By Metatron72
Tue Dec 31, 2013 8:21 pm
The MPK's pads are severely lacking. (mounted to high to make proper contact with the sensors). They are fine on full level but to play with proper velocity/dynamics it's a nightmare. You can for $40USD replace them with MPCStuff Fat Pads, all issues solved...but you have to carefully take the machine apart, re-assemble it and it will void your warranty.
It's not too tricky actually, you may have to take out one power connector, and be very careful taking the PCB board off its mounting clips, they are pretty cheap plastic. (I'm 99% sure the MPK's are constructed very similar to the MPD's, I modded an MPD32)
For a cheaper solution for MPC style workflow I would recommend FXpansion Geist. It's a really nice piece of software, it's $249USD. Then you could get Cockos Reaper to host the VST/AU version of Geist. That would be if you want to add synths and have a multi-track recording environment to pair with Geist. (There are freeware synths out there that are very usable.)
The MPK only has the 12 pads but you could make up the other 4 pads assigning them to 4 keys on the MPK.
Reaper is $60 and the demo doesn't time out, so you can take the time to see if you want to purchase the license. Geist has a demo you can download. And if you only want to do sampling and work with it's bundled drum library it can be used in standalone mode without a host DAW app.
http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=120
http://www.reaper.fm/
Just wanted to mention another option if you aren't ready to spend more to have an actual hardware MPC or the newer Ren hybrid solution.
It's not too tricky actually, you may have to take out one power connector, and be very careful taking the PCB board off its mounting clips, they are pretty cheap plastic. (I'm 99% sure the MPK's are constructed very similar to the MPD's, I modded an MPD32)
For a cheaper solution for MPC style workflow I would recommend FXpansion Geist. It's a really nice piece of software, it's $249USD. Then you could get Cockos Reaper to host the VST/AU version of Geist. That would be if you want to add synths and have a multi-track recording environment to pair with Geist. (There are freeware synths out there that are very usable.)
The MPK only has the 12 pads but you could make up the other 4 pads assigning them to 4 keys on the MPK.
Reaper is $60 and the demo doesn't time out, so you can take the time to see if you want to purchase the license. Geist has a demo you can download. And if you only want to do sampling and work with it's bundled drum library it can be used in standalone mode without a host DAW app.
http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=120
http://www.reaper.fm/
Just wanted to mention another option if you aren't ready to spend more to have an actual hardware MPC or the newer Ren hybrid solution.
