Nektar AURA is a powerful beat creation and performance instrument. This MIDI Pad Controller has 16 hyper-sensitive RGB illuminated pads, an on-board step sequencer, a flexible pad repeat engine and incredible plugin control. AURA brings an exciting drum-machine-style workflow to any DAW or external MIDI setup.

AURA’s 16 RGB-illuminated pads are great for finger drumming and trigger at the lightest touch. Even better, everything is set up for you already when running AURA with Nektarine – including mapping for many VST®, VST3® and AU™ drum instruments.

The pads are also highly customizable: Tweak pad sensitivity to your needs and playing style by choosing one of 4 different velocity curves with adjustable bias parameter. Pad pressure is assignable to Aftertouch, Pitch Bend or other MIDI CCs. And you can not only set a dedicated MIDI channel for each pad, you can even route the MIDI In note to a different MIDI note (eg. when playing a multi-sound plugin, and wanting to browse the sounds in that patch from one pad). 

The on-board hardware step sequencer is a great tool for creative beat composition. Press AURA’s ‘SEQ’ button and the 16 LED buttons below the pots become the much loved classic 16-step programming interface. 

16 Collections of 16 patterns each provide plenty of room for your groove ideas. Each pattern (one per pad) has a total of up to 64 steps split across 4 parts. 

AURA’s sequencer is all about interaction and performance: Parts may be triggered in any combination at any time, so you can create new variations very intuitively. Each pattern, and even each part in a pattern, can have a different length – massively simplifying the creation of poly-rhythms.

Specifications:

• 16 RGB color illuminated velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads
• 8 heavy duty potentiometers (360 degrees, endless)
• TFT colour display with 320×240 px including 4 soft buttons
• 16 RGB LED buttons
• 8 Nektarine buttons for direct access to Patches, Mixer, Pad Setup, Plugins and more
• 6 mode buttons
• 7 Transport Buttons with LED illumination
• Fully MIDI-programmable pads, switches and pots
• 16 Presets for storing all internal settings (not required when using Nektarine)
• Rugged housing with aluminium top
• MIDI Out connector
• 1/4″ TRS footswitch socket (for up to 2 footswitches using optional Y-adaptor)
• USB connector
• PSU connector (9V DC / 600 mA, center positive. PSU not included)
• Kensington Lock connector
• 30,1 cm (L) x 23,1 cm (D) x 4,5 cm(H), 1,4 kg

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• AURA: USB class compliant (no driver needed) works with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 or higher. Mac OS X 10.5 or higher, Linux (Ubuntu)
• Nektarine and Nektar DAW Integration: Windows 7, 8,10 or higher. Mac OS X 10.7 or higher

STEP SEQUENCER

• Stores 16 Collections of 16 Patterns each
• Each Pattern with up to 4 parts for a total of up to 64 steps
• Dedicated programming interface with 16 RGB buttons and parts selection buttons
• Real-time performance features (solo, mute, instant start options and more)
• Trigger sequencer parts in any combination at any time
• Independent settings per part (play rate, step length, velocity, accent, gate, swing and more)
• Extensive editing features all the way down to step level
• Internal and external clock operationLatch automation on/off

PAD REPEAT ENGINE

• 8 adjustable real-time parameters incl. note length, accent level and interval and repeat rate
• Dedicated Repeat rate settings & activation buttons
• Display soft button for instant assignment of pressure to velocity
• Tap tempo feature
• Internal and external clock operation

NEKTARINE

• AAX, AU, VST or VST3 plugin version and stand-alone application for OSX & Windows
• Load any VST, VST3 and AU instrument plugins
• 16 instrument plugin slots
• Each instrument slot with choke, volume, pan, mute/solo, sends 1-4 controls
• 4 effect insert plugin slots per instrument (AU / VST / VST3 FX)
• 4 send effect plugin slots (AU / VST / VST3 FX)
• Store instrument & FX plugin patches + Nektarine Multi-Patches
• Browser Settings are remembered per plugin slot
• Handles all pad-, plugin- & patch-management with complete control from AURA
• Control page editor for customizing Nektar plugin maps or creating new ones from scratch
• Full parameter feedback: display updated in real-time
• Scale and Chords mode for building tracks
• Multi-Patch with Pad settings save as ‘Default’ load as default – all browser settings can be saved with tags for slots tag ‘kick’, slot 1, etc.

AURA NEKTAR DAW INTEGRATION SUPPORTS

• Ableton Live Suite
• Apple Logic + Garageband
• Bitwig 8-Track + Studio
• Cockos Reaper
• MOTU Digital Performer
• Presonus Studio One
• Reason Studios Reason
• Steinberg Cubase + Nuendo