I started to practice the beats in the course with my AKAI MPD 128 and noticed 3 problems:
Pad sensitivity seems to be poor: pads don’t activate when tapping soft.
To slightly mitigate problem 1 I adjusted the sensitivity in AD2, but realised that this change affects predefined grooves.
Assigning pads to kit pieces using MIDI learn also affects predefined grooves, since now notes trigger different kit pieces (to solve this I configured the MIDI notes of the pads from AKAI preset editor)
I guess the only way to fix problems 1 and 2 is to use a better device like Maschine, but let me know any ideas.
Hey I was on Christmas break, but I’m back now! What you’re saying is indeed the case. You cannot improve pad sensitivity inside the drum software. The only thing happening then would be to make your dynamic range even smaller. You can adjust the response curve but that is sort of it.
You will need a controller with pads that respond to soft touches. De mpd218 used to be great and now often is not. I think the ESI Xjam with smaller pads is a nice option for $150 (although I have not bought a recent one in 2 years.. I tested two devices bought 1 year apart).
Maschine Mikro is still my go to recommendation. There are duds there as well and sometimes you need swap out a unit to get the bads to respond as expected, but I have not found anything that good with nice big pads for that money.
I was also thinking of buying an additional cheap pad controller to carry on the go. I wouldn’t mind if it’s not very good, as long as it’s small and light.
If you don’t mind the smaller size, try the ESI Xjam pads. They are extremely sensitive and quite inexpensive ($110 US). My main rig is two of these bad boys (one for each hand). Perhaps for your needs a single xjam might work?
So for the Synido I actually bought one in the US a while back. It was not terrible, but also not great. I never got around to making a video about it because it was just.. mwah and I was busy
