Akai MPD and MPK pad mods - tips for better pad sensitivity

[H20nly]

righteous

[Rahlo]

Nice!!

[rbmonosylabik]

Tried opening up the Kontrol49, but the pads are different. These have a black conductive material at the bottom of the pads, which makes contact with the circuit board.



I'm sure it'd just be a matter of finding a replacement for the conductive material to put closer to the circuit. Seems like it'd do with 1 or 2 layers of electrical tape.

[hiphopdontstop]

Good to know about the Kontrol49... I didn't think the Korg stuff needed modding as the PadKontrol has such responsive pads to begin with... but, thanks for the tips!

Anyone get an MPK61 or MPK88 yet? Are they even out yet?

Anyone else mod their MPDs? Give us photos/details!!

So far, we're 100% as far as success goes. This is good!

[hiphopdontstop]

bumpin'

[Schnauzer]

true...bumpin'...

On a sidenote: it was the youtube movie that pushed me over the edge trying it out.
triplets!... quaduplets!!....quintuplets!!!.... erhm...

..

right...

[hiphopdontstop]

bump

[day-la]

just saw this morning bought some electric tape and did it! it works fuckin flawless! so sick... but first i used 6 tapes and that made some of the pads not workint at all and i read your PM to someone else saying precisley 4 square tapes and it first mine were kind of rectangular. so i cut 4 shapes of tape same size almost and took off the 6 layers of tape ive had before and now all my pads work great! thanks man!

[hiphopdontstop]

awesome. another success!!!

[hiphopdontstop]

bump

[jlgrimes]

I get better dynamics using a simple velocity sensitive midi keyboard instead of the pads.

If you want a more compressed hip hop kick and snare combo, thats were the pads come into play.

The pads by nature has less dynamics than keys from the build of them.

Midi keyboards are designed more for intricate playing. I find percussion tracks and hats sound better played with a midi keyboard vs pads.

only use pads when you want an upfront drum sound with mild dynamics not the too rigid step sequencer drawn stuff.

[hiphopdontstop]

you may get better dynamics using keys, but a lot of people buy these drum pad controllers because they want dynamics with their drum pads.

That's why I started this thread.

If you're not interested in the mod, no big deal. Let the people interested in getting better dynamics read and try the mod.

So far, everyone has been tremendously pleased. And that's definitely a good thing.

[trikster_b]

only use pads when you want an upfront drum sound with mild dynamics not the too rigid step sequencer drawn stuff.

...or you could do this mod and you won't have this problem anymore. i have battery 3, and i select every cell and set the velocity range from around 50 to 110, and it sounds pretty damn good to me, especially with the mod. i've tried making drum patterns with my keyboard, and it's always sucked for me. don't know how people can use a keyboard, but people have different ways of making drum patterns, and as far as i'm concerned, the best way is with this mod.

[magestro]

done did it .........and glad i did it

One thing i learned and should be pointed out, the quantity of layers depends on the tape u use. At first i took 4 layers and my pads fully full stuffed, since i got a thick tape i tried less and ended up by just taking one stripe. With more layers i got serious false triggers or the pads wouldn`t work at all. MPD 32 btw.

Great thread - good idea - thanks once again

[hiphopdontstop]

And ANOTHER success story.... this is continuously awesome.

Spread the word!!!