Akai MPD24 in stock. Anyone have one yet?

dfusion · Post by **dfusion** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:04 pm

Got an email from Audiomidi that they have the Akai MPD24 in stock. Looks like a very cool drum kit controller and I believe Ableton stated they will support this natively. One question I have is in regards to the Transport controls. Akai says they use MMC and I know Live 4 and Live 5 never supported MMC. I do not see anything in the Live 6 manual about MMC.

If anyone has an MPD24 can you try the transport controls and post your results? Thanks.

-d

enthawizeguy · Post by **enthawizeguy** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:01 am

wheres it in stock? I plan on ordering one this week, most places have a release date in the next week, but im afraid they will change it again. I really hope this thing is worth it. I am returning my remote sl and getting this so i hope its added to ableton automap soon or is it already

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:12 am

cool.....hopefully novamusik ships this week. man, i can't wait i wil;l give them a call tomorow so i can get nextt day shipping.

Mag_Music · Post by **Mag_Music** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:23 am

I've had one on order for a couple of weeks now, and just like the Remote Zero SL (which I ordered in July and just got yesterday), the arrival date keeps changing. I hope it works, too, because so far I can't get the Zero to do much of anything useful but especially, I can't get the trigger pads to operate Impulse at all. It's still early, so I can't tell if the thing doesn't work or I'm getting something wrong. (It's supposed to "automap"--what's to get wrong?) Anyway, my latest date for the MPD is 6Nov. I'm not holding my breath.

Enthawizeguy, why are you returning your SL?

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:45 am

Mag_Music wrote:I've had one on order for a couple of weeks now, and just like the Remote Zero SL (which I ordered in July and just got yesterday), the arrival date keeps changing. I hope it works, too, because so far I can't get the Zero to do much of anything useful but especially, I can't get the trigger pads to operate Impulse at all. It's still early, so I can't tell if the thing doesn't work or I'm getting something wrong. (It's supposed to "automap"--what's to get wrong?) Anyway, my latest date for the MPD is 6Nov. I'm not holding my breath.

Enthawizeguy, why are you returning your SL?

ae youalso buyng throuh novamusik.com?

yea i was messing around with the remote l at aes a few weeks back and everytime i hit a trigger pad, it didn't notice anything on ableton..........hopefully they fix this.

glitchrock-buddha · Post by **glitchrock-buddha** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 8:25 am

Mag_Music wrote:I've had one on order for a couple of weeks now, and just like the Remote Zero SL (which I ordered in July and just got yesterday), the arrival date keeps changing. I hope it works, too, because so far I can't get the Zero to do much of anything useful but especially, I can't get the trigger pads to operate Impulse at all. It's still early, so I can't tell if the thing doesn't work or I'm getting something wrong. (It's supposed to "automap"--what's to get wrong?) Anyway, my latest date for the MPD is 6Nov. I'm not holding my breath.

Enthawizeguy, why are you returning your SL?

Automap doesn't map the pads. They are left for you to assign how you want. Just assign them to C3, D3 etc. and save template 40. There are other useful adjustments too, like changing the buttons to toggle to assign to on/off buttons on devices.

As for the akai, I'd like to hear how it is too, especially the feel of the pads and knobs.

grb

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 11:56 am

glitchrock-buddha wrote:As for the akai, I'd like to hear how it is too, especially the feel of the pads and knobs.

grb

the knobs are too stiff (as are the faders) and the pads aren't all that expressive.

lesterdiamond · Post by **lesterdiamond** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:15 pm

are the pads any better than a trigger finger? I have heard that it helps the pads to be more expressive if you give them a nice beatin'.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:41 pm

i'd say about the same as the 2nd gen trigger fingers. nowhere near the padkontrol.

Mag_Music · Post by **Mag_Music** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 2:30 pm

v00d00ppl wrote:ae youalso buyng throuh novamusik.com?

yea i was messing around with the remote l at aes a few weeks back and everytime i hit a trigger pad, it didn't notice anything on ableton..........hopefully they fix this.

No, I get most of my stuff from Sweetwater.com.

If you're interested, here's a YouTube vid of a guy who really seems to have his Zero SL working just fine (he doesn't use the trigger pads here, but I'm betting he knows how to get it to go):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oQoG_ZCZt7Q

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 3:00 pm

Machinate wrote:i'd say about the same as the 2nd gen trigger fingers. nowhere near the padkontrol.

so am i better off using something like an mpc 2000xl as a midi controller then/

Mag_Music · Post by **Mag_Music** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 5:01 pm

glitchrock-buddha wrote:Automap doesn't map the pads. They are left for you to assign how you want. Just assign them to C3, D3 etc. and save template 40. There are other useful adjustments too, like changing the buttons to toggle to assign to on/off buttons on devices.

As for the akai, I'd like to hear how it is too, especially the feel of the pads and knobs.

grb

Did that. Works fine. (Ta.) I can see why Novation didn't assign them; the default layout of the Impulse pads don't necessarily lay well under the fingers on this thing.

'Done some more reading and fooling around and I'm probably starting to get the hang of it somewhat. The buttons along the left hand side do things I haven't read anywhere; useful things, just things you wouldn't have guessed off the bat. I know this should probably be in a different thread, but the ZSL should have had a crossfader right in the middle of that black strip at the bottom and the trigger pads are way too small and too close to the pots above them. For drum parts, you're going to need the MPD or something like it. For triggering loops and one shots, the ZSL's pads are probably fine. Novation of course wanted the ZSL to conform sizewise to the SL keyboards as much as possible, but making the unit a little taller (top to bottom), making those pads larger and adding a crossfade might keep people from going to look for additional hardware or passing the ZSL up entirely. Lots and lots of knobs, faders and buttons, though. 'Can't argue with that. I think we're going to be friends.

MarkH · Post by **MarkH** » Sun Oct 29, 2006 9:40 pm

Mag_Music - The General Midi spec for drums is to start with note C0 for triggering percussion sounds. Plugins like Stylus RMX (in Kit Mode), Battery, etc, map the Bass Drum, Snare, Hats, to the first eight notes starting with C0. For some reason Ableton triggers Impulse starting from C3 instead and so most trigger pads either have an Impulse preset (like Trigger Finger) or you need to manually make one for Impulse that maps the pads starting with C3.

I'm guessing the reason Impulse uses C3 as the first note is for those with 25 or 37 key midi controllers don't have to keep pressing Octave Down every time they switch to Impulse, then Octave Up when going back to other plugins. Ableton knows a lot of their users are on laptops and travel and therefore try to make things convenient for the artist.

mercyplease · Post by **mercyplease** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 4:46 am

Machinate wrote:i'd say about the same as the 2nd gen trigger fingers. nowhere near the padkontrol.

Listen to machine on this cause hes right. thats what I was hearing lately. non expressive pads is like going for a dump without toilet roll. you just wont feel right.

v00d00ppl · Post by **v00d00ppl** » Mon Oct 30, 2006 5:03 am

mercyplease wrote:
Machinate wrote:i'd say about the same as the 2nd gen trigger fingers. nowhere near the padkontrol.
Listen to machine on this cause hes right. thats what I was hearing lately. non expressive pads is like going for a dump without toilet roll. you just wont feel right.