Novation Impulse 61 Reviews

I'm kind of dissapointed.

At first it was great. I bought it when it first came out. There were no reviews but I liked the features. I've had it for 3 years now and last year some of the buttons stopped working, the keys work fine, but the DAW functionality is limited. I wouldn't use it in live settings, since it is kind of plasticy and doesn't seem too sturdy. It's not bad in any ways, but I think you should consider this if you were to buy it for that reason.

Great but a bit "plastic"

I enjoyed this midi keyboard. But a few hard times to make it work (no docs included in the shipping case). I had no explanations about how to use it (i mean i know how to use a midi key but all the features should be explained)

A dream come true!

I'd been looking to replace my ageing Korgs (01/W & X3) with controllers for some time as I've gone 100% virtual now but I hadn't found a good enough replacement. I needed something that felt hefty, gave me tons of controller buttons and sliders (to control all them lovely software synths) and also looked the part on stage. Lo and behold! I discovered the Novation Impulse 61 and immediately fell in love with them. I went and ordered two!

I have not been disappointed! The keyboard action is excellent...not too hard, not too soft. A Korg Kronos owner has tried it and says it compares very well to the former. The sliders and buttons have a nice, solid feel to them.

I'm not using the USB midi (only because I use a proper Midi interface with other stuff) but they can still be powered with a standard USB plug adapter and the supplied USB cables. Programming it is a breeze even though I don't use the Automap software because my VSTi host takes care of it all and learns what each slider does on a session to session basis (or globally if I so desire).

Probably one of the best buys I've done in recent years. Novation, you have a fan!

Amazing product at a reasonable price.

The interface is really easy to use once set up.

The set-up for logic pro X can take some time, but it works like a charm.

would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for easy controls and a great keyboard with semi-weighted keys.

I love Novation

This is the Top class midi keyboard of all time! That's why Olafur Arnalds uses it.

a good master keyboard

I bought this keyboard to play with my mac on stage. the keyboard itself has very many features and they all work pretty well. Only with the automap function for audio software I am not that happy. The faders are working good and one can move them pretty exactly. Also the weight of the keyboard is really good, one is very mobile with that keyboard. Drumspad are doing a good job so far, too. Only one point was a little bit disappointing: The keys themself aren't that good. Of course this is not a highend product but this keys don't react so good, one can play everything one this keyboard. For exapmle piano sounds don't work so good, or glissandi with organ sounds don't work that nice, because of the sharp edges of the keyboard (sometimes it gets painful :) ). over all it is a good keyboard to work with a DAW, but for live gig it is not the best one.

Great controller for live and studio purposes

A few months ago, I was looking for a controller keyboard for my bedroom studio, mainly for recording MIDI parts for the plugins I use in my DAW (mostly NI Komplete 9).

Since I intended to use the controller for a variety of sounds including synths, drums, strings, woodwind, organs and pianos, the most challenging part was finding a keyboard that allows dynamic playing (for the classical stuff) as well as fast, undynamic solos (organs, synths).

After trying out the Novation Launchkey, I was slightly disappointed, so I switched to it's big brother, the Novation Impulse.

Setting it was pretty much plug and play, I was using it with Logic after only a few minutes. Controlling the mixer or effects is very intuitive, but the fact that the software for that, Automap duplicates ALL of your plugins is pretty annoying. My already long list of plugins is now twice as long…that's why I'm only giving it four stars for the features.

Apart from that, it's exactly the keyboard I was looking for. Although the keys are "only" semi-weighted, you can play some really nice and expressive pianos with it, just as much as you can play undynamic organ/synth sounds. I really love the versatility.

The drum pads are great for jamming with drum machine sounds (although playing them in a dynamic way is a bit challenging) and the build-in arpeggiator and roll feature allows for some nice experiments, especially in combination with rather conventional sounds.

Splits, program changes and MIDI commands are really easy to program, so it also works great with other keyboards, I'm using it with my Novation Ultranova and I'm really happy with it.

All in all, I can highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a versatile controller keyboard.

Great stuff

I miss one thing only, which is a big one: Already set up connections with Main Stage. It does work great with Main Stage, but you have to do the set up yourself. For other DAW's it's already there. I love this keyboard, and don't regret buying it!