Nektar Releases New Controller Keyboard

US Impact LX 49 offers a 49 note velocity sensitive, full-size keyboard 28/10/13

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Nektar, the company behind the Panorama series of deep integration controller products, has announced the immediate launch of Impact LX49. The Impact LX49 is the first product in a new line of budget Nektar products, all offering integration with many of the most popular DAW Software Solutions. The company tells us that the 49 note velocity sensitive, full-size keyboard is fully featured with 9 faders, 9 control buttons, 8 pots, 6 transport buttons, 8 velocity sensitive pads, foot switch socket and control wheels. 5 user presets are designed for GM setups, "MIDI learn" capable DAWs and other music software. Here's what Nektar has to say...

The Impact LX49's real magic shows with the unique DAW integration which offers pre-mapped support for Cubase, Digital Performer, Garageband, Logic, Nuendo, Reason, Sonar and Studio One, with additional DAW support scheduled for following release. Paying close attention to each DAW individually, Nektar has developed custom integration with a common workflow. As such, Impact LX49's integration goes way beyond the typical basic Mixer mapping. Users of supported DAWs will be able to navigate tracks, switch between controlling mixer or instruments, trigger and set loop points, switch metronome on/off, Undo and more.

For building drum beats and grooves the pad learn function allows for quick mapping of sounds on the 8 velocity sensitive pads. Just select a pad, find the right sound on the keyboard and the assignment is done. Moving loop points via the transport buttons means the flow continues, totally un-interrupted by mouse clicks.
Navigate to instrument tracks and continue building a song, change patches, tweak instrument parameters – all this functionality right from Impact LX49 to keep the music in focus. Finally get the mix right by switching to the mixer preset with volume, pan, mute and solo assigned for banks of 8 tracks in your DAW. A bank up/down function moves the assignments of controls to cover all mixer channels. To avoid parameter jumping, the Impact LX DAW integration also features soft-takeover* which means that parameters only change when a controls physical position matches the DAW parameter position.

The pre-mapped functionality is enough to get most going, and maybe this is all you ever need. However to cater for individual styles of creating there is plenty of scope for customization. Impact LX49 features a unique "Grab" feature* for supported DAWs which allows users to literally 'grab' several instrument parameters at a time and map them to any controls on the fly. The 5 user presets in addition have been set up for GM compatibility and learn friendly setups mean that you can still create setups the way you are used to with generic MIDI controllers. Impact LX49 is a complete generic MIDI controller so you can switch between the pre-mapped setups and your own by pushing a button.
For users who haven't settled on a DAW yet, the included Studio One Artist comes complete with Impact LX49 setup and control for instruments as well as effect inserts. This is a great starting point to become familiar with the power of Impact LX49 but also a great addition to any existing creative music production setup.

* Not supported in all DAWs. Check documentation on www.nektartech.com for details

Pricing and Availability:

Nektar Impact LX49 is available in stores worldwide from early November with an MSRP of USD179.99/EUR149.99/GBP 124.99

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