best pad controller?

is it the korg padkontrol or akai mpd** ?

This is relevant to my interests.

I love my PK, but I've never used an mpd.

dont know about mpd but i got the lpd b/c im a cheap bastard and it is more compact and has knobbies. control is pretty straightforward. the pads are solid and the velocity response is pretty good but the knobs are too small. granted this isnt relevant for the mpd and even in spite of this i still think overall akai prob makes better controllers than korg...the korg ones look a little cheaper though i have not used.

edit: now wait which mpd? i dont know if i would shell out an extra 50 beyond the lpd for this one

http://www.amazon.com/Akai-MPD-USB-MIDI-Controller/dp/B002A4H3WC

but this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035AQCT0/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002A4H3WC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=08S4GYYS61YC0WACNQPY

looks pretty damn solid. still if youre gonna drop $200 might as well get a keyboard but of course it depends what youre looking to do with it

  On 9/24/2010 at 8:14 AM, Scrambled Ears said:

dont know about mpd but i got the lpd b/c im a cheap bastard and it is more compact and has knobbies. control is pretty straightforward. the pads are solid and the velocity response is pretty good but the knobs are too small. granted this isnt relevant for the mpd and even in spite of this i still think overall akai prob makes better controllers than korg...the korg ones look a little cheaper though i have not used.

 

edit: now wait which mpd? i dont know if i would shell out an extra 50 beyond the lpd for this one

http://www.amazon.com/Akai-MPD-USB-MIDI-Controller/dp/B002A4H3WC

 

but this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035AQCT0/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002A4H3WC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=08S4GYYS61YC0WACNQPY

 

looks pretty damn solid. still if youre gonna drop $200 might as well get a keyboard but of course it depends what youre looking to do with it

yeah i was looking at the mpd26...

i've seen in a tutorial someone mapped out a scale or notes to their pads. that's what i'd do

i guess another important question is which unit let's you save settings

The PadKontrol is quality. I've owned mine for two years now and it hasn't shown any signs of failing me yet. The x-y pad is nice if you're trying to mimic a real drummer as it allows you to do flams and rolls with ease. Everything is re-assignable except for the menu function buttons. My only wish is that it had more than two knobs built into it.

  On 9/24/2010 at 7:08 PM, Wall Bird said:

The PadKontrol is quality. I've owned mine for two years now and it hasn't shown any signs of failing me yet. The x-y pad is nice if you're trying to mimic a real drummer as it allows you to do flams and rolls with ease. Everything is re-assignable except for the menu function buttons. My only wish is that it had more than two knobs built into it.

yeah the ribbon controller looks nice.. cheaper than the akai ones though, i'm sure the akai's have better pads but i mean you've had no problems with it. i need more confessionals in this thread

I have had the padKontrol and the MPD24 and prefer the MPD24 because of its pads and sliders. If you need lit pads though you probably wont like it. I recently picked up a Novation Launchpad which is amazing. I have it setup to run as a monome emulator running sevenup live:

http://vimeo.com/7877824

I've owned the trigger finger, the padkontrol and the akai mpd32

Trigger finger is shit.

Padkontrol has the best (most responsive, playable) pads. You don't have to slam them to get full velocity. X/y is always fun. Rolls and flam function us fun.

Akai mpd32s pads are ok... Often I am using two fingers for more support/strength. Not as responsive as the padkontol, which I miss, but the trade off was lots of knobs and buttons and easy octave switching.

So if you are looking for a really responsive unit that you'll be playing a lot, and don't need lots of controls... Get the padkontol. It even comes in black now... Weee

If you are looking for more of a command center unit that covers all your bases, ge the akai mpd32.

I have no experience with the smaller akai and korg units.

maschine <3

  On 9/24/2010 at 6:44 PM, yek said:

  On 9/24/2010 at 8:14 AM, Scrambled Ears said:

dont know about mpd but i got the lpd b/c im a cheap bastard and it is more compact and has knobbies. control is pretty straightforward. the pads are solid and the velocity response is pretty good but the knobs are too small. granted this isnt relevant for the mpd and even in spite of this i still think overall akai prob makes better controllers than korg...the korg ones look a little cheaper though i have not used.

 

edit: now wait which mpd? i dont know if i would shell out an extra 50 beyond the lpd for this one

http://www.amazon.com/Akai-MPD-USB-MIDI-Controller/dp/B002A4H3WC

 

but this one

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0035AQCT0/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002A4H3WC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=08S4GYYS61YC0WACNQPY

 

looks pretty damn solid. still if youre gonna drop $200 might as well get a keyboard but of course it depends what youre looking to do with it

yeah i was looking at the mpd26...

 

i've seen in a tutorial someone mapped out a scale or notes to their pads. that's what i'd do

 

i guess another important question is which unit let's you save settings

you can save settings on either but i have mixed feelings about scale programming. i mean it all depends on what youre trying to do. but be careful you dont confuse yourself musically in the process bc the difference with that and a keyboard is that there is no differentiation between notes besides what you remember in your own head. i mean it will say pad 4 or 5 or whatever and you can go into the settings and see what note is set there but it is kind of a lazy way of doing things that might confuse your idea of harmony and tone identity though it is perhaps good for someone who already has a strong command over music but wants to break out of the box in terms of the way they communicate or wants to listen more with their ears...just my two cents

edit: saw a post about octave switching and wanted to say that this is a nice feature that lpd does not have without prior programming

i guess the mpds large screen prob lets you see what note you are always playing but dont know about this one...still i would say to be aware of your interface and how it effects your understanding of music

so , i guess the question is, will a pad controller be all i need? i don't want a keyboard and a bunch of knob boxes, or other things that say they do everything you need

ps, is it hard to switch octaves on the padkontroL?

