Features:

  • Premium midi controller with 25 expressive synth-action keys, on-board pitch bend and modulation wheels for performances
  • 8 Hyper-Sensitive backlit pads
  • Mac, PC and iOS compatible
  • Software instruments automatically mapped to controls
  • Includes Bitwig 8-Track DAW
Works Well With GarageBand

I purchased this as a control surface for GarageBand and picked it over the Akai and the similarly-priced units because it had transport keys. So from the door those transport keys, among other crucial functions, didn't map properly. Frustrated, I emailed Nektar and didn't expect a response immediately. What I got was a response the same day. They told me my software had become corrupt and offered a fix...I had to clear out the corrupted installation files and reinstall. That's it. Two minutes later everything worked the way it was supposed to. You can produce an entire song with this unit and never have to touch your computer, that's what I was after. I'm somewhat of a beginner and the LX25+ was easy to figure out and came with a physical manual as well as an online one. The only thing I would consider a "negative" for some people is that it's not really portable. It's a big, solid unit. But you're not going to put it into a backpack and stroll off with it. It's meant to be stationary in your home but it's not THAT huge, you could easily pack it up and take it with you...just not in the same laptop bag that your computer is in. Btw the laptop in the pic is a 13" MacBook Air, and that makes the LX25+ look larger than it is since it's such a small computer. All-in-all this was a great purchase and I'm very pleased.

Ableton=YES. Great tech support too.

Works great with ableton. They give you instructions on how to set ableton up to get the proper functioning. It's not hard. I havn't used too many of these. Deserves 4 stars just for doing what it's supposed to and being fairly priced. I gave it 5 stars because I had a question for tech support and Nektar was on top of it immediately.

great MIDI controller for the beginner and enthusiast alike

I am not a professional musician, though I do gig a bit, nor am I a pianist, so consider this review within that context. That said, I really love this MIDI controller. I was originally going to go with the AKAI MPK mini, which is quite a bit more transportable, but this won me over for a couple of reasons: - it has full-sized keys - it integrates rather seamlessly with most DAWs (I mainly use GarageBand--told you, I'm not a professional--but have toyed around with Cubase and Bitwig) - it can be powered by an iPad with the appropriate Lightning to USB adapter I also considered the Novation Launchkey 25, but it was bigger and more expensive. I mainly bought it around to "doodle" on, but also to do note entry in Finale. It works well for all of these, and due to it's relatively small size, I can pretty much bring it anywhere. It easily connects to both my iPad and my Mac, with little to no configuration required. The only cons I have experienced are minor: - it would be nice if the keys were piano weighted, but that would make it heaver, obviously - the keys themselves are a bit wiggly, but operate well Overall all, though, this is a great controller, and great bang for the buck.

Pretty neat! Keys feel good to me as a ...

Considering its price, I can't help but give this little board 5 stars. I'm no pianist, but having a MIDI controller on my desktop in my home studio is really handy to drive drums, synths, samplers, etc. It even has transport controls on it, which would be even cooler if I didn't already have a FaderPort for that set of functions. It immediately made friends with Reaper (after a download/install from Nektar's website), allowing me to use the transport controls and the fader as if it were a control surface. Pretty neat! Keys feel good to me as a non-pianist. The drum pads feel good and sturdy as well. Knobs all feel good, although they're definitely in that budget-gear range of quality. The housing itself is sturdy, but plastic. The mod and pitch wheels offer an acceptable amount of resistance, and the transport buttons feel about the same as my FaderPort, which means they're just "fine". One thing that I have to commend Nektar for is the inclusion of a full-color, full-size user manual that goes into detail about every function that this keyboard is capable of. That's becoming way too rare these days, so I really appreciate the extra effort that they put into the manual for an entry-level piece of gear.

The best controller in it's price range

I've been using it for about a month and I am very happy with this product. The construction is very good and the keys feel great. One of the things I like a lot is the DAW integration, it's easy to dowload the key mappings for every popular DAW software on the market and you can control a variety of functions of your DAW from the midi controller instead of using the mouse and keyboard of your computer. It really has plenty of features for a controller of that price. I recomend it a lot.

Amazing

The best thing I've bought in years! Plug and plays perfectly with GarageBand on my Mac laptop. Very high quality for the price. Two octaves of full-size keys I can't compare to other MIDI controllers because I haven't tried them but this one is great.

Amazing!

I love this MIDI Controller. Keys feel great. Very intuitive easy to setup. Works immediately in FLStudio

Love it! Love it! Love it!

Great little keyboard, but with full-sized keys. I have two other controller keyboards. Both M-Audio, one is 49 keys, one is 61 keys. They're good, but this is great. Actually also might make one a better keyboard player, by forcing you to concentrate on just two octaves, rather than noodling around the length of a longer keyboard. With just two octaves, you can "see" patterns and chords easier. Though you can go up and down to full 88 keys with buttons. But two octaves at once is a good teaching exercise. And since it's smaller, it leaves room for a cat on my keyboard stand. And there's pretty much always a cat there now. (Stand is a board on a towel on a keyboard stand). PROS: --Solid build. Keys are good. Pads have an amazing feel. --Can control your DAW - almost makes a soft synth into a hardware synth. --You can sit across the room and play it, without being a slave to sitting at a computer. Once auto-mapped, you can change pre-set patches on a softsynth. And on some, you can control some of the parameters. Plus, play keys and drum pads. (M-audio is the other keyboard that can do that, but not nearly as easily and elegantly as this one does.) --Easy to map your DAW (download software from manufacturer's site after registering) --Pretty lights that change color on the pad when you play them! Looks trippy in the dark. CONS: --Keys are kinda stiff. Some people might hate it. Probably not good if you have hand pain issues. On the other hand, playing it may actually strengthen your hands. --Keys are physically kinda loud when you press them. Make a dull thud sound. EDIT AFTER 2 WEEKS OF PLAYING IT A LOT: The keyboard dull thud got much less after a little while. And I think the keys are still stiff, but my hands actually got stronger playing it (!), so it's not an issue now. I dig the feel. Someone else here said it takes two buttons to remotely change synth patches but that's not true on Cubase. Just takes one at a time, going up or down the list in your DAW from this keyboard. All in all I'm very happy with it. It's a heck of a lot of controller for 100 bucks.

The first on came defective like some of the keys where making false contacts and ...

This is a replacement of another identical Nektar Impact 25XL+. The first on came defective like some of the keys where making false contacts and erratic contacts on the expression wheel and some of the knobs and buttons didn't respond to much input... I called Nektar and they said the unit was defective and that I should return it. So I did. Just received the replacement and Wow this one everything works on it, however the touch pads, one of them is ultra sensitive. Noticed the rubber on top of the pad seems not to be in it's proper place internal.. I did managed to fix it somewhat without having to open the controller. It is assembled in China and I think my previous unit and this one seemed to have some assembly issues, but now I am all good!

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