Nektar, 25-Key Midi Controller (IMPACT LX25+)

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Nektar

Nektar, 25-Key Midi Controller (IMPACT LX25+)

Regular price: €242,00
Sale price: €242,00
Regular price: ~~€400,00~~
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Description

Premium midi controller with 25 expressive synth-action keys, on-board pitch bend and modulation wheels for performances
8 Hyper-Sensitive backlit pads
Mac, PC and iOS compatible
Software instruments automatically mapped to controls
Includes Bitwig 8-Track DAW

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Customer Reviews

Pretty neat! Keys feel good to me as a ...Considering its price, I can't help but give this little board 5 stars. I'm no pianist, but having a MIDI controller on my desktop in my home studio is really handy to drive drums, synths, samplers, etc. It even has transport controls on it, which would be even cooler if I didn't already have a FaderPort for that set of functions.It immediately made friends with Reaper (after a download/install from Nektar's website), allowing me to use the transport controls and the fader as if it were a control surface. Pretty neat!Keys feel good to me as a non-pianist. The drum pads feel good and sturdy as well. Knobs all feel good, although they're definitely in that budget-gear range of quality. The housing itself is sturdy, but plastic. The mod and pitch wheels offer an acceptable amount of resistance, and the transport buttons feel about the same as my FaderPort, which means they're just "fine".One thing that I have to commend Nektar for is the inclusion of a full-color, full-size user manual that goes into detail about every function that this keyboard is capable of. That's becoming way too rare these days, so I really appreciate the extra effort that they put into the manual for an entry-level piece of gear.5Seems Ok So Far UPDATE: GARBAGE!The first thing I wanted to note is that the shipping from Amazon on this was pretty uncharacteristic. It came shipped without any protection at all. It was exactly as it would have been sitting on a shelf in a store. It had one wrap of tape around the circumference of the box, but the box opened at the top. Not sure what that was supposed to do. Anyone could have opened it up at any point without so much as a seal to break. It also arrived looking like a return and not a new item. ...anyway, on to the actual item.It's working fine. I'm just starting to put together a little home studio so my needs were simple. I have it connected to a MacBook Pro running High Sierra. I'm using Garageband for the moment and it's working fine. Once I installed the set of drivers it mapped to the transport controls which is nice. Overall I like it but the actual keys feel a little cheap imo. I'm a guitar player not a keyboard player so take my opinion on the action of the keys with a grain of salt. I think the unit will hold up to what I'll use it for just fine, but if you were a real performer I don't think you'd be impressed with the keyboard. The velocity curve seems off too. It's kind of on/off. That's probably tune-able somewhere, but by default it either registers a key press as about 20 or 90 to 100. It doesn't do much in between and you'd have to hit pretty hard to get anything over 100. (midi velocity event values) At the moment, subtle performance isn't its forte. (mine either so I guess it's ok)I'm not unhappy, but I would be curious to compare this with the other units in this price range in person. I choose it mostly for the dedicated transport keys. I really do like that.UPDATE: I used this very lightly for about a month. I had to take down my recording space so it sat protected on a shelf for awhile. Now I'm trying to use it and a black key is getting pressed every time the white key next to it is pressed!!! It's pretty much unusable now. I was wrong, it's a total piece of trash!1great MIDI controller for the beginner and enthusiast alikeI am not a professional musician, though I do gig a bit, nor am I a pianist, so consider this review within that context. That said, I really love this MIDI controller. I was originally going to go with the AKAI MPK mini, which is quite a bit more transportable, but this won me over for a couple of reasons:- it has full-sized keys- it integrates rather seamlessly with most DAWs (I mainly use GarageBand--told you, I'm not a professional--but have toyed around with Cubase and Bitwig)- it can be powered by an iPad with the appropriate Lightning to USB adapterI also considered the Novation Launchkey 25, but it was bigger and more expensive.I mainly bought it around to "doodle" on, but also to do note entry in Finale. It works well for all of these, and due to it's relatively small size, I can pretty much bring it anywhere. It easily connects to both my iPad