Nektar Impact GXP & GX Mini

Nektar keep doing what they do best: making solid, capable, no‑nonsense MIDI controllers.

These two MIDI controller keyboards from Nektar are representatives of two new product ranges for the American company. The 49‑, 61‑ or 88‑note models in the Impact GXP range all have full‑size semi‑weighted keys with velocity and channel/mono aftertouch response, transport‑oriented DAW control features, a ‘repeat engine’, a DIN MIDI out, pedal input sockets, and buttons dedicated for use with Nektar’s VST plug‑in host Nektarine. Other than one programmable knob there aren’t any extras like drums pads, knobs or faders, making for a sleek appearance and shallow dimensions.

The GX range is simpler still: this time with synth‑action velocity‑only keys and no connections to the outside world except a USB socket and a sustain pedal input. Pitch and mod wheels are replaced with a miniature sprung joystick, but DAW control features survive intact. Models are available with 49 or 61 full‑size keys, or with the 25 mini keys of the GX Mini on test here. This gets an intriguing ‘Part 2’ feature: something we’ll get on to in a moment.

In terms of where these controllers fit in with the rest of Nektar’s output, they’re at the more affordable end. Above them sit the LX+ controllers with faders, knobs and pads, then the Panorama Ts with their ambitious plug‑in control system, and at the top of the pile the Panorama Ps, which add a motorised fader into the mix. There’s one lower tier, the SE range, which are simple, straightforward entry‑level controllers with just rudimentary features.

The controller market is one in which it can be hard for products to stand out, and it’s all too common for complicated DAW‑control schemes to sound great in press releases but to be largely useless in practice. So have Nektar hit on a good balance of features here?

GXP A To Z

Let’s start with the big one, the GXP61. The construction is all plastic, at least outwardly, but there’s a nice (and surprising) 5kg heft to it. The keyboard action lacks some luxury: it’s pretty noisy on key‑release, key‑front corners are not smoothly finished, and visually the gaps between keys were slightly uneven fresh from unboxing. However, in use it’s absolutely fine, and there’s a useful extra sense of swing and momentum over and above the most basic synth actions. It’s visually stylish too, with black keys significantly higher at the front than the back. Velocity response is nicely controllable and repeatable, and aftertouch a distinct cut above the average: easy to trigger and modulate, and actually the best I’ve experienced on a controller at this price point. Depth of touch of the white keys is about 10mm, with 3mm more travel for aftertouch. Pitch and mod wheels are small (45mm of them is showing) and quite strongly sprung, but they’re more than fit for purpose.

As you’d expect, power is provided through the USB B socket, which also handles the data connection to your DAW. But there’s also a 9V 600mA DC inlet that could come into its own in hardware‑only or iOS‑based setups. Slightly disappointingly it’s for tip‑positive PSUs, so not compatible with old‑faithful guitar pedal adaptors. The presence of both footswitch and expression pedal sockets is great to see. The former auto‑senses the switch’s polarity at power‑up, and the latter worked beautifully with a Moog EP‑3 pedal I used to test. Unexpectedly, you’re able to connect two pedals (or some dual pedals) to the footswitch socket via a TRS plug to dual‑TS socket splitter.

The single DIN MIDI output is also unexpectedly versatile, transmitting local messages by default, but with an option to source its data from a USB host, essentially turning the GXP into a USB MIDI interface.

And, while it’s such a boringly functional thing to get excited about, I was delighted to see a power switch, which comes into its own shutting off any downtime power draw in a laptop‑based studio. Controllers without one sometimes have to be laboriously unplugged to prevent unwanted battery drain in some setups.

Taking a butcher’s at the front panel now, I’ll save us all the tedium of going through every button individually. But suffice to say many are colourfully backlit, and the pairs for octave up/down and semitone transposition are well placed above the wheels. Those semitone buttons can be remapped to MIDI channel, program change and patch down/up (in a supported DAW) functionality, by the way. There’s a button cluster dedicated principally to DAW control (for which, see the ‘DAWs & More’ box). And most of the rest have a role in two very specific onboard features, which I’ll cover right now.

First, there’s a ‘Repeat Engine’. I said, a ‘Repeat Engine’. (Sorry). This causes held notes to be repeatedly re‑struck, as it were. Like the similarly named Note Repeat feature on Akai’s MPCs, it can play a useful role in rhythmic programming, or creating pulsing melodies or chords. There’s an internal clock whose tempo you can adjust with a knob, or via numerical buttons, but it’ll also follow and sync to DAW tempo. You get to choose the rhythmic division, from quarter to 64th notes (with triplets available via a neat double button press), and five levels of swing. Velocity variation of held notes can be generated via aftertouch or the mod wheel, and accents dialled in momentarily or automatically in patterns (with a ‘hi‑hat pair’ the useful default). I was just sorry that the Repeat functionality doesn’t extend to even simple arpeggiator shapes.

