Nektar Impact LX49+ USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with Nektar DAW Integration

The controller is great, it covers everything I need and performs flawlessly. It's the best value for money midi controller you can find, without a doubt. I've been working in the music/audio industry for most of my adult life (20+ years) and I've tried every midi controller on the market since the early 2000s. This is a perfect controller.Now, onto Nektar as a company. This is truly the best customer service I've ever encountered. The keyswitch board on my LX49+ failed outside of the warranty period. This can happen to any controller, it's a very common fault, usually due to people banging away at the keys harder than they should.I contacted Nektar support and explained the situation. They had no obligation to help me at all, I was more than 2 years outside of the warranty period. They could have told me to get lost. Instead, they sent me a replacement keyswitch board at no cost from the U.S., they didn't even charge me for shipping. They even sent me a PDF with step-by-step instructions, including photos, of how to replace the keyswitch board.The board arrived today and I installed it following their instructions. The controller is now working perfectly again, as good as new. I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am that there are still companies around with such care for their customers.I will be a loyal Nektar customer as long as I live and I encourage everyone to buy their excellent products. This is really a company worth supporting, because you're not just a number to them - they actually care.

Nice full sized keys typical synth feel, no aftertouch. Set up easy and works very well with all DAWs I have tried it with. Pads are nice to use and there are enough sliders to control channels and vst instruments ..good mod and pitch wheels. Runs off usb.

This midi controller has 49 keys, not quite full size but near enough. Good playability with heavier touch sensitive keys in lower end and lighter touch sensitive in upper end. Spring weighted keys with piano styling. Very light instrument. Keys are a bit noisy but this may not be an issue for most. Well laid out controls, good quality rubber faders and navigation buttons, nice feel. Oscillator knobs are plastic, better if rubber. No biggy.8x pads, touch sensitive. Nice feel. This midi controller does everything you need. Integration with my Cakewalk DAW was good. Usability, in terms of ease of use, well its not that easy for a beginner like me, although I expect I will learn with repeated use. This is the case with most controllers anyway.In summary, fantastic value, good DAW integration, good support documentation and good controls. Not bad for the price.

Full sized keyboard, nice feeling pots and faders, simple and easy basic integration into the DAW with lots of more in depth features if required. Build quality seems good for the price, certainly adequate for home/semi pro studio setup.

Guitarist with low keyboard skills using Studio One 4 Pro.I have had this keyboard for a month now and I rate it 5*. But! You need to know my reasons, because you may not see things the same way.Keyboard. You will find reviews of the LX49+ that say they could not get on with the keyboard, usually because it is thought to be too hard. My guess is that these people have half-way decent keyboard skills and they enjoy weighted keys. I am a guitarist and I don't have keyboard skills and I don't enjoy weighted keys. For me, sprung keys like these are best. Do I think they are two hard|? No, not at all. They are harder than most, for sure, but I like the resistance and I especially like the way they bottom out. There is a nice hard endstop, so you know when you have bottomed out the key. This is actually the best sprung keyboard I have ever played and I have played about 10.Pads. I bought this keyboard to get the pads. I have owned several pads instruments, and in my opinion they all sucked. This one, by contrast has excellent pads. They require just the right amount of finger force and they deliver the entire range of velocities. It means you can use them for any instrument (using key learn), and you can get the emphasese and the rhythmic subtleties you are looking for. Great. The pad learning feature works well so you can lay a drum kit on the pads fast. I usually like two pads to be given over to the snare, to do fills, and it's a cinch to do. Rock and Roll!The DAW Integration with Studio One 4 pro is excellent, just know that when I did it in July, the website was a just a bit behind the curve. So, although S1 drivers were there they were for S1/3 and I had to go looking for the S1/4 drivers. But, they were there and they worked. You will find all the synths and instruments in S1 integrate with this keyboard too. Very nice. However, I have found that synth/instrument integration with 3rd party stuff is not universal, so sometimes it's there and sometimes it isn't. When it isn't, you have to do the midi learn thing. But what is nice is the keyboard remembers your links. So you only have to do it once. And how many 3rd party synths/instruments that you regularly use have you got, right?...Workflow. After you have used a DAW for a few years you tend to use quite a lot of keyboard shortcuts, and so you may find you do not use the transport buttons on the LX49, and maybe you wont use the track control buttons either - I don't - but I *do* use the patch buttons for speed, and I do use the octave buttons in conjunctions with them (especially when auditioning bass sounds which tend to be all over the place in terms of pitch).I have had no quality issuesSo, am I pleased with this thing? I could not be happier.

This keyboard really blew my mind. At a good price point, it gives you a great first approach to the world of MIDI music. I use it with Ableton Live and it has been a game changer when writing music, as the possibilities that the controller has have allowed me to experiment. The key are not piano, but as a guitar and bass player, these lighter keys are better. Recommended!