Nektar is promising plenty of bang for your mini MIDI keyboard buck with the Impact GX Mini, a 25-note controller that gives you all the features you’d expect from a ‘board of this size and a few that might surprise you.
The mini keys are velocity-sensitive, and you can choose from three velocity curves to suit your playing style. An assignable joystick delivers pitchbend and modulation control, there are octave up/down buttons, and a footswitch can be plugged into the 1/8-inch socket (1/4-inch adapter included).
So far, so straightforward, but there’s also the ‘Part 2’ feature, which enables you to make momentary setup changes at the touch of up/down buttons.
Hold one of these down and you can instantly transpose the keyboard, switch it to another MIDI channel or layer a second sound on top of the existing one; let go and you’ll immediately revert to the original configuration. This could be handy, particularly in a performance context.
The Impact GX Mini offers out-of-the-box integration with a slew of big-name DAWs, with the seven transport buttons also being MIDI assignable. A shift button opens up a secondary level, giving a total of 14 accessible button functions.
Compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux and iOS, the Impact GX Mini is also USB class-compliant and USB-powered. It’ll be available soon priced at $70/£60/€70.
Find out more on the Nektar website.