Second, there’s a bunch of dedicated buttons for Nektar’s plug‑in host and patch librarian software, Nektarine. Available to download from GXP owners’ Nektar website accounts, this runs standalone or as a plug‑in in VST/VST3/AU and AAX DAWs, and itself hosts VST, VST3 and AU plug‑ins: up to 16 instruments in a single instance, with four insert effects per slot and four send effects available to all. Slots can be constricted to specific pitch and velocity ranges, and to individual MIDI channels. In this respect it’s conceptually similar to something like Apple’s MainStage, but with the advantage that it is cross‑platform, and with the added ability to operate inside your DAW.

Nektarine hosting NI’s Reaktor and an instance of Altiverb. It’s a capable plug‑in host that has the potential to be extensively controlled from the GXP’s buttons.

Why bother with Nektarine? Well, you’re certainly not forced to, but there are reasons some users might find it useful. First, and simply, it gives you the possibility of using your GXP to play virtual instruments on your computer without the faff of opening them in a DAW. A decent one, Steinberg’s Retrologue 2, is in the software bundle. Then, more specifically, instrument plug‑ins can be instantiated from GXP buttons, and explored via imported patch lists, with user‑configurable tags and tag groups allowing you to sort sounds by various criteria. This, incidentally, explains the otherwise incongruous printed blue instrument names underneath the number keys. In this respect a GXP/Nektarine combo is a little like Native Instruments’ NKS/Komplete Kontrol system or Arturia’s Keylab/Analog Lab combo. I stress, a little... The differences (and some potential drawbacks) include the GXP not having any displays, no purpose‑built ‘ecosystem’ of wholly compatible plug‑ins, and differences in patch handling and accessibility between VST and AU formats on the Mac. I didn’t always find the software interface and associated GXP button presses to be altogether intuitive either. However, there’s no question that Nektarine can offer a really meaningful level of additional functionality to the GXP, if it fits your way of working.

How Many Elephants?

Turning to the diminutive GX Mini now, this is obviously a different (and decidedly tiddlier) kettle of fish, for different use scenarios that probably involve a smaller desk... But it clearly shares a lot of DNA with the GXP range.

The 25 keys, with a mere 136mm octave span, are velocity sensitive only and at first glance appear alarmingly toy‑like. The action is certainly light and springy, but in use perfectly fine, with enough key dip — 7mm — for things to feel positive. Velocity response is as good as you could reasonably expect, but there are fixed minimum velocity values in place: 16 for white keys and 13 for black, for the standard velocity curve. Those values vary slightly for the other two available curves. This looks like a design choice, to improve the sense of expressivity with the small keys, more than a technical limitation, and in typical use it’s all but unnoticeable.

Nektar Impact 25-key GX Mini.

Despite the tiny size there’s the same complement of DAW control buttons as the GXP range. Otherwise, though, the GX Mini is pretty straightforward. On the left end there’s just a USB Micro‑B socket for power and computer connection, and a 3.5mm socket for a breakout dongle (provided) that lets you connect a footswitch. There’s also a Kensington lock receptacle on the back, and five rubber feet on the bottom of the plastic chassis.

About the joystick: it’s a sensible alternative to really small wheels, which might have taken up too much room. From the factory an upwards push generates CC1 (modulation wheel) and a backwards pull CC4 (foot controller). Left and right are pitch bend down and up. Two things to be aware of: first, that it’s sprung on both axes, so you can’t ‘park’ your virtual mod wheel in an above‑zero position; second, because of a physical limit in diagonal movement, you can’t achieve max modulation value at the same time as max pitch bend. One element has to give, slightly.

MIDI controller keyboards are a bit like shoes, or bicycles: no one type or model cuts it for every conceivable task.

Finally, the unusually named ‘Part 2’ feature. Using a dedicated pair of keys to the left of the keyboard, you can dial in modifications to the GX Mini’s MIDI output. Momentary transposition by one or more octaves (up or down) is one option, supplementing the dedicated octave keys’ latching behaviour. It can also transpose in semitones, or transmit note and other messages on another user‑selectable MIDI channel. Or a combination of all three. In practice all this proves more useful than I expected it to be, but more interesting still is that the temporarily modified output can add to the normal output rather than just replace it. Amongst other things that makes it viable, and easy, to play thick two‑hand pad textures or high multi‑octave string lines that might be impossible to achieve otherwise with the very limited keyboard compass. The implementation is intentionally robust too, so you can (for example) hold a bass note transmitting on MIDI channel 1, hit the Part 2 button, and knock out a quick brain‑melting solo several octaves above it, in fifths, on MIDI channel 3. Like you do.

Honey I’m Home

MIDI controller keyboards are a bit like shoes, or bicycles: no one type or model cuts it for every conceivable task. These should be just the ticket for DAW‑centric home use and (in the case of the GXP) more modest hardware setups. As reliable, class‑compliant all‑rounders they’re pretty much rock solid. I loved the way that everything worked exactly as advertised, and is so well documented: neither is a given with some other manufacturers’ products. But then, should you want to explore it, there’s a swathe ‘value‑added’ functionality in the form of the nifty but not over‑complicated DAW control, GX Mini’s Part 2 scheme, the GXP’s Repeat Engine, expression pedal support, and hardware integration with Nektarine.

Competition in the controller market is almost mind‑bogglingly extensive and varied, and fierce with it, but these stand out as quietly capable keyboards that should prove nice to work with long‑term, and that offer some individuality to boot.