a good controller. The A-800PRO also has great knobs and sliders on it, and some drum pads as well. I also like its hybrid pitch/modwheel controller. 

BassRocket
As I am finally making steps to getting my controller under control lol, I'm finally feeling like I've made a decent choice in purchasing it. Its an Akai MPK261 btw.
Now, a friend recently got a new PC, an audio interface, Sonar Professional and for the controller, choose a (used) Novation Launchkey MK261.
Personally, I'm feeling like he's made a poor choice in the Novation. (Just like i did with my M-Audio Code61).
We can't even get the Novation to send a MIDI signal to Sonar at all. Let alone try and configure it.

We are slowly bringing your MPK 261 to life (for the reference, you already have the functionality close to mentioned A-800, except pads which we will configure as next).
And we can make Launchkey working as well, if it is not physically borken (InControl mode needs special handshake).
It does not have encoders and the worse controls I have ever touched was on Novation Nocturn, but it will work.
Please just be patient.
 
 

Kurzweil MidiBoard w/3.0 S/W here. It's great and I've had it for about a trillion years. It's got every control you can think of and polyphonic and/or mono after-pressure. I love it.
 
Does it feel like a piano? Nothing feels like a piano that I've seen, but it has a very workable feel to it (wooden keys, weighted with literal lead). I pray it never dies, as it's been out of production for about half a trillion years. 

Nearly all have 8 of everything - switches, knobs - and esp. sliders.
 
The famous Hammonds had 9 drawbars, darnit. Hasn't anyone noticed?
 

I really like my M-Audio Code 49 Keyboard.
 
I like the Semi-weighted keybed with aftertouch and four assignable zones
I like the 16 fully assignable backlit drum pads
I use the XY pad
I received a good collection of AIR Music Technology bundled software.
 
Although it has fully assignable controls with Mackie Control and HUI modes, I don't use it to control Sonar, I use a Macike Control Universal for managing Sonar Platinum.  
 
However, I do like using the Faders and knobs to assign to Soft synths in order to control them.

I have a Kurzweil PC3X that I no longer use for live performances (I'm too old, and it's too heavy).  Functions fine as a controller, and more importantly (to me), it has an excellent piano action and an a$$-load of onboard sounds.  Depending on the project, I sometimes get away with just playing all the tracks with Kurz sounds and recording audio (rather than MIDI) in Sonar

Interesting,
I still use my M-Audio Pro 88. It is older but has enough knobs, rotaries and sliders to cover 85-90% percent of what I need for it to control wise. I have been looking at the newer stuff for years, but have not had anything to make me jump ship. Also, my Axiom 61 r2 has been a great standby/stand in when required. 
 
I guess it boils down to what the expectations are. If I am trying to get an idea down, With the mapped controls I can do the transport , control faders, switch banks, use the rotaries for panning and not move from the Pro 88. This has always been "cool" for me. 
 

I'm very happy with my NI Komplete Kontrol S49 (61 keys would be nice, but didn't want to spend the extra $$, plus space is an issue), but really its value is tied to its use with NI products. As mentioned above it works seamlessly with NI Komplete and Maschine, as well as other plugins that support the NKS format. This includes the Arturia V Collection, which I just scored for 60% off regular price (sweet!).
 
It's also a highly configurable standard MIDI controller, so it works well as a control surface in Sonar, but if you don't use NI and/or other supported plugins a lot (I do), there are any number of controllers that offer as much or more, probably for less money too. If you do use NI stuff a lot, I highly recommend it. I had to do a bit of fiddling to get the transport controls working in Sonar (as usual, this forum was a great help), and of course ACT is kind of a pain with just about any controller as far as I can tell. For that I HIGHLY recommend using the various utilities that Azslow has created and generously made available to make your ACT act right.
 
EDIT: I should add that you can manually create NKS presets and parameter mappings for any VSTi plugin, But Native Instruments and other vendors that support NKS work right out of the box.

M audio axiom 49 ... Rarely used these days.