Promising everything you need to play, perform and produce on the move, Nektar’s new Impact LX Mini is a little MIDI keyboard with a deceptively big feature set.
The controller is built around 25-note velocity-sensitive keys, with a joystick giving you hands-on pitchbend and modulation control.
The fun stuff can be found up above: there are two independent arpeggiators, eight LED drum pads and eight knobs (plus a volume control). Most controls are MIDI-assignable.
The keys and pads have their own arpeggio and note repeat engines, meaning that you can trigger different ‘rhythmical figures’ with each, and on different MIDI channels if you wish. Parameters for these engines can be adjusted with the knobs.
There’s also the Part 2 performance feature, which can be used for momentary setup changes. Press and hold one of the two dedicated buttons and you can instantly transpose the keyboard, switch to another MIDI channel or layer a second sound - release it and you’ll return to the original setup.
The Impact LX Mini also offers integration with plenty of popular DAWs - you can control your transport, navigate tracks/projects and open/close DAW and plugin windows. Instrument mode, meanwhile, gives you control of up to 16 parameters per plugin; all assignments can be stored and then recalled.
The included software bundle features the Bitwig 8-Track DAW and the Bitwig Essentials content package. This contains loops, samples and more than 50 software instruments and effects.
The Impact LX Mini will be released in November priced at $120/£100/€120. Find out more on the Nektar website.