and my Mac, with little to no configuration required.The only cons I have experienced are minor:- it would be nice if the keys were piano weighted, but that would make it heaver, obviously- the keys themselves are a bit wiggly, but operate wellOverall all, though, this is a great controller, and great bang for the buck.5Prongs of the USB out are too malleable; stopped workingThis was a great controller - while it worked.My problem with this, however, is that the metal prongs of the USB connection are SUPER flimsy. If you disconnect the USB wire even just once or twice - even if you do it super carefully, the prongs get warped, and there's no coming back; it'll stop working. Big waste of money.You might think - "whatever, it'll work for me! It has good reviews!" and I'm sure it will, and everything will be happy and good, and you'll be making the music you want to make. And one day, when you unplug the USB wire, and plug it back in, boom: it's ruined. Forever. $$$ down the drain. And all those good reviews from the people who reviewed the thing before it broke on them, and are too busy to come back and change their reviews - all that doesn't matter anymore. You're out $$$. Super disappointing. Nektar: construct this product better, or give refunds.2I don't know a good keyboard from a bad one yetFirst off, I'm a novice. I don't know a good keyboard from a bad one yet, nor am I a very experienced musician in any way. That said, this review might help if you are in the same boat as me.What I liked: - It has a boxy, simplistic, and somewhat retro aesthetic to it. - The buttons and knobs feel solid and responsive. - Despite all of its features, it was fairly easy to learn how to use it. - It's fairly lightweight. - Setup in FL Studio 20 for Windows 10 took all of 30 seconds. - Price seems more than fairWhat I didn't like: - I feel like there could be a better layout for the buttons, but it's not bad. It's just not how I'd choose to arrange them. - The same lightweight feel also makes it feel a bit hollow and cheap in certain places. - The keys, wheels, and slider don't feel as high quality as the buttons, pads, or knobs. None of them felt terrible, but I like consistency.Other Thoughts:It ended up being too big for me to make it portable, but doesn't have enough keys to play some of the stuff I want to, so I'm returning it for the LX61+. I figure that'll be enough for a permanent home use midi, and I'll look elsewhere for a much smaller and simpler midi to take on the go. Only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the inconsistency in build quality.4Good price, bad keys.This is an okay controller overall, but I returned it due to the stiff keys. I have been playing piano, synths and other keyboards for over 40 years. I have played on instruments from ultra-cheap Casio keyboards to grand pianos, but I have never played such stiff keys. Playing this keyboard is almost an unpleasant chore, requiring too much force for comfort or finess. So, the keys are the deal breaker for me. I returned this unit and spent more than double the price for a 25 key controller with semi-weighted keys and after-touch. Some other things that make this a less desirable unit are: no standard midi in/out ports, only one 1/4 inch expression/pedal port, and minimal software is included. On the plus side: this controller worked well with Logic, my DAW of choice, although advanced midi control setup looked daunting as it required the use of various keyboard keys to change settings. The pads worked okay, but there are no dedicated patch selectors for them. Changing the patches requires 2 hands: one to press the shift button and another to press a pad to select the patch. The unit looks good, feels solid, and the controls move smoothly. This controller might suit the casual user or the new player, but I can t recommend it for continual use.3Well built but not perfectI purchased the Nektar Impact LX25+ MIDI controller based on reports that it would integrate well with Reaper, my DAW of choice. Some aspects of this turned out to be true, some not. I cannot speak for integration with other DAWS, but can report the following observations:SETUP - A printed manual is included. No setup CD is included with the hardware. After setting up an online account with Nektar I was able to download and run the program to integrate my keyboard with Reaper. Many other DAWs can be implemented, and Nektar will send you the setup program for the one you need, if available.As for the initial Reaper / MIDI controller integration software, the setup was easy. Some aspects worked very well, some poorly. The transport controls matched perfectly with Reaper, as did the matching of the rotary faders with channel faders in Reaper when in 'mixer" mode. Unfortunately, the linear fader does not control the master fader