Silocone Pad Implants (w/ photos)

Sexy title right?

I ended up doing this modification pretty much how Nym described in in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=108959&hilit=modified

The outcome is WELL worth it, and a huge upgrade to pad feel. Stock, there was a lot of movement when hitting the pad, before it actually reached the sensor. Now the pads feel solid and full. It's much easier and more predictable to trigger lower velocity notes.

If you use velocity when playing your pads, and are somewhat handy around the house... I would this mod is a must. I'm about to post up a few pictures I snapped to help visualize the project.

Also, I forgot to mention. I used silicone window sealant from Walmart. It doesn't smell at all, unlike the stanky silicone glue that I had used on my 500.

Cool, thanks for posting this, i'll try it. Btw, is it a Kaossilator i see? OMG!

What!!! Pabst??? Its been a long time, good beer.

wot gives mayte? do you have the pad fix?

What are you asking me dude? This mod is for pad fix only, obvi...

i meant do you have the original pads or the official akai pad fix?

Oh my 1000 came new with the "Upgraded sensors," and then I switched to a set of black pads from VST. BTW, my black pads were gappy as hell and no "softer" than the grey pads.

No complaints now though.

must be the black pads then cause i got the akai pad fix and the grey pads are tight.

very very nicely done.

feels good, doesn't it? i am really glad i did this to mine.

yours looks better from the underside, too! good work

Yeah man... in retrospect, I can't believe I considered NOT DOING this to the pads!
I have no idea why they don't just come like this...

Thanks again for sharing the technique. It made it much more precise than how I did it last time.

why they don't come like this

actually, this is a rare occasion that it's BETTER that it didn't come like this, and i'll tell you why

silicone glue is a much softer material than the rubber used in the mpc pads.
this second layer provides a broader velocity curve. if it were made of the same rubber the pads are made of, there'd be less in between.

the softer material hitting the pads themselves, the better. the other side don't matter at all really except for the feeling on your fingertips

so for us to create a gradient is better than if they just came "proper"

if i were to create a pad set for a true performance midi controller, i'd have some real specific design ideas for the layout of those suckers.

You know, that does make sense about having the softer material hit the sensor.
It must make the contact less abrupt.

This is gonna sound crazy, but I actually ended up sticking a piece of "extra fluffy" toilet paper
to the bottom of each silicone implant. My intention was to make sure there wouldn't
be any pad noise from the sticky silicone, but I think it increased velocity sensitivity even further!
(TP was added after photos were taken).

is there any suggestions for a non destructive way of doing this? I really like my pads but am intigued to try out if it improves the feel for me ( i like the fact that i never ever get double hits when playing fast -like i do sometimes on the other mpc's, but i also like the idea of triggering sounds with lighter touches. i suppose im hoping these two things are not mutually exclusive)... anyway is there a way to do this without permanently attaching glue to your pads, or can the glue come off relatively easy?

Yeah man... it actually turns out completely non-destructive, on some JJ OS2 shiit.

At least if you use the same type of product I used the second time around. This stuff would peel right off if you wanted.
I know you don't have Walmart over there, but I'll put up a picture of the product when I get a chance.