Novation Impulse 61 review: specs and price

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Buttons will light up when pressed, resulting in better visibility to users.

The device has an electronic display to present information to the user.

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The arpeggiator is the main tool used by computer musicians to generate looped material. An arpeggiator is simply a generator of signals that controls the tempo, pitch, velocity, gate, and other parameters of the sound.

The octave buttons are used to shift the keyboard up or down in one octave increments. This extends the range of the keyboard in either direction, which lets you play notes that lie outside the number of keys available.

Transpose button move automatically your keyboard notes up or down tones (raise or lower the pitch by a number of semitones).

The more buttons the device has, the more complex the input can be.

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The mod wheel is used to add expression, or to modulate (change) various elements of a sound or sample.

The pitch wheel alters the pitch and timbre of a sound in real-time. It can give fine tuning control from fractions of a semi-tone to huge multi-octave pitch swings.

Similar to a weighted action keys, but with less resistance and a slightly springier release, semi-weighted keys are popular with many players. If you don’t need realistic piano response, but also don’t care for spring-loaded synth actions, a semi-weighted keyboard might be ideal for you.

The keyboard also respond to the amount of force applied after initial impact. On electronic keyboards and synthesizers, this pressure sensitivity is usually called aftertouch.

The amount of keys the controller has on the keyboard.

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The pads section is ideal to trigger loops and samples, using your finger drum skills.

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The MIDI-Out port is used for transmitting data.

When pressed, the sustain pedal allows all notes to sound and “vibrate” freely. All notes played will continue to sound until the pedal is released. This is perfect when you need a sturdy and responsive control over sustain.

Dedicated expression pedals let you have a hands-free control over your keyboard's volume, vibrato, and more.

MIDI-In Port allows data to be received by a MIDI-compliant device. The “in” port enables the MIDI keyboard to be controlled by an external device or sequencer.

It is compatible with PCs and laptops running the Windows operating system.

With automapping technology it is easier to set up your MIDI device and assign all different controls to your software (DAW).

It is compatible with Mac OS X devices such as MacBooks and iMacs.

Devices can communicate in both directions with each other without any additional MIDI interface. The biggest advantage is that the USB connection can be used for everything; power supply, MIDI-in and MIDI-out. This means you need less cables.