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Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 12:19 am
by golemus
I would like to get a good pad controller for drum racks. Currently I have Akai LPD8 but the problem is that it is difficult to know which drum rack slots the pads are actually controlling. And I would like to have 16 of them.

Ideally I would like that the pad controller controls always the thing I see in the drum rack. So that when I browse with mouse up or down in the drum rack and there are new slots in the view, the akai pads are automatically mapped to the new slots.

So that always whatever I see in the screen is mapped to the pads on my table.

Do you know if Akai MPC Element can do this...?

http://www.thomann.de/fi/akai_mpc_element.htm


Another one I have been looking is Akai MPD 18. It is much older though and has been criticized of stiff pads.


Recommendations..?

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 11:24 pm
by delicioso
golemus wrote:I would like to get a good pad controller for drum racks. Currently I have Akai LPD8 but the problem is that it is difficult to know which drum rack slots the pads are actually controlling. And I would like to have 16 of them.
You should check out Maschine. Maschine 2.1's new Live 9 templates for its MIDI mode are much improved, especially visual feedback of parameter names and value feedback from Live on the dual displays/knobs/buttons. With Drum Rack, there's now more LED feedback so the pads with samples/instruments loaded light up. You can also scroll up and down rows of pads as well as moving by whole octaves.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:14 am
by golemus
delicioso wrote:
golemus wrote:I would like to get a good pad controller for drum racks. Currently I have Akai LPD8 but the problem is that it is difficult to know which drum rack slots the pads are actually controlling. And I would like to have 16 of them.
You should check out Maschine. Maschine 2.1's new Live 9 templates for its MIDI mode are much improved, especially visual feedback of parameter names and value feedback from Live on the dual displays/knobs/buttons. With Drum Rack, there's now more LED feedback so the pads with samples/instruments loaded light up. You can also scroll up and down rows of pads as well as moving by whole octaves.
cheapest maschine (mikro mk2) costs 333eur. It is three times as much as MPC Element and 3.5 times as much as LPD18. Even now the LPD8 mostly collects dust so I don't want to make that big investment before I am sure that I need them.

Is there really something that justifies maschines high price? I really don't have now time to learn another DAW (maschine DAW), just want to finish fast the tunes that I have.

And I suppose there are a lot of drums with Live9..? Can this compete with the ones in Maschine...? I really havent used Live9 that much and I havent yet installed any of the big sample collections that come with it.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:14 pm
by panten
If I were on a budget I'd go for the Korg PadKontrol and Stray's pKC for Live script. No need for Maschine here. The padKontrol pads are supposed to be great I hear.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 1:00 am
by tdollrsign
golemus wrote:I would like to get a good pad controller for drum racks. Currently I have Akai LPD8 but the problem is that it is difficult to know which drum rack slots the pads are actually controlling. And I would like to have 16 of them.

Ideally I would like that the pad controller controls always the thing I see in the drum rack. So that when I browse with mouse up or down in the drum rack and there are new slots in the view, the akai pads are automatically mapped to the new slots.

So that always whatever I see in the screen is mapped to the pads on my table.

Do you know if Akai MPC Element can do this...?

http://www.thomann.de/fi/akai_mpc_element.htm


Another one I have been looking is Akai MPD 18. It is much older though and has been criticized of stiff pads.


Recommendations..?

Have you checked out the KMI quneo? I have been using mine with ableton for about year now and its honestly the best pad set I've used since my 2000xl, saw some at guitar center on clearance for 129? I paid more for mine and almost picked up another just cause of the price..

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 10:34 pm
by Fritz609
I have also been eyeing the mpc element to control drum racks. I need something portable and the element is thn and has nice pads. I also checked out the quneo but waaaaaaay too much configuring and mapping and this and that and im not into all the geek squad tech stuff. I just wanna plug play, map a little, and ,ake music. The padkontrol was an option until i found out its as thick as a decade old jar of peanut butter. Nice pads tho. Mashne mikro would be cool but, do not like maschine workflow and would be expensive to purchase just for drum racks. I wonder if i can buy a used maschine mk1 or mk2 w/out software and use it as a general purpose controller. Anyone have any ideas? Didnt mean to jack thread. Just figured it was somewhat relevant to the topic.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:58 am
by beatz01
What's thick about the Padkontrol ?! Is it because of iPads people nowadays can't lift a PK anymore because it's "too thick" ??

Honestly, imho the PK is still the best drum midi controller on the market.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 2:34 am
by regretfullySaid
If Stray is cool with it I could sell my nativeKontrol pK scripts cuz I sold em a while ago. Not so much because there was a problem with them, but because I've minimalized and mostly just use Quneo.

If anyone's interested...

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 1:48 pm
by ansolas
push *cough*

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:37 pm
by Fritz609
I was tempted to buy another push but couldn't justify the price for now. I cherish my push too much to put it around America on a bag.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 10:37 pm
by tdollrsign
Fritz609 wrote:I have also been eyeing the mpc element to control drum racks. I need something portable and the element is thn and has nice pads. I also checked out the quneo but waaaaaaay too much configuring and mapping and this and that and im not into all the geek squad tech stuff. I just wanna plug play, map a little, and ,ake music. The padkontrol was an option until i found out its as thick as a decade old jar of peanut butter. Nice pads tho. Mashne mikro would be cool but, do not like maschine workflow and would be expensive to purchase just for drum racks. I wonder if i can buy a used maschine mk1 or mk2 w/out software and use it as a general purpose controller. Anyone have any ideas? Didnt mean to jack thread. Just figured it was somewhat relevant to the topic.
I have a barebones template made specifically for triggering in Drum Rack, I can send it your way if you end up with a quneo. Takes about 30 seconds to load it up.. Lemme know!

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2014 10:58 pm
by H20nly
i have an Akai MPD 24 that isn't doing anything with its life... i swapped it out for a PUSH. i'd be willing to part with it for some kind of trade or very little cash.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 3:08 am
by Schmidi
Gotta recommend the Quneo as well. One of the most versatile midi controllers out there, though that does mean you will need to do some editing in the supplied editor at times. Quneo also has some of the finest pads outside of professional high end electronic percussion pads (DrumKat etc).

Padkontrol is a close second in terms of features and pad quality.

I have tried all of the Akai pads, and they have extremely poor sensitivity in comparison to Quneo and PK.

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 3:42 am
by Fritz609
tdollrsign wrote:
Fritz609 wrote:I have also been eyeing the mpc element to control drum racks. I need something portable and the element is thn and has nice pads. I also checked out the quneo but waaaaaaay too much configuring and mapping and this and that and im not into all the geek squad tech stuff. I just wanna plug play, map a little, and ,ake music. The padkontrol was an option until i found out its as thick as a decade old jar of peanut butter. Nice pads tho. Mashne mikro would be cool but, do not like maschine workflow and would be expensive to purchase just for drum racks. I wonder if i can buy a used maschine mk1 or mk2 w/out software and use it as a general purpose controller. Anyone have any ideas? Didnt mean to jack thread. Just figured it was somewhat relevant to the topic.
I have a barebones template made specifically for triggering in Drum Rack, I can send it your way if you end up with a quneo. Takes about 30 seconds to load it up.. Lemme know!
That'd be cool. Thanks. I'll let you onow

Re: Akai MPC Element for drum racks...?

Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 4:24 am
by login
MPD 32 has nativekontrol scripts, but the pads will probably need to be moded with mpcstuff pads http://www.mpcstuff.com/mpd32stuff.htm


That would be a good combo.