Quneo or Kontrol F1?

[stevemac]

Hi guys,

Looking to gauge opinion on which to purchase as I don't have a chance to actually use either of these to help make up my mind.

Purpose - to use in DJ sets in conjunction with the club mixer or my Z1, which takes care of cross fader, EQ and Filters.
The F1 or Quneo will be for launching clips, triggering drum rack samples and FX.

The F1 does have everything I need and I have seen some mappings that look ideal for navigating Ableton.
The Quneo is even easier to carry around and looks like it has more options long term, but doesn't have 'real' faders etc and I seem to hear a lot of unhappy quneo customers?

Any help much appreciated

[Theo Void]

When the Quneo first came out I really wanted it. I played w/ one at a store and was extremely un-impressed. I'm quite sure it's not for me.

I'm a Live and Traktor user. I produce in Live and play live shows w/ Traktor. I bought an F1 when it first came out and I couldn't imagine life w/o it. It's a great piece of gear for Traktor. It basically gives you a mini version of Ableton inside Traktor w/ an awesome controller.

I have looked around a little for Live mappings for it but haven't found any worth trying. That's not to say they're not out there, I just didn'y really look very well.

As far as hard-ware is concerned, I say go for the F1. You won't be disappointed. If you get the Quneo there's a good chance you will be.

Plus, the F1's just came down in price.

[Tarekith]

If you want to launch clips, I'd say the F1 is the better bet. The Quneo is fun, but not as responsive for that kind of thing compared to the F1. I'd say the Quneo is better for modifying parameters than it is for clip launching.

[stevemac]

As far as hard-ware is concerned, I say go for the F1. You won't be disappointed. If you get the Quneo there's a good chance you will be.

Plus, the F1's just came down in price.

Quneo build quality not all that?
Re the price drop - do you think a Mk2 is on the way like the new X1? N.I. price drop seems to always be a sure fire way of knowing something new is around the corner!

If you want to launch clips, I'd say the F1 is the better bet. The Quneo is fun, but not as responsive for that kind of thing compared to the F1. I'd say the Quneo is better for modifying parameters than it is for clip launching.

Do you think the F1 would be better than the Quneo for jamming samples for studio use (MPC style) / drums?

thanks for the help guys

[Theo Void]

The f1 is definitely better as a clip launcher than drum pad. It definitely can be used as a drum pad but its not velocity sensitive and the pads are a bit stiff and have a click when u push them.

I'm not sure if this exists but if I wanted to use my f1 w/ Ableton Live I would like to have the red-box control of 4x4 clips that I could move around. Also, blue hand control of devices w/ the knobs and faders plus drum rack mode. That would be lovely.

[stevemac]

The f1 is definitely better as a clip launcher than drum pad. It definitely can be used as a drum pad but its not velocity sensitive and the pads are a bit stiff and have a click when u push them.

I'm not sure if this exists but if I wanted to use my f1 w/ Ableton Live I would like to have the red-box control of 4x4 clips that I could move around. Also, blue hand control of devices w/ the knobs and faders plus drum rack mode. That would be lovely.

There's a red box mapping out there, do a search on youtube and one of the vids has a link to the script

[AaronYeo]

I have the Quneo as it fits my uses more appropriately than the Kontrol. I wouldn't say it's of a weaker build quality than the Kontrol... but it is definitely a different KIND of build quality. It's so small and thin and light that it's hard to imagine anything happening to it, kind of like how it seems impossible to destroy a flash drive or something. It is plasticy, though, but that just makes a little flexible and less likely to warp or dent.

The Kontrol on the other hand is a lot more rigid, not necessarily better nor worse. It does however have things that stick out (Faders and knobs) that means you gotta be a little wary when you throw it in your bag, unlike the Quneo which slides into anything anywhere. The tactile feel of the Kontrol pads and encoders and faders of course feels much nicer than rubbing your finger against a dry, somewhat grippy/sticky touch strip on the Quneo.

But for me, the Quneo offers the flexibility a Kontrol cannot. So I went with practical purposes over feel.

[stevemac]

I have the Quneo as it fits my uses more appropriately than the Kontrol. I wouldn't say it's of a weaker build quality than the Kontrol... but it is definitely a different KIND of build quality. It's so small and thin and light that it's hard to imagine anything happening to it, kind of like how it seems impossible to destroy a flash drive or something. It is plasticy, though, but that just makes a little flexible and less likely to warp or dent.

The Kontrol on the other hand is a lot more rigid, not necessarily better nor worse. It does however have things that stick out (Faders and knobs) that means you gotta be a little wary when you throw it in your bag, unlike the Quneo which slides into anything anywhere. The tactile feel of the Kontrol pads and encoders and faders of course feels much nicer than rubbing your finger against a dry, somewhat grippy/sticky touch strip on the Quneo.

But for me, the Quneo offers the flexibility a Kontrol cannot. So I went with practical purposes over feel.

Thanks. What tasks are you using the quneo for?

[AaronYeo]

The biggest thing for me is that on my setup I have what I call a "bass map" that I use for drops and heavy stuff. If you've ever seen a Midifighter demo by Mad Zach, it's kinda like what he's got going on, but just bass. And instead of samples, they're similar sounds by generated realtime, so I can use the X-Y and pressure values to modulate those sounds on the go. It's pretty much 16 bass pads at my fingertips, that I can filter/LFO/flange/echo/reverse to my hearts content, with an interface so devilishly simple.

And thanks to built-in banks, I can hit one button and transform it back into my drum rack. (and more)

The banks also mean my faders need to have updated feedback, IE I switch banks and now it lights up with its current value. No issues there. Unless you motorize your sliders, you always have to deal with the pickup/curved/whatever methods of controlling parameters with physical faders.

That, and my setup is built for me so I only put what I use at my fingertips, and disable control for anything I don't need to touch. I'm not sure how well Kontrol runs in Live, but Quneo is a pure, pure MIDI Controller that comes with software to map whatever you want to literally more than whatever you want. Great for my purposes.


I do however very much miss physical knobs and sliders.

[slatepipe]

i can't speak for the kontrol as i don't know it but i got a quneo last month and am really enjoying it. i have struggled with getting my head around midi controllers and mapping and suchlike in the past but so far this thing has proved pretty easy. i'm still learning it though, i haven't figured out what to do with the rotaries yet, or making the leds do funky stuff

at the moment i'm playing samples on it - i built three instrument racks on three tracks and mapped one sample per pad, so if i then switch record arm on or off on each track i can then switch between three groups of samples. and i then mapped the x-y on each pad to a filter and the pressure cc to volume. pretty simple stuff i guess but i'm still learning. then i mapped sliders to sends and track volume, and a few buttons to on/offs

i made this with it last week while messing around at work : https://vimeo.com/72109688

i like the way it feels and it seems pretty rugged, it hardly takes up any space either as it's pretty flat. when you're playing around with the x-y it feels better if you roll your finger over the pad instead of sliding, maybe my fingers are dry or something but that's how it is for me. i don't need any knobs and sliders as i already got a uc33e which i love

cheers