Learn your way around Impetus.

Slide your finger up and down on any key assigned to a fader (the Y-axis / Slide expression on your MPE keyboard) to move that track's fader in your DAW. 8 fader tracks are active at once. Experiment with finger pressure or your keyboard's sensitivity settings until you get a smooth response.

The 8 fader keys on the keyboard diagram

Impetus has three fader modes, switchable from a dedicated key or the Key Mapping tab:

• Absolute — your finger position maps directly to the fader position. Simple and predictable. The first touch of the fader can cause a visible "jump" if your finger isn't already where the fader currently sits.
• Relative — your finger "picks up" the fader smoothly, starting from wherever it already is. No jump, but a full swipe won't necessarily take the fader all the way to the top or bottom.
• Hybrid — starts like Relative for a smooth, jump-free pickup, then gradually converges toward Absolute the more up-and-down movement you make.

Switch between them from the Key Mapping tab or a dedicated key to find the best mode for your mixing situation. The Fader Mode drop-down in the Key Mapping tab still works even if you've disabled the Fader Mode MIDI Keys.

The 8 fader key assignments

Absolute / Relative / Hybrid key assignments

Mod keys change what a fader key does while they're held — think of them like a Shift key for your fader keys.

The mod keys on the keyboard diagram

Solo / Mute / Record Arm (Arm): hold the Solo, Mute, or Arm mod key, then press the fader key for the track you want to affect. That toggles Solo/Mute/Arm for that specific track in your DAW. Release the mod key and fader keys go back to controlling faders normally.

Solo, Mute, and Arm assignments

Left Pan and Right Pan assignments

Fine Mode key assignments

If your session has more than 8 tracks, Bank Up and Bank Down shift which 8 tracks are currently mapped to your fader keys — like paging between groups of channel strips on a hardware console. Your key assignments stay the same; only which tracks they're pointing at changes.

Bank Up / Bank Down assignments

Bank keys on the keyboard diagram

Play, Stop, Record, Punch, and Loop each work as a simple press. Different DAWs react differently to Fast Forward and Rewind. For instance, Pro Tools will rewind continuously while the Rewind key is held and stop rewinding when released. Logic Pro will rewind when the key is tapped, and if the key is held, it will rewind faster and faster.

This kind of DAW-specific behavior isn't limited to Fast Forward and Rewind — other transport functions can respond differently depending on which DAW you're running. Experiment with each key in your own setup to get a feel for how it behaves.

Transport key assignments

Transport keys on the keyboard diagram

This is where every key assignment lives, organized by category (Fader Mode, Fader Keys, Fine Mode, Pan Control, Bank Control, Transport, Track Control Mod keys).

The full Key Mapping tab

A Learn button mid-assignment

Customizing your layout: each category can be disabled entirely if you don't use it — for example, turn off Pan Controls to free up those keys for something else, or turn off Fine Mode if you never use it. Disabled categories disappear from the duplicate-detection system too, so their old key assignments become available again.

To disable a single function within a category, simply enter 0 in the number box, or reassign that MIDI key to a different function and accept the conflict detector pop-up.

A category on/off toggle

Keyboard Shortcuts let you trigger any app-specific or system-wide key command — or a whole sequence of them — from a single key on your MPE keyboard, independent of any DAW control surface feature. They will also work outside of your DAW, in any software in focus that uses the assigned shortcuts.

The Keyboard Shortcuts tab

The shortcut / macro editor

Creating a shortcut

Click Create New Shortcut. In the new window:

• Give your shortcut a name. (This name will be abbreviated and shown in the keyboard diagram on its assigned key.)
• Select a category. (transport, navigation, edit, mix, custom)
• Check all necessary modifier keys and enter the Base Key. For example, for the Undo command, check the Cmd checkbox and enter z as the Base Key.
• Important: click "Add Step" — even if your shortcut only has one step.
• Click "Save Shortcut"

Creating a macro

A macro is a shortcut with more than one step. Add each key combination as its own step, in the order you want them to run. Optionally, insert a Pause between steps if more time is required for your DAW to complete the previous step. Steps can be reordered or removed before saving.

Enabling / disabling

Toggle a shortcut off without deleting it — useful for temporarily freeing up a key, or turning off ones you're not using, but want to keep.

This is home base for connecting Impetus to your keyboard and DAW, and for a few settings you may come back to after setup. For setup instructions, see the Support guide.

The full Settings tab

• DAW Selection — choose your DAW and protocol (HUI or Mackie Control), then click Apply to update the MIDI ports Impetus creates for that DAW.
• MIDI Device Selection — pick your keyboard from the Keyboard Port dropdown. Click Refresh if it's not listed, then Connect. If your keyboard is on and connected before starting Impetus, it should auto-connect.
• Logging Settings — Enable Logging writes a log file for troubleshooting; Verbose Logging adds full MIDI message details on top of that. Leave both off unless you're diagnosing a problem, and need to contact support.
• Sending Interval — raise it if faders feel erratic or jittery; lower it if they feel like they're dragging or skipping at regular intervals. Adjust this only a little bit at a time.
• MSB/LSB Delay — raise it slightly if values jump unpredictably, especially when moving several faders at once.
• License — shows your current status (Trial, Pro, Expired). Enter License Key to activate a purchased license; a Buy link appears here too while you're on a trial or after it's expired.

A small, separate floating window you can leave open while you work, so you don't need the full main window open on top of your DAW. It shows:

• Device and DAW connection at a glance (two status dots)
• An enable/disable toggle for the controller
• The current Fader Mode (Absolute / Relative / Hybrid)
• Live indicators for the mod keys currently in use — Solo, Mute, Arm, Pan, Right Pan, Width, and Fine Mode light up as you hold them, so you can see at a glance which modifier is active
• A preset dropdown, so you can switch presets without opening the main window at all

Show or hide it from the Window menu, or from its own toggle button in the main window.

The Status Window

Presets store a full set of key mappings and shortcuts together, so you can switch your whole layout in one click.

• Factory presets are read-only starting points. Editing one prompts you to save it as a new preset first, so the factory version is always there to come back to.
• User presets are yours — rename or delete them freely. Changes save automatically as you make them, so there's no separate Save step.
• Switching the active preset instantly loads its key mappings and shortcuts.
• Creating a new preset- Click Duplicate on whichever existing preset is closest to what you want, give the copy a name, and edit freely from there — the original stays untouched.

The preset selector

Impetus adds two menus to the top menu bar:

• Window — toggle the Status Window and Main Window, reset window positions, and enable/disable the controller.
  Select "Reset Window Positions" if your windows don't show up — useful if you use a laptop with different monitor setups.
• Help — a link to the Impetus Support Guide, this User Guide, and (while on a trial or expired license) a Buy Impetus link.

The Window menu