Nektar Panorama P4 Review (Best Reason Keyboard?)

Is the Nektar Panorama P4 the best keyboard for Reason or Logic? Probably. It does a great job acting as a DAW controller, but its basic keyboard functions are average. I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

My honest review of the Nektar Panorama is that it saves me a lot of time, but it still has a lot of short comings. Once you integrate it into your workflow, using it to mix, tweak effects, and even record becomes much more streamlined. I especially like that it has 9 faders that easily map to a mixer. It is probably the best keyboard for Logic or Reason if you're focused more on controlling your whole DAW.

But the drum pads on the Nektar Panorama are garbage. The keyboard keys are good, but I would't say they're inspiring. The entire unit is very wide, which makes it impossible to access all the controls when its under my mixing desk.

I mainly use Native Instruments sounds, so if I was starting over again, I would seriously consider getting a Komplete Kontrol. The difference in Komplete Kontrol vs Nektar Panorama, it seems to me is, that Komplete Kontrol gives you a much sleeker way to interact with instruments based on Native Instruments platform, but not nearly as much power to interact with your DAW.

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[agnieszkaruminska]

That was very helpful - great review! Thanks to you I made my decision to buy KK from NI. Cheers ;-)

[creditflats]

I used 14" sliders for my pull out keyboard drawer, and that solves the problem of accessing the full Panorama controls. You are certainly right about the position of the on/off switch.

[briancraig]

So this 2020 what is the best Logic 10.5 
integration  that utilize all of the core and all of Logix functions and also you can easily manually map any parameters in logic or third-party to the keyboard would it be found and pads being really velocity sensitive

[bthellam]

The depth isn't a big deal to me as I use it on the desk top, not on the pull-out tray, but I do wonder why it's that deep. Do the motorized fader or color screen require the space? I also wonder if the pads are "bad" or if they were initially set with awful sensitivity/velocity settings that can be changed.

[bthellam]

Regarding the pads, is it that they are bad or are they just set with poor sensitivity and velocity settings that can be adjusted in Internal mode?

[grahamrawlings]

Great video, I’ve been using the P4 alongside Reason for around 3 years, couldn’t agree with you more about the pads though, I don’t use them at all! I do use the mixer section all the time, faders aren’t great as you said but it’s nice to get hands on when mixing. Integration I have found it is just perfect for my personal workflow, I love it! I also use NI plugins an awful lot but I thankfully have the Maschine Studio for that, however I have been considering adding an NI komplete Kontrol just to have all options covered. Really like the vids, always informative, keep them coming!

[AdamSerafin]

Power button? ... left off for way longer than you normally would? ...hmm ... really? ... so what else do you use for production?

[allen]

Have you tried the new T4 from Nektar? If you have or have any thoughts on it please post a video, as I thinking about purchasing the P4 or the T4. This would help me to decide. I mainly use Reason 10 with a heap of RE's and Studio 1 with vst's
Your opinion's on the P4 are really useful, so a big thank you for your advice. Thanks for all of your videos😎

[IamProfessorO]

Is it possible to keep or save mapping for certain instruments/vsts even AFTER you restart Reason? Sessions are gonna end and you're gonna have to turn off your computer, and it sounds like it would be somewhat of a pain/hassle to remap your keyboard every time you have to boot back up, especially if you wanna open up the same project file. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[ethagr]

What version of Logic are you using with It? I had this controller for a year and when I upgraded to Logic 10.4+ the firmware didn't seem to work. The main screen would glitch and start moving parameters that I didn't want changed. The firmware on the website is made for elcapitan but doesn't look its been optimized for mojave or anything newer. Good video thanks.

[enossifiedossified]

Just wanted to mention you can control NI's Komplete Kontrol software with the Panorama P or T series. I use Logic and Komplete Kontrol is mapped both in Instrument mode or the Instrument pages in Mixer mode. 


This can be used with any NI products you own already without requiring you to pony up for Komplete. You don't get the patch browsing screens of the NI keyboards (browsing is done via the computer screen), but you do get the knobs mapped for all NI plugins as well as any third party NKS compatible plugins.

[gkillmaster]

Thanks! As always great review! I do wonder what your think of the Nektar Panorama P1 with Reason 12? I'm thinking of getting one and there are no in depth reviews of it that I can find.

[Scott_Silver]

I know this was 2 years ago but do you know how this compares to the newer, less expensive T4?

[mr.n.exclusive]

I constantly having problems downloading the reason driver and integrating the daw to the p4

[eliaszerano]

are the pots from better quality than Native Instruments Maschine which loose resistance in a few month and die after a few years ?

[Bassmentnoize]

Yes it worked on 9.5 just not the most recent version I will check for firmware update. Thanks

[Bassmentnoize]

I’m having issues with getting this connected with the latest version of reason any suggestions?

[BezBeats]

Does the P49 have the note repeat feature?

[santoy]

Would have liked to hear it in action bud