  On 9/24/2010 at 7:44 PM, luke viia said:

maschine <3

Just sold mine :( it worked nice as a controller but I couldnt get into the software package. I just sold it because it seemed like a waste to use a $500 piece of equipment just as a controller.

What do you want your ideal controller to do?

  On 9/24/2010 at 9:11 PM, Kcinsu said:

What do you want your ideal controller to do?

play notes, trigger samples, create drum patterns, have some knobs

not huge too

edit edit edit use with reason

  On 9/24/2010 at 9:10 PM, goffer said:

  On 9/24/2010 at 7:44 PM, luke viia said:

maschine <3

Just sold mine :( it worked nice as a controller but I couldnt get into the software package. I just sold it because it seemed like a waste to use a $500 piece of equipment just as a controller.

yeah I can see why it wouldn't be as exciting if you only used it to control a daw or something.. I just got mine, and I haven't even tried to use it to control ableton or anything. I'm having a blast just playing in the standalone mode. I thought it'd be weird to get into composing with loops/groups/scenes, but I am in love. pretty excited to start sampling my weird cassette and vinyl collection on this thing. =]

to re-iterate kcinsu, they are both good at different things.

Padkontrol - good for playing fast stuff with lots of notes at lots of velocities (for example playing real drums like ezdrummer or bfd or whatever).

Akai MPD - good for hip-hop style where 127 velocities aren't necessary, or even counter-productive.

The Akai isn't as responsive, but if you just want to trigger a kick snare hat rhythm at a constant velocity then i actually prefer it, given the other shit it comes with. i like the 16 Levels function which lets you map one note out to 16 pads at equal increments in velocity, this is great for doing ghost note stuff on snares and hats and shit. the knobs are the best i've ever spun, same as the APC40 which I love, and the sliders the same. akai makes the best quality cc controllers.

The padkontrol is better for playing stuff with dynamics and stuff like that. On the other hand though i find for me the sensitivity of it results in a less perfect rhythm, for some reason when i have to pound on the pads i'm more accurate (kinda like when you sing loud you can get higher notes).

They are both good, i have them both, but they are very different, just gotta figure out which one you like more.

I was going to buy a Korg Pad but I am going to get this instead. (I can do a lot crazier stuff with drumsticks)

http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Control-MIDI-Percussion-Controller/dp/B000OUUG78

$138 bucks is a fucking steal for something like that. Its got great reviews and the only stuff that's comparable is more than 500 bucks as far as I understand.

  On 9/25/2010 at 2:54 AM, ryanmcallister said:

The Akai isn't as responsive, but if you just want to trigger a kick snare hat rhythm at a constant velocity then i actually prefer it, given the other shit it comes with. i like the 16 Levels function which lets you map one note out to 16 pads at equal increments in velocity, this is great for doing ghost note stuff on snares and hats and shit. the knobs are the best i've ever spun, same as the APC40 which I love, and the sliders the same. akai makes the best quality cc controllers.

thats awesome about the increments...might have to upgrade from the lpd

  On 9/25/2010 at 3:48 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

I was going to buy a Korg Pad but I am going to get this instead. (I can do a lot crazier stuff with drumsticks)

http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Control-MIDI-Percussion-Controller/dp/B000OUUG78

 

$138 bucks is a fucking steal for something like that. Its got great reviews and the only stuff that's comparable is more than 500 bucks as far as I understand.

don't they have one similar with bumpers that trigger as well?

I remember seeing these before but I thought every other option was way too expensive but just to be sure I just went through 100 pages of google shopping to try and find any other competitors for my money on a usb drum midi controller for sticks. Still looks like that Alesis by far the best value. At this point I am 99% positive I will just buy another one for more pads. Two of those would take care of all my percussion needs. From everything I have read and seen they leave nothing to be desired especially at that price. I am really happy I am not going to have to spend more than $300 for 16 pads ready to be brutalized by sticks.

Anyway I think you were referring to these. (the only bumpered pads I have seen for less than thousand)

Yamaha DTX-MULTI 12 ($699.99)

Roland SPD-S Sampling Pad ($519.00)((Doesn't have usb out))

The only other options I have seen are near a grand or over... Oh just remembered this one. Looks really cool but it doesn't appear its usb either... but damn it looks so nice

KAT Percussion trapKAT XL ($1799.00)

Damn BFC, those are pretty nifty.

I really want one I can use my drumsticks on as well. I need a new laptop, DJ controller, and new monitors before I can even consider it though, so I'll just be sticking with my Trigger Finger. It does the job pretty well, though I actually end up using it more for its knobs than is pads.

It feels amazing to just hold the thing in one hand and be able to move around some while knobbing it up. I kinda just want to strap it to my chest.

We have already had the "MPCs outdated?" discussion but MPC's these days are for people who don't want the inconvenience of using a PC all the time. A few controllers and a PC is less convenient but=much much more potential.

what i really want, is a full on roland v drum set.

almost worth moving out of the city into a larger place, for!