Nektar Impact LX61 or Roland A-49 midi controller?

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Hello all,

After a lot of research I found these two controllers fit my budget, but really cant decide which one should I go for. I have a DSI prophet which sounds great but I never found a comfortable spot with the keys. The keys are springy, and have become squeaky. Very difficult to play when hitting the top part of a key, not great resistance. The velocity curve also is not the best. Although no regrets because it sounds awesome.

So, I played the LX61 controller at a friend's place and the keys definitely felt better than the prophet. It has synth action, full size piano style keys which felt good, and lets say spongy, on real instrument sample libraries. And it has 8 pads, knobs, faders. (Also felt the black keys to be very slightly wider, flatter than other controllers, with a matte-like finish instead of glossy, which felt good.

But I also like the Roland A-49 for its size and the d-beam which I would be much better at than tweaking a knob I feel. And it does not have pads, faders. But my big fear is that the keys look very similar to the prophet and that worries me.
This is also a synth action according to the website but is not a piano style key. Some say the keys on the A-49 are great and almost feels like semi-weighted, some say its very difficult to play when hitting the top part of a key. Again, the reviews online for both the controllers are mixed. Has anyone tried the Roland A-49?

I definitely would choose a controller with a better action and keybed irrespective of other features.

Can anyone advice please?

Thank you!

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I own the Impact LX25 as well as the A-49. I've also owned/used a ton of other keyboard controllers, and I keep coming back to the A-49. Every time I get a controller with pads/faders/knobs/etc I never end up using any of that stuff and find myself just wanting a compact keyboard with enough full-sized keys. The A-49 is perfect for me.

Notes: I am a big fan of Roland key action, but not everyone is. If key feel is a big deal for you, you really ought to see if you can find some Roland controllers in a music shop. I also own the Roland FA-08 and the keys feel very similar to the A-49s. The Nektar Impact's keys feel much stiffer to me, similar to both Akai MPK and Alesis V-series. Again, some people like that.

Also, I don't think I've ever used the D-beam thing other than to just confirm it worked. Most of the Roland boards don't have aftertouch keybeds, but you can use the D-beam to send Aftertouch MIDI events.

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Thanks for the reply @ultimateoutsider

The music shops here have the bigger roland keyboard which feel good. But I am not sure if the lower models like the A-49 has the same action. All they say about A-49 is that they can order it for me. Although I am still looking for shops.

The prophet keys somewhat feel like on/off switches for notes than a smooth down and up motion of the keys when pressed, which messes up velocity for me. Are the keys on the A-49 or LX-25 smoother in that sense?

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The Nektar Impact line (and really all Nektar keyboards I have tried) are horrible.
The Roland A-49 (which I own) has a great feeling key action, but the rubber contact strips (and very much so the strip for the 3 octave of keys on mine) make a horrible noise when the key travels up off the contact strip (and because it is on key off, it is not masked very well by the sounds you are playing).
I am currently trying to find to dampen the sound on mine (I have tried 2 layers of paper on the underside of the key and it works very well, but I have no clue how long it would last).

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Thanks for the input devastator.. Guess I will go with roland. Moreover the synth tech here is a pro at fixing anything roland :wink:

Anyone here at KVR who has played the DSI Prophet 08 and the Roland/Nektar keyboards?

Cheers!

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Horrible? I've had my nektar lx61 for QUITE some time and it's held up well. According to Justin, the newer ones have better pads.

What host do you use? I dare anyone, anytime to judge any other drivers to nektar. Reason, bitwig, cubase 9 pro, reaper, and FL studio. They all work and work well.

I'm usually pretty vocal about bogus stuff, and I'm sure the roland isn't bad but saying it's horrible doesn't jive with a very large group of people that are happy with them.

Now, if you want to talk about "ideal" , frankly I thin ALL of them fall well short. But the drivers and compatibility have to be a consideration.

Your choice, my 2c, etc.

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What the hell are you one about?
No one said anything about drivers!

I said the Netkar keyboards are horrible because of how they feel (cheap and can make a loud clacking noise if you do not hit the key dead on).

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Here's what the hell I'm on about (which is simply repeating what I said)

I've had a dozen of these contraptions and NONE of the lower priced units are that good. If you like it better, fine. But calling the Nektar "horrible" is simply inaccurate. They are cheap all plastic POS imnsho.

The drivers are important because I want the shit to work with the host I'm using.

Seems simple enough to me.

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I own both of these keyboards. Previously the Roland was the only keyboard that would interface with my Cakewalk software. However the Impact does everything the Roland can do, plus the keyboard response itself is much nicer as are the key width and shape. Further I wanted 88 keys and went for the Impact 88.
During my set up I had a learning curve but the company support was clear and quick. I found it a pleasant surprise to get a personal response regarding my support questions.

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What is the Nektar Impact GX61 like in terms of keybed?
Or is the low price symptomatic of the quality?
I find it odd that it is only 100 euros, while the Korg Microkey is 145 euros, despite its mini keys and very basic features.

Regarding Roland's D beam thingy, I find it rather difficult to handle. The keys of the A-49 feel good, though, at least to me. And they are quiet.
There are some YT music tutorials where the Midi controllers used make a horrible punching sound with every key.
The keybed feels much better than the rest of the A-49, which feels cheap. When I opened it in order to try and fix the broken pitch bend / modulation lever, I noticed that several of the screws were basically loose as the flimsy plastic rim of the case was broken.

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By the way, what's the difference between Acorn and Nektar keyboards? Acorn seems to be a division of Nektar, which is itself a small company...

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