in Reaper unless shift is held down, a two handed process. Otherwise it controls the active channel fader, (that channel is already being controlled by a rotary fader, so what's the point)? Anyway, no controlling the master fader while playing, a drawback.The controller was able to step up and down through tracks seamlessly, but stepping through presets only worked with some VSTs. This is more likely a problem with the individual VSTs, rather than with Reaper or Nektar, but it is nonetheless annoying.Assigning pads to drum patches is pretty well implemented, and the pads can also be assigned as switches (e.g. Mute, Solo, etc.) Again, some of these assignments involve the "shift" button, making them two handed opertions and handicapping their usefulness while playing.Supposedly, the rotary faders were pre-set to work with the most commonly needed controls on VST instruments. This turned out to be untrue. Oscillator cutoff, resonance, LFO controls and other reral-time adjustments were almost never affected by the initial pre-loaded settings. Most faders seemed to be preset to the ADSR adjustments of envelopes on every VST I loaded. These are not adjustments I usually make while playing. The procedure for re-assigning the controls to more useful settings is not intuitive, and there is a lag of several seconds before the reasignment takes place, making it a slow operation.Again, the above observations were for the integration with Reaper ... operation with your DAW may be different.The keyboard action was fine for a controller in this low price range. Pitch bend wheel self-centered well and both wheels operated ok. The octave and transpose stepping buttons can also be easily reassigned to use to change between four banks of controller settings, a nice touch. The pads seem a bit stiff, but will probably "loosen up" and the rotary knobs and control buttons have a sturdy feel to them.The display is only three digits and three dots, so it can be difficult to understand. Some settings are retained when the unit is shut down, and some need to be saved with SYSEX and reloaded when needed. Reaper handles SYSEX very well, so it is not a problem for my use. Check your DAW for SYSEX operation. Simple free MIDI utilities can also handle SYSEX easily.The controller is not a compact unit, having full sized keys and quite a bit of spacing around controls. It may take up more workspace than anticipated, so check the dimensions. I don't consider this a defect ... I appreciate having room around the controls, but be aware of this if your workspace is limited.Bonus software: Much ado about literally nothing:I had to register with Bitwig to receive a free version of Bitwig 8-Track. This software DAW seems to be a severely cippled Ableton Live Lite clone. Maybe it is just not my cup of tea, but I'm not a looper, and constant nagging pop-ups for upgrade resulted in my un-installation of the program within minutes.The controller also came with a limited time offer of Steinberg PadshopPro, a granular synth VST. Installation involved SIX e-mails, FIVE different authorization codes and license numbers, download and installation of FOUR installation and licensing programs on my computer, and almost an hour of download and installation time. The result: NOTHING. Reaper was unable to find the instrument, so it was unusable. After wasting almost another hour on a re-try I gave up. Maybe it is a Reaper problem, so your results may vary.This is the third MIDI controller I have tried. None have been perfect fits, but this one sems to be the sturdiest and best laid out for my use. The included "freebies" were a disaster but they were bonus throw-ins, so I didn't deduct for them. The well implemented transport controls, layout, and construction made me happy. :-) The poorly implemented real-time control over oscillators and LFOs of my VST synths made me sad. :-( Setting up other functions was a mixed bag, some smooth operations smooth, some klunky. Panic switch implementation is not useful - this needs to be one touch, but can only be activated by entering setup mode. :-|Anyway, three and a half stars (generously bumped to four becauase there are no half stars here) I hope my review helps you. :-)4A Nice Controller with Good Software This review is for the Nektar IMPACT LX25+ MIDI Controller keyboard.I'm new to Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), but I wanted something simple and inexpensive to make noises and record tracks using my home computer. I also needed a midi controller that comes with the DAW software. The Nektar Impact LX25+ comes with a code for a download of the Bitwig 8-Track studio software (lite version), which is sufficient for my needs.One thing I especially like about the software is that it isn't "bloatware"; downloads are straightforward, the installation is