Nektar Impact GX 61

Cool controller, still don't understand what more than half of buttons do
Pros:
- Good keys, great quality actually.
- Has usb cable output instead of midi so its plug and play.
- You can connect it to a phone (you would still need an adapter to usb c tho)
- Lightweight if compared to other 61 note controllers/keyboards
- Usb B (like found in printers) to usb A cable included M/M
- Cable quality not bad.
Cons:
- No proper user manual on how to use this shit
- Half the buttons are not recognized by different daws (like record, loop etc.) (I tried Reaper and FLStudio didn't work for both)
- No midi cable output (not a con for me)
- Doesn't play sound by itself, it HAS to be connected to something to play.(not a con for me again)

My overall rating 61/69
Would give the rest 8 points if there would be any helpful guide on how to use this controller at its fullest even when daws don't recognize what buttons you press.

I bought this product for making music at home for fun. And start to learn, how to play keyboard/piano.

I tried some quality electronic keyboard before, but this is the first one i own. I bought it for the price. and 61 key should be more then enough for me.

Pro:
- Price
- More feature that i will ever use.
- Easy install and i can use it for violin sound, hammond organ etc.
- Much more then a regular piano.
- Relative small size(for me)
Con.:
- A little more detailed users guide would be better imo.

Overall for the price to quality, it is a very great product. Wit some easy setup (velocity) etc. it can be a super companion during music making.

I've been using this keyboard at home for two years, recording basic chords, melodies and midi drums.

Now that I'm used to it, the velocity sensitivity is great and the feel of the keys is very nice to my fingers (quite stiff, but that works well with my hands).

Two years in, the pitch and mod wheels still hold up nice, and the volume encoder has no issues (I use it as an expression "pedal" for libraries that use it). I haven't used the macro/CC buttons, but the octave buttons have been used extensively and besides surface wear have no issues.

The one sign of wear after two years is that the keybed is no longer perfectly flat. I'd say there's a 1-2 mm variance pretty much across the board at this stage. Not an issue for me, but I'm not a technical player.

Things to know:
- It does not have a connector for external expression.
- It has integration with many DAWs if you want to use it for transport control.
- There's no software for configuration, which I always enjoyed with the NI hardware, but since there's only so much you can do with the controller part of it, the hardware/onboard configuration is not cumbersome.
- If you don't use the transpose buttons, you can assign them to step through midi channels.
- It has MIDI in as well, so you can send messages to the keyboard if you want to keep it in the loop.

Except for a slight wish for better keybed quality, the only other thing I'm on the fence about (since the controller has MIDI in), would be an infinite encoder for the volume, and possibly a touch strip for expression control.

The keyboard is a great value and holds up well over time. It's possible the cheaper alternatives have similar quality, and there are probably better synth action keyboards out there, but I have no desire to switch up. Totally satisfied with the keyboard and strongly recommend it for anyone getting into software music.