Nektar AURA is a powerful beat making instrument with 16 hyper-sensitive RGB illuminated pads, on-board step sequencer, flexible pad repeat engine and incredible plugin control. AURA is also USB-class-compliant and can be used as MIDI Pad Controller with any MIDI music software.
The included Nektarine software unleashes advanced features and turns AURA into a complete beat making solution with sample playback and deep plugin control in any VST, VST3, AU or AAX compatible music software. The built-in DP-1 drum player with its factory sample library of over 500 drum and percussion sounds gets you started right away. Use any combination of your own or the included samples to create kits. Want more? Add any VST, VST3 or AU plugins to the mix. AURA and Nektarine put a complete beat production powerhouse at your fingertips. Get into the zone!
 
 
 
GREAT FEEL
The 16 large RGB-illuminated pads are great for finger drumming and respond to velocity and pad pressure (channel and poly). They trigger at the lightest touch, and you can even adjust their sensitivity on a per-pad basis. Additionally, you can tune the overall velocity response by choosing from different curves and adjusting the curve's bias.
PAD REPEAT
Use the on-board Pad Repeat engine to create rolls and percussive lines: Realtime parameters for groove and speed control make Pad Repeat a fun performance tool.
Looking for some instant Trap-style hihat lines? The first 6 RGB LED buttons above the display let you switch the repeat rate in realtime. Create truly dynamic rolls by using pad pressure to control velocity while changing the repeat rates with the LED buttons. Other parameters include Repeat Rate, Gate, Accent Interval, Accent Velocity Offset, Swing, Trigger Mode and Clock Source.
SEQUENCER
In Sequencer Mode, the 16 small RGB buttons turn into an intuitive 16-step programming interface with full visual feedback on buttons and display. The built-in sequencer stores 16 Collections of 16 patterns each, providing a lot of room for groove ideas (backup via the Nektarine software).
Each pattern (one per pad) has up to 64 steps, split across 4 parts. Easily create variations by triggering parts in any combination and change parameters such as Length, Swing, Play Rate or Velocity in realtime while playing. Internal and external clock modes ensure synchronisation with the outside world and simplify the recording of your sequences in a DAW.
CONTROL YOUR DAW
When you install Nektar DAW Integration, you are ready to record beats anywhere in the project, and control transport functions without having to reach for the mouse. The dedicated transport buttons enable Click, forward/rewind, loop on/off, stop, play, record, set loop points, goto left loop point, undo and automation read/write. Transport functions are always accessible, regardless of what menu is selected on AURA. From the DAW page, the Song Position or play head can be moved. Loop length can be set and the loop point moved using the pots. A button combination moves the Song Position/play head to the left loop point, ready for recording. Supported DAWs: Ableton Live Suite, Bitwig, Cakewalk, Cubase, Digital Performer, Garageband, Logic, Nuendo, Reaper, Reason and Studio One.
 
 
 
DEEP PLUGIN CONTROL
Load the included Nektarine plugin into any VST, VST3, AU or AAX DAW, scan your plugins and control your installed VST and AU plugins directly from the hardware! The eight heavy-duty rotary pots provide hands-on control for Instrument plugins hosted in Nektarine - complete with parameter feedback on the TFT color display. Many popular plugins are pre-mapped for instant use and you can easily tweak or create maps as deep as you like using Nektarine's graphic editor. You can also import your favourite patches into Nektarine’s powerful database and manage all your patches in Nektarine.
BUILD KITS FROM ANY SOURCE
AURA comes with all you need to make beats. The powerful Nektarine software lets you build custom kits in seconds. Simply drag patches, or samples from the file browser onto pads - loading a patch automatically loads the plugin it needs. Up to 16 instrument plugins or samples can be loaded into a Multipatch and saved for recall. You can operate Nektarine from the hardware, making this combination as intuitive to work with as a classic drum machine - with the advantage, that the sound is happening directly on the track in your DAW.
SOUNDS INCLUDED
Nektarine comes with the DP-1 drum sample player. So you can start creating beats without needing anything else.
What's more, we've included a sample library with 500+ production-ready drum and percussion sounds. Featuring classic beatboxes and meticulously recorded acoustic drum kits, covering styles from 60s, Funky Drummer or Modern Pop to Rock, Metal and HipHop.

In the Box    Aura MIDI pad controller, USB cable (A), user guide and software license for Nektarine and Factory drum sound library.