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

With the included Nektarine 2.0 software, AURA becomes a plugin control powerhouse for VST, VST3 and AU plugins. Work it as a single multi-sound drum plugin or host a comprehensive kit using multiple plugins. Setting up AURA’s pads is fast and intuitive, with real-time auditioning. Nektarine can host up to 16 different instrument plugins at once. Each of AURA’s pads can play its own plugin. Any pad can be rerouted to a new plugin by creating a plugin slot and loading a patch or plugin directly from AURA’s browser. Pad assignments are saved as part of a DAW project/song or a Nektarine Multi-Patch for instant recall.

AURA’s Plugin mode provides instant control of hosted instrument plugin parameters. When programming drum sounds, quick access to key parameters such as pitch, decay or level is essential. Nektarine makes short work of this by auto-selecting the relevant parameters for control with AURA’s eight rotary pots, based on the last triggered pad. Nektar plugin maps ensure that even plugins with thousands of parameters have seamless control.

Nektarine 2.0 provides four FX insert slots per hosted instrument plugin. This gives up to 64 insert effect plugins per Nektarine instance. Dedicated AURA FX buttons enable selection and control of hosted effects plugins. Each Nektarine instance has another four global send effects slots. Their send levels are controlled for each instrument plugin from AURA’s mixer page. Other mixer page controls are volume, pan and mute/solo for each plugin slot.

Nektarine’s Browser is designed to manage thousands of patches. Find features like customizable tags and sorting tools, with full control from AURA. Browser settings are independent for every instrument and effect plugin slot. They are stored with a Nektarine Multi-Patch or even a DAW project/song, along with all other settings. Nektarine can be run in any DAW hosting AAX, AU, VST or VST3 plugins or as a standalone application in Windows and Apple OSX.

Pad Repeat Engine
AURA’s on-board pad repeat engine is directly accessible. It features a dedicated on/off button and settings menu. It’s a great tool for creating dynamic rolls by using pad pressure to control velocity while changing repeat rates with the RGB LED buttons. The Repeat engine is customizable. Parameters include Repeat Rate, Gate, Accent Interval, Accent Velocity Offset, Swing, Trigger Mode and Clock Source.

Hardware Step Sequencer
On pressing AURA’s SEQ button, the 16 LED buttons below the pots become the classic 16-step programming interface. 16 patterns (one per pad) with four parts, comprising of up to 16 steps each, add up to a total of 64 steps. This provides flexibility for inspired beat creation. A set of patterns can be saved in one of AURA’s 16 Collections. AURA’s sequencer is all about interaction and performance. Parts may be triggered in any combination at any time. Each pattern, and each part in a pattern, can have a different length. This simplifies the creation of interesting poly-rhythms. Many of the editing features go all the way down to step level and include play rate, velocity, accent, gate and swing. Internal and external clock modes ensure perfect sync. The sequencer may also be used stand-alone for MIDI instruments connected to AURA’s external MIDI Out.

DAW Integration
The dedicated DAW button assigns AURA’s surface to take control of many popular DAWs. This opens up Nektar DAW integration features such as extended transport control, track selection, project navigation and more. Nektar DAW Integration software is included for Ableton Live Suite, Bitwig, Cubase, Digital Performer, Garageband, Logic, Nuendo, Reaper, Reason, Studio One and Sonar/Cakewalk. Seven transport buttons are fully MIDI assignable, including MMC commands. They can be used to set up transport control for any software not supported by Nektar DAW integration.

MIDI Programmability
While AURA is designed for control of Nektarine, it can be used as a self-contained, programmable USB MIDI pad controller in Internal mode. It connects with hard- and software via USB or the MIDI output jack. 16 presets store pad and control assignments. They can be used for the 16 pads, 8 pots, 7 switches and 2 foot switch connections.