No MPD18 for me... Korg PadKontrol anyone?

I was gonna pick up another MPD18 since it's cheap ($79). I didn't wanna go used for cheaper incase something was wrong with it for $20 less. So I ordered the MPD18 on Amazon... came out to $86 and change after tax. Then I'm thinking to myself, I gotta drop another $45 + $7.50 shipping on a set of Fat Pads??? That brings me up to a total of $138.77 when all is said and done.

While still waiting for Amazon to ship, I had a feeling I'd see some price dips, as usual. Sure as shit, I saw a vendor on Amazon selling the Korg PadKontrol for $149.99 ($20 cheaper then average up there, and $50 cheaper than Banjo Center). With $6.99 shipping, my total is $156.98.

The price difference between the two here is $18.21 and I'm getting a whole lot more for the money. I bet it'll ship quicker from this vendor too, which is also a plus. I was lucky to be able to cancel that MPD18 order and make the smartest choice here for a pad controller that suits my needs perfectly when combined with the Axiom 49 I've been using as my main control surface.

I could've waited a little while longer for the QuNeo. But I really couldn't afford to drop $200+ for that at the moment. Even $150 was more than I planned on spending originally. But hey, who knows? I could be returning this PadKontrol after a week if I don't like it and throwing down another $50 to see if QuNeo is worth it.
Anyone here using the PadKontrol?

I may have to move my own topic to the Studio Environments forum.

I've been through a few PadKontrols here and there for live use. They have exceptional pad sensitivity and velocity response! They're pretty programmable too even without the tactile features of larger controllers. I've never used a MPD18.

does that have more banks than an mpd 18/26/32? does it have a full 88 midi notes? ive always kinda wanted one of those.

I use one as well, with reason 5, & Fxpansion Giest,
A very good controller, this is my second one, had the white one couple years back,now i got the black one, make sure you get the up to date drivers & editor from the korg website...

You can map this thing pretty much to any program out there......

Check this out......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7TAoQFGxlE

picalo32 wrote:I use one as well, with reason 5, & Fxpansion Giest,
A very good controller, this is my second one, had the white one couple years back,now i got the black one, make sure you get the up to date drivers & editor from the korg website...

You can map this thing pretty much to any program out there......

Check this out......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7TAoQFGxlE

Yeah I just found out about that after making my purchase. So I'm VERY excited about this last minute surprise, and definitely intend on buying that software. Much better of an investment than having to upgrade pads on an MPD. This makes the PadKontrol even more worth it's value, as I can have all the flexibility of a control surface without reaching over to hit the record button on the Axiom 49, as I may end up with the PadKontrol sitting on the Mix400 stand I used for my MPC. Those iPod Touch apps may be worth adding as well. I'm going to read up on it more, as i've only discovered this software rather late in the night. This is gonna be so much fun. It's like we have a JJ for the PadKontrol. I love it.

damien907 wrote:does that have more banks than an mpd 18/26/32? does it have a full 88 midi notes? ive always kinda wanted one of those.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure off-hand, as those functions didn't seem to be what I was looking for. But since I'm waiting for my order and learning about the third party software, I'll have a look at the specs of the PadKontrol, as well as what functionality the third party software adds in this regard if applicable.

if you find out, post it up here, i was searching for a bit and couldent really find anything about banks or something similar on there.

Damien, I had no luck. I downloaded the manual and I had a look at all the features on the Retouch RPK software. I couldn't find anything man.

hmm, thats kinda ****.

keep me posted when it arrives in the mail! i hope you like it!

Looks like 48 notes, from what I see from the RpK software manual...

7. Master Keyboard Input (Scene 4)
7.1 Selecting pads presets & octave/semitone control
When using Scene 4, you can use the pads to "play" whichever instrument you have selected in the rack. Although most might prefer to play synths or samplers with a regular keyboard, there are some interesting things that can be done with pads as well!
A nice feature of Retouch RpK is that you can select "presets" to assign specific notes to each pad. The program comes with 7 pre-programmed presets. In addition, you can use your own presets as well! For more details, see section 7.2.
The "stock" pad presets are the following:
Pad1: "Chromatic" -> Chromatic scale from C3 onward
Pad2: "Major" -> Major scale from C3 onward
Pad3: "Minor" -> Natural Minor scale from C3 onward
Pad4: "Harmonic Minor" -> Harmonic Minor scale from C3 onward
Pad 5: "Pentatonic Major" -> Pentatonic Major scale from C3 onward
Pad 6: "Pentatonic Minor" -> Pentatonic Minor scale from C3 onward
Pad 7: "Rex" -> sets up the first 8 pads so that they trigger loops in the Dr. OctoRex device, pad 9 stops them.
You can change preset by entering "Preset" mode. You do so by pressing on the "Roll" button, then hitting on pads 1 thru 7, as detailed above. The "Chromatic" preset is loaded by default when the app is initialized.
Once you have a preset loaded, you can shift the pads globally in "semitones" or "octaves". This is done by pressing on the "Flam" button and entering "Preset Shift" mode. In this mode, pads 1 and 2 shift the preset by -1 or +1 semitones respectively, while pads 3 and 4 shift the preset by -1 or +1 octaves respectively.
When switching or shifting presets, the LED display will reflect the changes accordingly.

My PadKontrol is on the way. Should be here by Wednesday. I'll be trying to familiarize myself with all the RpK software's features, so that I'm ready to roll with the whole package (minus the iPod Touch Display app included since I don't own an iPod Touch yet). I'll play around with the PadKontrol before I buy the software, just to be sure I'm satisfied with the quality and feel of the controller. I'm willing to bet I'll be buying the RpK software that same night. Definitely more excited about this than everything I've seen from NAMM this year for MIDI controllers.... no joke!

cool, enjoy it man

Damien, I was looking at the videos again for the RpK software, and when in keyboard mode there's 5 pad banks x 16 pads to give you 80 notes.
Watch the video at 4:48...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7iHlpS1zmU?t=4m48s

Let us know how it is when you get it man. I just found out about these recently as well, I need something with pads to play my drums, not keys

No doubt man. I got it coming today!

Date Time Location Event Details
March 1, 2012 06:42:00 AM Commack NY US Out for delivery
March 1, 2012 05:27:00 AM Commack NY US Arrival Scan
March 1, 2012 12:44:45 AM Keasbey NJ US Departure Scan
February 29, 2012 10:01:00 PM Keasbey NJ US Arrival Scan
February 26, 2012 02:18:44 PM Lewisberry PA US Arrival Scan
February 24, 2012 10:08:48 AM Sacramento CA US Departure Scan
February 24, 2012 05:44:00 AM Sacramento CA US Arrival Scan
February 24, 2012 12:45:31 AM San Leandro CA US Departure Scan
February 23, 2012 08:15:00 PM San Leandro CA US Arrival Scan
February 23, 2012 05:17:00 PM San Leandro CA US Shipment received by carrier
February 23, 2012 05:23:00 PM US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit

The PadKontrol just arrived, and I also made contact with people from Retouch beforehand. I'll be back later on after it's all up and running.