A couple of months ago I bought an akai mpk iv. Didn’t really like it, its pads were pretty stiff and everytime I hit them I could hear the loud thumping noise of my fingers hitting the pad. So I decided to buy a midi pad. The pads mentioned on the title were the best ones I could find under 200€. I have ableton lite (it came with the akai mpk iv) and I want to use them to finger drum and chop samples. I know that the launchpad and Yamaha fgpd don’t come with a specific software that you can chop samples on,so I’ll buy the serato sample on black friday sale if I pick either of these two.
Actually, I was surprised how good the pads of the MPK IV were, given that it’s a keyboard, not a dedicated pad controller. At least the pads are sensitive and can be played without too much force and they work reasonably well for finger drumming (4x2 layout is not really great for QFG layout though. But yes, the Akai pads generally seem to be more stiff, so not sure if MPC Studio would then be a good bet.
The Maschine or Launchpad pads are a bit less stiff. But those controllers you mention have very different layouts and pad sizes, this may be a deciding factor. It also takes some time to get used to the pads and to learn how to efficiently play pads, e.g. not use more force than necessary.
So essentially they are all good choices, it just has to do with my personal preference and whichever workflow works better for me. Alright,thanks for the advice man!
From the perspective of pure finger drumming pad midi controller, don’t sleep on the ESI Xjam, which has excellent pads. The pads are smaller, but may people get used to them (I use two pads, one for each hand). The Xjam is extremely reasonably priced, also. As for chopping samples, etc., the Xjam is just a midi controller, so has none of that functionality. I use mine with Ableton Live 12 Standard and Addictive Drums 2.
I keep seeing people recommend the xjam as a great budget choice and I’m considering of buying it but I kinda wanna know a couple of things first. First, I know the pads are small, but are they small enough to be a nuisance while finger drumming something really complex or fast? And the other thing, are they durable? Do they last for more than 3 years?
The size feels just right to me. For example, the Launchpad X pads are a bit too small for playing with two fingers on a single pad, while the XJam’s pads are just the right size.
As for durability, I don’t think anyone has been using the XJam intensively for three years yet. I can say that after 1.5 years of use, I haven’t had any issues.
I’d also add that the black pad surface is very durable—it has barely shown any wear after 1.5 years—and it doesn’t easily show fingerprints or smudges.
Yes, they’re quite small. But you got 64 of them. Playing with two fingers on one is very tight, even if you have small fingers. But you can create mirrored layout where each finger gets its own dedicated pad anyway.
That’s what I did for some time, but I honestly preferred the bigger Machine Mk3 pads then. But those are even bigger then I personally need them to be.
If you haven’t got much experience with finger drumming, I wouldn’t overthink it. Start with an option and once you have more experience and a better feel, you could go to a music shop and try other options how they feel. But establishing preferences is probably something that comes with some experience.