Tested the NUX and CANNOT recommend.
For advanced functions, we have to look at the regular 25cm+ deep keyboards (Launchkey, Oxygen).
General \ Keys:
[~] feels solid, everything except the wheel and touch pad, those look and feel if as they truly don’t belong there
[+] faders and knobs are really nice, both the travel and the caps
[~] black keys are really dry matt, I’m not use to keys like this, feels odd, fingers slide too easily on it
[~] no sensitivity setting for aftertouch, it is triggered really really easily. Might be good for those that use aftertouch that way (can be triggered accidentally/expressively), but if the modulations are to be heard only when aftertouch is intentionally pressed, it might be necessary to toggle aftertouch on/off to prevent accidental triggers.
[-] Program Change can be controlled only from Global menu, which renders all controllers besides the keybed itself unusable
Wheels:
[-] wheels don’t feel good ergonomically, you have to move your arm way back to operate them
[-] surface design of wheels is ugly and uncomfortable
[-] spring in pitch wheel is too hard, which makes it even worse considering the fact that it’s not easy to grab the wheel without your finger slipping off over time
Controllers:
[+] CC mapping on device is good enough
[+] CCs for knobs and sliders works fine
[-] nothing else besides CCs can be mapped (besides notes for pads)
[-] CCs for buttons is only momentary, value for push and value for release, it’s not possible to toggle between values and release the buttons (could be implemented via shift button)
[-] it is not possible to map anything to the jog wheel
[~] no buttons / functions for All Notes Off / All Sounds Off commands, but this can be mapped as CCs
[?] no idea about DAW mode, not interested into that right now
Touchpad:
[-] feels hollow and cheap, click is obnoxiously tactile
[-] similarly to wheels, ergonomically it’s too close to the front of the keyboard
[+] right button click via shift button
ARP / Note repeat / Scale
[-] not really possible to leverage full potential performatively due to the control involving shift keybed
[-] shift keybed doesn’t work when notes are held, it’s necessary to first set things up and then play, that includes arp / repeat latching as well
[+] arp and note repeat can play at the same time
[~] note repeat works for pads only
[~] arp and note repeat share the same sync rate
[+] 16 scales
[~] no choice how scale mode responds to keys outside the scale
Display:
[~] display is fine, although difficult to read from playing angle without leaning over it
[-] obviously, the display and jog wheel position is wrong and should have been switched around
[-] a quarter of display space is wasted for the NTK-61 name, instead of showing missing useful info such as MIDI channel, program number or selected scale
