Thanks for the advice and info, Larry. I also read about Sonar X3 improving a lot on X2, which was quite glitchy, as you've both mentioned. Why do I have X2? Because it was free for me. I'll see what I can do about getting X3.

It's good to know the Nektar Impact LX keyboard will connect directly to USB; my laptop is a performance laptop (Intel Core i7 processor) and it has at least 4 USB ports. So, using 2 of those ports for the Alesis & Nektar ought to work fine, with no major latency issues?

It's also good to know about the Alesis internal battery probably on its last legs, the one in the Korg M1 had to be replaced, too. I'll have to look into that.