Cubase 8 Pro, El Capitan and Novation Impulse

I’m having a problem with Cubase 8 Pro (8.0.35) and my Novation Impulse 61 under Automap 4.9 under Mac OS X 11. Seems that whenever I fire up Cubase, it won’t recognize my Impulse unless I unplug it from the USB cable and replug it in. There have also been times when I’ve been in the middle of a session and Automap crashes.

I like the Impulse, it has a great keyboard on it - and I know that it is possible to use it as a straight MIDI keyboard without Automap - but I’d like to use it to its full potential to edit synths inside Cubase. And it’s not helping that Novation has shut down its forums on its own website so I can ask those questions of fellow Impulse and Automap users.

Any troubleshooting tips you can give? And, failing that, any good controller keyboards that one could recommend as a substitute?

Thank you in advance for any help you all may be able to give me.