clean, and there's no other drivers or other annoyances to download. One big shortcoming, however, is that I haven't found a quick-start guide for the complete noob. If you're new to DAWs, this can be very confusing. Configuring the software to make any noise at all can be frustrating. The manuals included with the keyboard controller aren't helpful. The on-line documentation is far better, and after some reading I started to figure it out. I'm attaching a video which may help other beginners.As far as the controller itself, it is solid, and the keys, knobs and pads have a nice feel. The keys are full size. If I had a complaint, it's that the keys are too stiff and springy, I was really hoping for a lighter touch. But at a $100 price point I wasn't expecting a Steinway.I haven't really begun to explore all the features of the keyboard controller and software, but so far I'm very pleased.5Works Well With GarageBandI purchased this as a control surface for GarageBand and picked it over the Akai and the similarly-priced units because it had transport keys. So from the door those transport keys, among other crucial functions, didn't map properly. Frustrated, I emailed Nektar and didn't expect a response immediately. What I got was a response the same day. They told me my software had become corrupt and offered a fix...I had to clear out the corrupted installation files and reinstall. That's it. Two minutes later everything worked the way it was supposed to. You can produce an entire song with this unit and never have to touch your computer, that's what I was after. I'm somewhat of a beginner and the LX25+ was easy to figure out and came with a physical manual as well as an online one. The only thing I would consider a "negative" for some people is that it's not really portable. It's a big, solid unit. But you're not going to put it into a backpack and stroll off with it. It's meant to be stationary in your home but it's not THAT huge, you could easily pack it up and take it with you...just not in the same laptop bag that your computer is in. Btw the laptop in the pic is a 13" MacBook Air, and that makes the LX25+ look larger than it is since it's such a small computer. All-in-all this was a great purchase and I'm very pleased.5Love it! Love it! Love it!Great little keyboard, but with full-sized keys.I have two other controller keyboards. Both M-Audio, one is 49 keys, one is 61 keys. They're good, but this is great. Actually also might make one a better keyboard player, by forcing you to concentrate on just two octaves, rather than noodling around the length of a longer keyboard. With just two octaves, you can "see" patterns and chords easier. Though you can go up and down to full 88 keys with buttons. But two octaves at once is a good teaching exercise.And since it's smaller, it leaves room for a cat on my keyboard stand. And there's pretty much always a cat there now. (Stand is a board on a towel on a keyboard stand).PROS:--Solid build. Keys are good. Pads have an amazing feel.--Can control your DAW - almost makes a soft synth into a hardware synth.--You can sit across the room and play it, without being a slave to sitting at a computer. Once auto-mapped, you can change pre-set patches on a softsynth. And on some, you can control some of the parameters. Plus, play keys and drum pads. (M-audio is the other keyboard that can do that, but not nearly as easily and elegantly as this one does.)--Easy to map your DAW (download software from manufacturer's site after registering)--Pretty lights that change color on the pad when you play them! Looks trippy in the dark.CONS:--Keys are kinda stiff. Some people might hate it. Probably not good if you have hand pain issues. On the other hand, playing it may actually strengthen your hands.--Keys are physically kinda loud when you press them. Make a dull thud sound.EDIT AFTER 2 WEEKS OF PLAYING IT A LOT: The keyboard dull thud got much less after a little while. And I think the keys are still stiff, but my hands actually got stronger playing it (!), so it's not an issue now. I dig the feel.Someone else here said it takes two buttons to remotely change synth patches but that's not true on Cubase. Just takes one at a time, going up or down the list in your DAW from this keyboard.All in all I'm very happy with it. It's a heck of a lot of controller for 100 bucks.5

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Nektar, 25-Key Midi Controller (IMPACT LX25+)

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Customer Reviews

Nektar, 25-Key Midi Controller (IMPACT LX25+)

Categories

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Nektar, 25-Key Midi Controller (IMPACT LX25+)

Description

Shipping and Returns

Customer Reviews

Nektar, 25-Key Midi Controller (IMPACT LX25+)

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