Nnnng...looking for a pad etc controller

[muthafunka]

My Trigger Finger is getting old, setting up the pads etc with the M-Audio editor is a nightmare and also wanting to do some step sequencing not looking at the screen so time for some new shiny. I picked up a Livid Base on sale and one of the first things I discover is it seems that while there are 7 banks, the midi cc and note numbers are the same across all banks, only midi channels change so if you want to play keys/basslines on the pads you're limited to 32 notes whatever you do (unless you get into some serious workround business).....go figure. Beautiful solid piece of kit and looked good for step sequencing too with a nice combination of pads, faders and buttons, but the editor, wiki-only manual (when you find it) etc...feel like I've stumbled into a university music project.

So, I want flexible, programmable banks, more than 16 pads if poss., faders and knobs....Push looks OK and I liked the keyboard layout when I tried it but is just more grief than I need when I just want some nice pads with flashing lights and a few banks? Tbh that Arturia Beatstep thing is looking pretty hot right now.
(sorry, kind of bummed at wasting so much time on this today when I just wanted to start jamming out a bit...)

[antarktika]

funnily enough, they just updated the Trigger Finger with a "pro" model with a step sequencer
http://djworx.com/namm-2014-day-3-m-aud ... inger-pro/
Looks like it has a completely different editing system too!

Not sure if this is your thing or not, (and not available until spring) but I remembered seeing it in all the namm news!

[dredd i knight]

Yeah the new trigger finger might be just the thing.... Looks good to me.

[beatz01]

Nothing beats a Korg Padkontrol.

[Logic8807]

The Quneo?

[muthafunka]

Yes the padkontrol looks sweet and there are some interesting Max patches for the Korg micro-range in general. Looking at these pad/drum/sequencer beasties the past few days, on paper at least the Trigger Finger Pro does look promising, just as long as they've made it simple and intelligently functional.... please Bob nothing like the Enigma editor etc that came with the first TF. The upcoming Arturia beat pad doodad looks seriously good for the money too..... that and Maschine, hmmmm. For some reason Push just isn't doing it for me, think it was the barely visible legends on the buttons and the cramped-feeling pads (I'm mr enormo-hands).

[login]

ThThe new arturia beatstep

[Jekblad]

Can't you program the base pads to any notes? Maybe I don't understand what you're trying to do...

[champamoore]

You def get no out of the box step sequencing w Korg padKONTROL. For that aspect Arturia's Beatstep looks to have the whole market sick. Not sure about the depth of the banks there, though. I will def chime back in as soon as I have one in my flow.

As it stands, I am pretty happy w Maschine Mk1 (running 1.8 software), but I'm forced to use the native drum rack architecture w its internal step sequencer, which sends all note midi out to c3, sadly. NI really made a major mistake imho not making its step sequencer function open armed towards any and all VSTs and DAWs. Super frustrating they made (Mk1, at least) such an incestuous tool.

I'm awaiting hardware upgrade to run Maschine Mk2 (software), so I can't speak for that product yet.

[musikmachine]

With the new midi setup in 2.0 you can transpose the notes per sound, i'm happily using 2.0 with my mk1 fwiw.

Maschine might be a good option though, you could have 16 groups and have each one sending out on a different midi channel if you wanted.