Korg nanoKONTROL Studio

According to pictures it promised to be nice controller and so it is in reality. It has everything to get familiar with controller use and you don't need to pay much for it. Sliders, rotating knobs are moving light (not too light), everything is made of plastics, but solid.
Included microUSB type B cord with length of mere 80 cm is suitable for connection with nearby laptop at best, not with computer placed by your feet. I agree with other reviewers its connection to controller is of flimsy design - instead of sticking out into space exposed to any harm the small connector should be sunk in some groove of back cover, thus be protected from accidental side blow.
So the first thing for me was to build stronger platform which will hold both controller and connector without the possibility of bending/breaking in contact site. I used plastic board some 5 cm larger on the side of USB input and with the help of double-sided tape I fastened down both controller and connector, the latter I tightly clamp from all sides with small pieces of plastics and tape. The idea is to transpose any harmful force (don't forget the pull) from connector to supporting board.
I'm using Sonar X2 and I was quite uncertain, if nanoKontrol would work with it. As far I can tell, it does – when the controller is implemented into MIDI Devices and Control Surfaces then various soft-synths (based on Play, Engine, Kontakt) respond to the movements of knobs and sliders without doing any setup. Well, some more fully, some less – why it is, I have to find out, I'm new to this topics yet.

In principle, hardware is well made, although the cable could've been longer.

However, device seems not to be Reaper Friendly....

- the installation is not really as straight forward as one might hope for. At the end I finally got it to work, but I needed a good couple of hours to figure out everything. And even then it worked barely and non 100 % reliably. For example, after starting the Reaper, there was somewhat of a 50/50 chance that the nanoKONTROL would actually work. Also, not sure if it was a must, but it seemed not to be able to work without the KORG KONTROL Editor running in the background.

- after finally getting it to "work" I have experienced a couple of sudden crashes, that are tbh totally for Reaper. Then, on a few occasions, I had to restart the computer because the Reaper would freeze in NOT RESPONDING mode and wouldn't run. The issue was resolved when I "forgot" the nanoKONTROL Studio in the "MIDI devices" and deleted it from "Control Surfaces".

Final verdict
hardware good, buy a longer cable;
radom DAW + nanoKONTROL = maybe;
Reaper + nanoKONTROL = expect problems (Not Responding)

It is overall a very good device, a nice addition to my home studio.
Couple of things to keep in mind.
1. If you are using reaper - you need to set everything up by yourself. It doesn't have a default profile. You can find a reaper profile in the internet, but still, you'll probably need to set up most of stuff on your own. It will take time.
For Logic it does have a default profile, just FYI.

2. The wireless connection is not really stable. The biggest reason for me to buy this unit was wireless connection, but it loses connection very often and pretty randomly. Not sure if it is DAW, OS, or the unit problem. Wired connection works fine.

Ultra portable all-plastic controller. Fits in my coat pocket (I have big pockets) Faders are ok, not bad but not great either, fluency could be better. Pots are decent. Touch pads are nice and responsive.
Great integration in REAPER, you can get some mapping packs at the forums to help you get started.
Downsides mostly the small fader size but that's what you get with going portable. If you want something that will be used as a fixed controller more often than it will be carried out of the house, go for something bigger and just bite the bullet in those odd events where you leave the house with it.