Icon P1 Nano has landed - £249

I've been using the Steinberg cc121 for many years. Yesterday the P1-Nano (sans the D5 screen) arrived. have not worked with it yet, but first impressions are good.

The good

• It feels sturdy and well built.
• It offers a lot more control than the cc121 with a smaller footprint.
• The user-defineable touch buttons are the star of the show. I thought I would prefer tactile buttons like on the Streamdeck. But the touchscreen feels nice and works very well. I think I even prefer it over tactile buttons. A positive surprise.
• The fader is smooth and relatively quiet. Quieter than the one on my cc121.
• It offers a lot for the money.

What could be better

• The control buttons feel spongy and do not register if you hit them at an angle. They do feel sturdy enough, but just don't offer a high quality tactile feeling.
• While the P1-Nano is inexpensive for what it offers, the additional screen D5 is grossly overpriced in comparison. I bought the P1-Nano for 260$. The D5 screen costs 150$. Just a small screen costs more than half of what the whole unit costs. Makes no sense to me.

Odd behaviour that I couldn't figure out how to solve yet

The controls on my unit send midi notes to my DAW (Cubase 13 Pro). If I have a piano track selected and press play on the P1-Nano, I hear the piano play a G5 and the playback starts. If I press stop, I hear an A5 and the playback stops. And so on for all the other buttons. I had to disconnect the midi output of the P1 in the Cubase studio settings. Now it works and doesn't send the midi notes. I don't think that's how it's supposed to work. I can't figure out why it is midi note commands at all.

The channel select works only if the channels are displayed on my screen.

For now I am happy with my new controller. Definitely a step up from the cc121 for me.

The D5 meter bridge is $59 but you have to buy the bundle not purchase it separately. I don’t know why they have the pricing so high for the D5 alone. They came in separate factory boxes, it’s not like they were in a combined package. If I were you I’d return it and get the bundle or contact Icon and see if they will let you upgrade.

I noticed the midi note as well but on mine it’s a low note flashing on and off in the control panel. It might be active sensing. I’ve had the same kind of thing happen with another synth and had to filter it out. Mine doesn’t play notes with each button push or anything like that.

They have some bugs to sort out but be sure to update the firmware using iMap.

Where I live no bundle is available unfortunately. For 69 bucks I'd probably have bought the D5. But no way I am paying $150 for it.

Odd about the midi notes. I hope icon solves it with a firmware update.

Another thing came to mind. On a streamdeck, the keys are more configurable. It's ironic that on a controller from Icon, the keys can only display ... text. No icons.

muk said:

A positive suThe controls on my unit send midi notes to my DAW (Cubase 13 Pro). If I have a piano track selected and press play on the P1-Nano, I hear the piano play a G5 and the playback starts. If I press stop, I hear an A5 and the playback stops. And so on for all the other buttons. I had to disconnect the midi output of the P1 in the Cubase studio settings. Now it works and doesn't send the midi notes. I don't think that's how it's supposed to work. I can't figure out why it is midi note commands at all.

Click to expand...

You need to set P1 Nano to Inactive in All MIDI IN option.