Reddit mentions of Nektar Impact GX61 Controller Keyboard

I recently impulsively bought a Roland JD-Xi, as my first ever synth and music instrument in general, at Guitar Center after visiting and seeing it was $100 off. There's a 45 day return policy so I'm can always get my money back if I end up regretting my purchase, though I'm enjoying it so far.

However, I'm itching to practice playing the keyboard itself, so that I can both play songs I know and also create more interesting tracks on my synth, but I'm finding the 37 mini-key keyboard on the JD-Xi to be a bit limiting. I'm considering buying a separate 61 key MIDI controller and connecting it to my JD-Xi, and putting them both on some two-tier stand.

Does this seem like a waste to have the JD-Xi then? Would I be better off getting the MIDI controller and a synth with a smaller/no keyboard that's cheaper? The 4-track pattern sequencer is one of my favorite aspects of the JD-Xi, and I don't really see another synth with something similar.

Or, rather, would getting a separate MIDI controller help me bring out the most of the JD-Xi?

Also, in terms of controllers, I'm not looking to spend a ton since I just spent a decent amount on the synth, just a basic velocity sensitive 61 key keyboard with MIDI out, and possibly some knobs that can be assigned to control some of the menu parameters for the JD-Xi. Here's some of the ones I found:

midiplus i61 [$84] Pretty basic

midiplus Origin 62 [$126] Has a bunch of knobs and such that I can use for the synth, but apparently the velocity sensing is mediocre

Nektar Impact GX61 [$120] Pretty good reviews, has some MIDI assignable buttons. I'm assuming it has 5 prong MIDI out, but it's hard to tell from the picture.

M-Audio Oxygen Series 61 [$120] Seems decent all around, but again, it doesn't look like it has a 5 prong MIDI out, just a USB.

Any suggestions?

Since you were comparing to first act I showed the cheapest possible. IMO if your goal is to determine if you are interested in getting further into keyboard playing I would recco something large enough to do normal two-handed stuff on (like https://www.amazon.com/Nektar-Impact-GX61-Controller-Keyboard/dp/B01EN0FWUU). If you just want to be able to enter notes easy instead of click a midi grid or keyboard type in a DAW or something, those tiny ones will do fine though.

I have this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01EN0FWUU - you can plug it into your laptop and make songs on GarageBand. I’m a beginner and it works for me.

found more complaining on amazon reviews Even with velocity settings changes, sometimes it feels like you have to strike too hard to get the velocity you like but maybe this free MIDI Polysher can help a bit.