Nektar Panorama P1 MIDI Keyboard - Black/White

Product Information

Nektar’s Panorama P1 is a control surface with a lot going for it — especially if you use Cubase or Reason. The integration with Bitwig Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Logic Pro, MainStage, Reaper, Reason and Studio One is so deep that you can immerse yourself in your music without having to constantly reach for the mouse. Panorama gives you the creative freedom to just focus on your music. However, if you press M2 and then press M3, you will notice that the M2 graphic goes ‘dark’ and the M3 button becomes lit, like so: (Image 20) Menu button 3 (M3) is labeled Rename. Press it and the current name will appear at the top of the display with the first character flashing red. (Image 7)

The left/centre of the surface is dominated by 16 rotary encoders, nine faders with a 45mm throw and 10 buttons. Two of these — Toggle/View and Toggle/Mute — change the functionality of eight of the rotary encoders and the eight buttons beneath the faders. The right-hand section of the surface is a little busier. It features a full set of transport controls that, via the F-Keys button, can also have a second set of functions allocated to them. In addition, there is a large (86mm) TFT display, three sets of buttons for navigating within the display and switching between the P1’s various modes, and a single ‘data’ encoder for adjusting parameters or scrolling through menus. Expression: On or Off: When the expression pedal is active for a certain Zone, an ‘X’ will appear in this box. When an ‘X’ is not present, the expression pedal has been disabled for that Zone. Up Arrow (M2): pressing this button selects the next-highest parameter on the list. When the highlighted cursor reaches ‘Channel’, the next press ‘wraps around’ to the bottom of the column on the right and the MIDI FX parameter. When it reaches ‘Pitch bend’, the next press takes you to the bottom of the column on the left and the Bank MSB parameter.The new Push 2 has been designed and created by Ableton from initial planning to final engineering. It is a bit thinner and a bit lighter than its predecessor, making it easy to carry around. Now the top line of the display is asking you to press a key so it can set the upper limit for Zone 1. (Image 30) Octave’ and ‘Transpose’: The combination of these settings allows Zone 1 to be transposed by any number of notes relative to the other Zones. They can be set positively or negatively using the data encoder. Its launch coincided with the company also announcing the entire Panorama range's deep integration support for Steinberg's Cubase and Nuendo DAWs, in addition to the same level of integration with Propellerheads' Reason that the P4 and P6 have ably supported since their release in 2012.

MIDI FX: On or Off: When the Performance buttons are active for a certain Zone, an ‘X’ will appear in this box. When an ‘X’ is not present, the Performance buttons have been disabled for that Zone. I agree, been using it with cubase doing what you said in nektarine. I'm Moving to bitwig going forward though and i can't seem to get my maps made in nektarine to load in bitwig with my P4, how are you getting it to work for you? All of the instruments nektar pre mapped are working, but i can't get the custom ones i made to load in bitwig but they load in cubase as usual? Pitch bend: On or Off: When the pitch bend wheel is active for a certain Zone, an ‘X’ will appear in this box. When an ‘X’ is not present, the pitch bend wheel has been disabled for that Zone. Like any hardware control surface, the biggest obstacle to getting the best from it comes it two forms: firstly, the initial technical configuration and, secondly, retraining your brain to reach for the controller rather than your mouse. Nektar can’t really help you with the second of these — expect it to take some time and discipline — but they could perhaps make the first step easier. Down Arrow (M1): pressing this button will select the next parameter down the list. When the highlighted cursor reaches ‘Bank MSB’, the next press takes you to the top of the column on the right and the Pitch Bend On/Off parameter. When it reaches ‘MIDI FX’, the next press ‘wraps around’ to the top of the column on the left and the Channel parameter.

POP-UP THE MENU

While the Mixer and Instrument modes will be where most time is probably spent, the Transport mode offers some useful additional options. The main transport buttons (located bottom-right) are functional all the time, but in Transport mode you can get control over the left/right locators, move the loop region, adjust the tempo and change the record mode, amongst a number of other things. If you have a footpedal connected to the P1’s rear panel you can also set the function that this controls. Reason To Be (Less) Cheerful If you find that Panorama is recognized by Windows but it will not switch to Mixer Mode when you start your DAW after restarting the computer, the problem could be related to the Power Management settings in Windows. Start your controller in update mode. To do so, hold the [Mixer] and [Toggle/View] buttons when turning the controller on. The display will be blank. (Image 3)