NektarImpact GX61 USB MIDI Controller Keyboard with Nektar DAW Integration & M-Audio SP-2 - Universal Sustain Pedal with Piano Style Action, The Ideal Accessory for MIDI Keyboards, Digital Pianos

Probably the best sub-£100 midi keyboard on Amazon at the moment. It feels more sturdy and better quality than the usual "popular" plastic brands out there. This appears to be hiding in Amazon and I nearly missed it!5 octaves, 61 keys. It's 38" log and 8" wide and wouldn't look out of place on a proper keyboard stand. The keys at long enough (similar to those old Bontempi Keyboards). The keys have a nice feel. Of course they are not as soft as an expensive keyboard. Ok its plastic, but the keys are quite long and well spaced, so you don't have to worry about playing, like you do on those 37 key things that fly all over the table.I didn't bother with the BigWiz free software as it is restricted to 2 VST plugins and 8 tracks encouraging you to spent a tonne of money to upgrade and the UI looked more complicated than Jean Michel Jarre's workshop. So no thanks.I used it on a 6-core Windows 10 PC using the Reaper DAW (probably the least expensive on the market) and noticed about a 1/3rd of a second delay (latency) which makes you hate USB. But do not dispair - just search the net for the ASIO4ALL driver and install it. Then in your daw just go to preferences and audio devices and swap WAVEOUT to ASIO4ALL and immediately your keyboard will play without no discernable latency!There are 7 velocity curves and that will take you a little time to find one that suits your playing. I switched mine to hard velocity. Be careful if you choose "127 fixed", you may soil yourself upon the lightest touch! To set, its just a case of hitting Setup, Velocity key on keyboard, 1-7 at end of keyboard and Enter, last key on midi keyboard, all functions are marked. There nice soft multi-coloured LED's inder soft pushbutton keys.There's downloadable DAW drivers, providing you register your keyboard's serial number (on the cardboard box it comes in), name/address/email and is available for all the popular DAWs and WIN/MAC OSX (Cubase, digital performer, FL studio, Garageband, Logic, Nuendo, Reason, Reaper, Sonar, Studio one) and templates are available for Ableton live and Avid Pro Tools. Once installed, you can control your DAW by selecting the control surface 'IMPACT GX61' in your DAW's preferences.Pitch bend and modulation feel just right and both potentiometers are assignable. There are 7 assignable midi buttons with a secondary layer (giving 14 assignable) . Power comes from the USB cable, from the PC - so it may not be powered should you decide to plug it straight into a sound module.You can connect to iOS with a camera connection kit (not included) and there is a jack for a sustain pedal.The keyboard has a weight to it that seems greater than the circuit boards I've held up in the past, it won't slide about. There's probably some artificial bricks in there. But no heavier than 2 laptops would feel.It nice to be able to record; then press a key to fly back to track start; change instrument and record without having to reach for the mouse.So far I am impressed. Now I need to find some nice VST instruments!

Keyboard is OK and good value for the money. Key action isn't great but it's not an expensive product although it seems to have a metal chassis and seems solidly built. It was easy to set up - really was pretty much plug and play.However, it failed after two days with nothing working. It takes its power from the PC vis USB so I tried another PC and USB cable. No success. We tried the manufacturer's support page, also without success.I've asked for a replacement - let's see how that performs.

I like it, my girlfriend who's a grade 8 likes it, and it works very well with the macbook/apple logic X software. I bought a single pedal that plugs into the back of this, very easy, and a basic stand - bingo.My only minor reservation with this, is the piano keys are quite noisy when pressed. Obviously if you have the sound/speakers/headphones turned up a bit, this isn't noticeable, but that's why it's not 5*.Very good product still, and highly recommended, for someone who likes to tinker around with music from time to time, requires a MIDI keyboard, but doesn't need to spend several hundred to have all the bells and whistles on the physical keyboard.

Given the price of this item (at purchase I paid £80) I don't think you'll be able to find another product offering 61 keys and some transport controls that also features a rugged metal chasis and responds as well. The biggest issue I have is the synth-action which can feel sluggish at times, often pressing further on a key than you would expect/or like. However, that's synth action so it is what it is.The transport controls are a nice feature and I have been using them a lot. I bought this keyboard to learn how to play keys/piano and have found it very comfortable and well constructed. I had overlooked this nektar keyboard as I had never heard the brand name and thought at the price it wouldn't be what I wanted it to be. I was looking at more expensive keyboards that had more features like pads and sliders but at the affordable price range these products were largely made of plastic. Researching keyboards took me to the nektar impact and I'm really glad of it, love this keyboard.

It's been 25 years since I bought my last keyboard, a Roland E-36. In recent years I've been using Virtual Instruments instead of onboard sounds to play piano and after some lengthy research decided to order this GX61. It feels like the perfect upgrade from what I've been used to for many years, keys that feel like piano keys in size but with slightly firmer feel from that of a home keyboard. It has a really nice touch. Setting up took a matter of seconds thanks to plug and play and I don't need a separate power supply thanks to it being USB powered. The keyboard is very light weight too. Quality feels good and I'm really hoping it'll keep me company for many years (although perhaps not 25 this time)

I bought the 61 key version of this keyboard, and I'm really pleased with it. I use it with Cubase Elements and the onboard buttons come in really handy for controlling Cubase start, stop, record, rewind, looping on, volume etc - as do the octave and transpose functions. You can set the level of touch (velocity), and this is saved when it's switched off. Being USB powered and quite light, it's a 2 second job to setup when you're feeling 'inspired'. It's only a couple of inches tall, so just about the right height for playing on my computer desk.Apparently this keyboard comes with free 8 track software, but I haven't tried it so can't comment on that.