I got one of these recently. It was actually meant to be Christmas present to myself, but unforeseen circumstances meant I had to open it up and check it out before Christmas (long story; short version, UPS are shit!). I was going to upload some samples and stuff, and even a video but you know how these things work, you're lucky to be getting even a picture I took of it.
So what do I think... well, its a terrible drum controller, but comes in useful in other ways. First off, the pads are awful, a lot of this could be personal taste though. I've spent years trigger drum sounds with a keyboard and it was only recently when I got my Novation ReMote with the little row of pads along the bottom (they're in the picture above the NanoPad) that I started using pads of any kind. These are beautiful in comparison. You can play them with the same force you'd use casually tapping out a drum pattern on a table. They respond to the slightest touch, and have wonderful dynamics. The pads on the NanoPad frankly need to be hammered to work, well sometimes anyway. Trying to find the appropriate force to trigger a sound of a certain velocity value, repeatedly, is hard! Setting the sensitivity values through the NanoPad software is pointless, it doesnt affect the level of force needed, it just alters the output. You'd be better off setting it to output at full volocity because at least you'd know what you're going to get when you hit a pad then.
Whats good about it then. Well its got a cheap but working XY controller. You can assign anything you like to each pad, and there are 4 banks available for you to edit. You can also program pads to play clusters of notes (chords) which is very handy. The roll and flam effects can create some interesting effects when used on non percussive sounds. You can come up with interesting melodies you might not have ordinarily have thought of on a keyboard. You can play it like a drumtar, or a drumflute.... if you're feeling adventurous. It's cheap!
On a final note, this product is obviously designed for Apple users. To use it on my computer I had to download drivers from the net, it apparently works out of the box with Apple Mac's. And the software you can get for it pops up in a Mac styled window.
[Korg NanoKontroller's Website]
You can mod it. open it up and put 4 to 5 pieces of electric tape under each pad and it greatly alters the sensitivity response. I did this to my akai lpd8 which also is just as shitty but the electric tape trick works!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I might give that a try, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI tried that and it made no difference. If you hit the pads quickly, however hard, nothing happens. Pressing them even very gently does, but who presses their drums?
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