hey u lot,dont knock it..... its a good idea really, if at all possible ,im all for rounding this jjos into a solid stable mpc utopia - but it cant harm to discuss newies......
i think it would b nice to have the 16 pads represent the 16 steps in an 808 style.
so for those that think it wouldnt be mpc-like, or too different from the grid edit, true to a point but the xox style would be similair in its grid appearance.
different but only because the step thats entered does so at the time where the timeline/cursor is.
classic x0x style has the 16 steps arranged so it dont matter where the 'play-head' is, the first pad would always enter a on/off event at the first 16th, and so on for all steps up to pad16 that is the last 16th.
i grew up on a tr606 and a delay unit, yeah 80's crew : ) and i got the most delicate intricate stuf goin, slo, fast, rolls at different tempo's make for a very earcatching and ORIGINAL stuff, even from those 16 lil steps! a bit of 3way level/velocity, carefull volume settings and a few doublespeed or triplets go hell of a long way...
..and nym, its not sleeping ata all in my expeirence, its a truly cerebral activity, infact more so than just whacking away at a skin!

i say its more futuristic the xox way - sorry to be contrary in this regard, but all this digital-tech-development has often only served to make electronic music more real-sounding, when its using ssoooo much manhours in r&d,
when people can still FEEL what u r doing on such a relatively simple machine (c)1985.!
its all there, its a matter of how u approach it like nyms sayin,
it could be very fast way of doing v creative rhythms.