Recording Neuropixels on XDAQ: Headstage to Analysis
Neuropixels data acquisition on XDAQ: the Kontex NP Headstage, the Commutator PRO for freely moving work, the Open Ephys plugin, and Radiens live monitoring.
6 min read
Updated October 31, 2026
NeuroNexus · neuronexus.com · Resources
XDAQ records Neuropixels 1.0 and 2.0 probes in its NP mode, with Kontex's acquisition software and its Open Ephys plugin. The Kontex NP Headstage connects the probe, the Commutator PRO keeps up to four Neuropixels probes untwisted on a freely moving animal while a passive probe stimulates, and Radiens watches the recording as it is written and analyzes it on a native Neuropixels probe model.
Research use only. NeuroNexus products and the procedures described here are for non-clinical research use, and must not be used in human or veterinary medical procedures.
Neuropixels probes are made by imec and acquired on imec's own PXIe card or OneBox. XDAQ is a second route, engineered and manufactured by Kontex and commercialized by NeuroNexus, and it is the route to take when the same rig also records or stimulates through passive probes, runs freely moving animals on a commutator, or should be watched live in Radiens.
The chain#
Neuropixels probe → Kontex NP Headstage → [Commutator PRO] → XDAQ (NP mode)
→ Kontex acquisition software (Open Ephys plugin) → recording on disk
→ Videre live recording monitor, during the session → Radiens analysis
Each link is a product with a datasheet; the Commutator PRO is the one optional link, for freely moving animals.
Which XDAQ?#
Every XDAQ runs in three modes: record (XR), record-and-stimulate (XSR) and Neuropixels (NP). The NP column sizes the system for Neuropixels; the other two size it for the passive probes on the same rig.
| NP — Neuropixels | XR — record | XSR — record and stimulate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| XDAQ ONE+ | up to 4 probes, 384 channels each | up to 1,024+ channels | up to 128 channels |
| XDAQ CORE2 | up to 1,024+ channels | 512 channels | 16 or 32 channels |
| XDAQ ALL-IN-ONE | up to 1,024+ channels | 1,024+ channels | 128 channels |
The ONE+ is the Neuropixels system: four Neuropixels ports, each with its own status light, and the passive channels beside them. The CORE2 travels, on USB-C power. The ALL-IN-ONE adds synchronized video and four optical stimulation outputs. All three record Neuropixels at the probe's own fixed rates. The full specification is in X-Series XDAQ System Overview.
Figure 1. XDAQ ONE+, the XDAQ with four Neuropixels ports.
The headstage#
The Kontex NP Headstage is a lightweight interface board for Neuropixels 1.0 and 2.0 probes. The probe's flex cable docks into it, metal pads facing down, and the headstage connects to XDAQ directly or through the Commutator PRO, into one of the four Neuropixels ports by USB-C. Kontex designed it for XDAQ and the Commutator PRO, with a cable about 40 percent lighter than imec's stock cable, which is the weight a freely moving mouse carries.
The commutator, for freely moving animals#
A tethered animal twists its cable; a commutator lets the cable turn with it. The Commutator PRO is motorized: an onboard microprocessor senses rotation, from a gyroscope on the animal side or a Hall sensor on the rotor, and turns the motor to cancel the torque, so the animal supplies no force and the recording stays stable. It carries up to four Neuropixels ports and, through its HDMI port, a passive probe at up to 256 recording or 64 record-and-stimulate channels, with up to nine GPIO lines and an optional 5 mm passthrough for a fiber or a fluid line. That is what makes one experiment possible on one joint: record Neuropixels and stimulate through a passive probe at once, in an animal that moves freely. The Standard Commutator, which is passive, has no Neuropixels ports.
Figure 2. The Commutator PRO: up to four Neuropixels ports and a passive probe through one torque-compensated joint.
Acquisition software#
XDAQ in NP mode is run by Kontex's acquisition software, which uses the XDAQ Neuropixels plugin for Open Ephys for the probe interface. Install the plugin from Kontex, connect the PC, and XDAQ appears as the acquisition device; probe settings, site selection and recording are set there. The setup, LED by LED, is in the XDAQ ONE+ manual. Passive probes on the same XDAQ record through the same system in XR or XSR mode.
Watching the recording live: Videre#
Videre, the analysis application in Radiens ↗, runs alongside the acquisition software and reads the recording as it is written, about 200 milliseconds behind, with no driver and no change to the rig. It is a live view of the data stream and its quality: raw traces and probe heatmaps on the native Neuropixels probe model, signal-quality metrics, and live spectral analysis, sorting and PSTH, so a dead bank, a noisy reference or a drifting probe shows during the session rather than after it. The live recording monitor is part of Radiens Pro and is in beta on Neuropixels rigs.
Analysis#
The same recording opens in Videre after the session. Radiens reads Neuropixels data natively, places every channel on a native Neuropixels probe model in space, and carries the work from spike sorting, with curation and cluster-quality metrics, to LFP, spectral and field analysis, with each sort and transform versioned so the result is exactly re-derivable. Datasets export as NWB. Radiens Standard is free; Pro adds the sorting, curation and field analysis. The same probe models cover SiNAPS and NeuroNexus probes, so a rig that records more than one kind of probe analyzes them in one place.
Adding a second probe that stimulates#
Neuropixels records only (Jun et al. (2017) ↗; Steinmetz et al. (2021) ↗). Stimulation goes through a passive probe with stimulation-rated sites, an X-Series record-and-stimulate headstage, and XDAQ in XSR mode, on the Commutator PRO's HDMI port in a freely moving animal. Which passive probe, and how the dense passive designs compare with Neuropixels in their own right, is set out in Neuropixels, SiNAPS and Silicon Probes: How to Choose.
What to order#
- XDAQ ONE+ (
daq_ktx--xdaq-onep) for up to four Neuropixels probes; or CORE2 (daq_ktx--xdaq-core2) or ALL-IN-ONE (daq_ktx--xdaq-aio). - Kontex NP Headstage (
hst_xsr--np), one per probe. - Commutator PRO (
con_ktx--comp) for freely moving work. - Radiens with Videre (
rad_app--videre): Standard, free, for analysis; Pro for the live recording monitor, sorting and field analysis. - The Neuropixels probes themselves, from imec.
An Application Scientist will match the XDAQ model and the commutator to the probe count and the passive channels; request a quote with the items above, or ask through Contact.
Related documents#
- Neuropixels, SiNAPS and Silicon Probes: How to Choose
- X-Series XDAQ System Overview
- XDAQ ONE+ user manual
- Neural Recording Chips: A Guide to DAQ ASICs
- High-Density Recording: A Planning Guide
Citations#
- Steinmetz, N. A., et al. (2021). Neuropixels 2.0: A miniaturized high-density probe for stable, long-term brain recordings. Science 372, eabf4588. 10.1126/science.abf4588 ↗
- Jun, J. J., et al. (2017). Fully integrated silicon probes for high-density recording of neural activity. Nature 551, 232–236. 10.1038/nature24636 ↗