Ableton Forum

Hi!

I have read through this forum quite a bit but still can't figure which beat controller fits my purpose and budget.

I am total starter wanting to create a variety of electronic (minimal, spheric, experimental) music with ableton. in terms of rhythm I feel like composing the beats "live" with my hands, not too much with a stepsequencer. therefore I had a look at

the Arturia SparkLE
the Korg PadKontrol
the MPC Element Midi Pad
and (pls forgive me if that's total nonsense) Vestax Pad One

You'll notice that my budget is somewhere between 100-180 €. Also I had a look at the Novation Launchpad as a general Controller and also "beatpad" (?). Maybe that's another solution.

I'd be happy for some advise here and open for any new recommendations.

thanks!
Scheckel

Tried several ones and the PadKontrol was definitly the most precise and sensitive for me...

Sounds like you want good feeling pads for an affordable price:

-remove the Akai from your list, their pads are poor (unless you get an MPC)
-PadKontrol is very good, but I couldn't make the software editor work on my computer so I return the pk.
-Have a look at the Quneo by Keith McMillen. It's a very versatile controller with great pads, very durable, and has possibilities that no other pad controller has for it's mappings. You may find this handy down the road with synths, FX, and M4L instruments!

My experience with the Quneo has been very bad as far as the pads are concerned. I've tried to mess up with the editor but even with max sensitivity, the results were miles away from what I get with the PadKontrol... Maybe it was a faluty unit but I've read various topics from people living the same experience.
Plus de PK editor works ok for me (i'm on mac 10.8.5)

If you just want decent-enough 4x4 pads to bang on a Trigger Finger 1 for what, $40 from Ebay can't be beat.

I just got a Trigger Finger Pro and can't stop playing with it . . .

+1 for the Padkontrol.

The new Akai MPD 218 looks nice, too.

+1 on MPD218. The pads have greatly improved.

I've had a padKONTROL for many a year. Don't use it that much since I got the Push but it is a very nice bit of kit. I recently got an Elektron Rytm the pads of which are not that great, folks say they break in after a bit of hearty thumping. padKONTROL works great with the Rytm as does the Push.

Stray over at nativeKONTROL has a bunch of neat scripts for the padKONTROL that works nicely with Live, the pKC series; which is a plus for Live users with a padK.

http://www.nativekontrol.com/pKC_Series.html