beatmaker 2.3

OK being mpc less, and having tried nearly most mpc samplers so far I have to say Beatmaker is filling the gap at the moment. Its pretty damn powerful, I only just started to get into producing with it as don't have a mpc at the moment but so far being knocking out beats with the ipad and an audio interface to sample from.

Love to get a mpd for actual real pads but I know the money would be better use for a 2500 again.

acronym wrote:OK being mpc less, and having tried nearly most mpc samplers so far I have to say Beatmaker is filling the gap at the moment. Its pretty damn powerful, I only just started to get into producing with it as don't have a mpc at the moment but so far being knocking out beats with the ipad and an audio interface to sample from.

Love to get a mpd for actual real pads but I know the money would be better use for a 2500 again.

Camera Connection Kit and a Korg nanoPAD 2 would be cheap MIDI pads in the meantime. $30 and $60 respectively. It has an Arp mode and it's very easy to use it's editor and assign whole chords to a single pad. An MPD with Fat Pads and you're looking at over $200 (I think the 32 is the only one worth looking at with the 2 extra controller banks), but the CCK and Korg would be just under $100.

Stupid question but what are the pads like on the nanopad?, is it a case of plugging and playing without having to change settings etc?.

thanks for the reply mate.

acronym wrote:Stupid question but what are the pads like on the nanopad?, is it a case of plugging and playing without having to change settings etc?.

thanks for the reply mate.

They're a bit smaller than MPC pads but hardly tiny. The sensitivity and response are fantastic. (On par with any of the MPC's I have or anything else for that matter) Plug and play one of the presets (4 slots) would probably default to pad 1 being MIDI note# 36 and the rest chromatically ascending.

The PC/Mac editor is dead easy to use, a lot quicker and less prone to hassles like the Akai Vyzex editor. So it's real easy to save more than 4 presets on the computer. The chord pad assignment is also done in the editor and is super quick. I gave away two of them (to friends who never used them ) but I remember them being so low power drawing you didn't even need a USB hub.

BTW -I don't know if you ever noticed but BM2's MIDI pad # assignments start at MIDI note# 1 on bank A/pad 01, where almost everything else in the world starts on note# 36. I lost a few minutes trying to figure that out the first time I MIDI'd up BM2.

Metatron72 wrote:

acronym wrote:Stupid question but what are the pads like on the nanopad?, is it a case of plugging and playing without having to change settings etc?.

thanks for the reply mate.

They're a bit smaller than MPC pads but hardly tiny. The sensitivity and response are fantastic. (On par with any of the MPC's I have or anything else for that matter) Plug and play one of the presets (4 slots) would probably default to pad 1 being MIDI note# 36 and the rest chromatically ascending.

The PC/Mac editor is dead easy to use, a lot quicker and less prone to hassles like the Akai Vyzex editor. So it's real easy to save more than 4 presets on the computer. The chord pad assignment is also done in the editor and is super quick. I gave away two of them (to friends who never used them ) but I remember them being so low power drawing you didn't even need a USB hub.

BTW -I don't know if you ever noticed but BM2's MIDI pad # assignments start at MIDI note# 1 on bank A/pad 01, where almost everything else in the world starts on note# 36. I lost a few minutes trying to figure that out the first time I MIDI'd up BM2.

Thanks I look into that, I like to own a mpd32 but the prices in the UK are extremely high and a pad kontrol sounds ideal. I can then save up for a 1000 and 2500 again with jjosxl now that I know its the right sampler for me.

That was the nano version I described. Although the full size padkontrol units are usually $100 or less used. On the smaller ones I actually got used to the 2x8 pad rows though. The X/Y pad on the Korg units also opens up a lot of cool possibilities. Of the 3 MPD's I've had I kept the 32, but unless you use the knobs and faders a lot (I do, way too many VST's here), the Korg's are much cheaper and the pads are properly responsive out the box.

Metatron72 wrote:That was the nano version I described. Although the full size padkontrol units are usually $100 or less used. On the smaller ones I actually got used to the 2x8 pad rows though. The X/Y pad on the Korg units also opens up a lot of cool possibilities. Of the 3 MPD's I've had I kept the 32, but unless you use the knobs and faders a lot (I do, way too many VST's here), the Korg's are much cheaper and the pads are properly responsive out the box.

cheers I meant nanopad, however, has anyone tested using it with maschine as a midi controller?. Possible?.

acronym wrote:

Metatron72 wrote:That was the nano version I described. Although the full size padkontrol units are usually $100 or less used. On the smaller ones I actually got used to the 2x8 pad rows though. The X/Y pad on the Korg units also opens up a lot of cool possibilities. Of the 3 MPD's I've had I kept the 32, but unless you use the knobs and faders a lot (I do, way too many VST's here), the Korg's are much cheaper and the pads are properly responsive out the box.

cheers I meant nanopad, however, has anyone tested using it with maschine as a midi controller?. Possible?.

On desktop Maschine any MIDI controller that is not a Maschine controller defaults to playing the last pad hit on the Maschine controller chromatically in Maschine's keyboard mode. It's convenient in that you don't have to engage the keyboard mode for the pad using the button on Maschine, but it sucks because it bars you from mapping other MIDI controllers to Maschine.

If you meant iMaschine, yeah the Korg will work on that.

Metatron72 wrote:

acronym wrote:

Metatron72 wrote:That was the nano version I described. Although the full size padkontrol units are usually $100 or less used. On the smaller ones I actually got used to the 2x8 pad rows though. The X/Y pad on the Korg units also opens up a lot of cool possibilities. Of the 3 MPD's I've had I kept the 32, but unless you use the knobs and faders a lot (I do, way too many VST's here), the Korg's are much cheaper and the pads are properly responsive out the box.

cheers I meant nanopad, however, has anyone tested using it with maschine as a midi controller?. Possible?.

On desktop Maschine any MIDI controller that is not a Maschine controller defaults to playing the last pad hit on the Maschine controller chromatically in Maschine's keyboard mode. It's convenient in that you don't have to engage the keyboard mode for the pad using the button on Maschine, but it sucks because it bars you from mapping other MIDI controllers to Maschine.

If you meant iMaschine, yeah the Korg will work on that.

Yet again Metatron thanks for the reply, I didn't quite understan your last post. I was thinking of getting a maschine mikro but was unsure if that would work as a midi controller for bm2?. I understand it may not be class complaint

acronym wrote:I didn't quite understan your last post. I was thinking of getting a maschine mikro but was unsure if that would work as a midi controller for bm2?. I understand it may not be class complaint

Yeah I thought you meant using a nanopad or something with Maschine as opposed to using the Maschine controllers as class compliant MIDI devices.

I'd try my Maschine MK1 over MIDI cables in this situation but there's no way to give it wall power.

If you can try that be great, I'm looking to get something without having to plug into a psu.

I crossed the nanopad2 off the list, hear the lpd8 is better constructed and pads are better though I'm restricted to 8 pads.

i would go with the mpd 18 over any of that 8 pad shit. you can switch 3 pad banks fast enough (they cycle through with one button) wehreas on the lpd 8 its almost impossible to live play a sample that is on two different banks because you have to push the pad assign button, then 4 pads light up and you choose which one, then you push enter or something to switch a bank. its 2-4 button presses, really frustrating. the reason why i sold mine actually.

you can get an mpd 18 for like 40-50 bucks if you buy used, im sure prices over there are similar.

Does Beatmaker have all the features that an MPC has?

Nope, it doesn't. Yet at the same time, the MPC doesn't have all the features that Beatmaker 2 has. Are there any specific features that you had a question about?

For slicing bm is much better, better than jjos imo.