Posts Tagged ‘controller’

I’m a fan of controllers. I have a few of them, and when the opportunity to review the Launchpad came along, I had to take it.

I’ve been using Live for a few years, and when performing live (pre-APC40/Launchpad), I had found it highly unenjoyable to click around on my computer to launch different clips and control volume. Granted, there’s always been workarounds: and MPD for launching clips and a Remote Zero LE for controlling all my effects, pans…you name it.

Enter controllers like the Akai APC40 and the Novation Launchpad. The APC40 has been around a bit and while it looks impressive, I still a giant Novation fanboy at heart.  Their controllers have always been easy to setup, fun to use, and right within my pricepoint.

Enough small-talk, let’s get into what’s important: the review!

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Let’s face it: most of us work inside the digital realm one way or another. Some of us might be confined to using a mouse for our recording, arranging, and mixing duties while some have the privilege of using a control surface. If you’re pretty serious and running a Pro Tools HD setup, you might have C24 or maybe an ICON controller. If you’re like most of us, however, you need something a little more economical for your Pro Tools LE, Logic, Cubase, et al setup. Don’t worry though. You can have an amazing tabletop control surface for under $1,000 that rivals any other high-end surface on the market.

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If you don’t want to go as small as the Akai LPD8, you can always go the route of the new Akai MPD18. It’s the smallest non-laptop-ish pad controller available from the company.

The heart of the MPD18 is its bank of 16 velocity and pressure-sensitive genuine MPC pads, an Akai Professional exclusive. Users can access three different banks of sounds from the pads for a total of 48 sounds at once. The MPD18 also borrows the MPC series’ assignable Q-Link controllers, enabling users to control nearly any parameters in their software in real time on an assignable Q-Link fader and an assignable Q-Link button.

The MPD18 is available now for $99.

Akai’s answer to the Korg Nano series is now shipping to all major retailers.  I know all Guitar Centers have them (or will have them soon), and the pricing on these units is pretty great.

They’re USB-bus powered, about the length of a laptop keyboard, and thin enough to fit into any sort of messenger/laptop bag you can think of. Sadly, Akai wasn’t at AES this year so I couldn’t get any good info/demos of the units, but from what I’ve seen the build quality on these Akai units seem to be much more solid than the Korg units.

Go check out your nearest retailer and check them out!

Hercules portable DJ controllers have always looked slick, and their newest addition is no exception.

The MP3e2 is a USB desktop mixer that’s smaller than a laptop and will run for $129.99 starting in October from your favorite online music retailer (Musician’s Friend, zzSounds, and much more).

It can loop, beat match at the push of a button, control  your mp3s inside your selected program, and just about everything else you can expect it to do. No word on it’s ability to work with more popular software like Traktor, but I bet it works to a point.

• User-friendly automation for beginners
• Cue point suggested by DJ software during audio file analysis (Included software: VirtualDJ® DJC MP3 e2)
• Track synchronizations with 1 push of a button
• Automatic loops on 1, 2 or 4 beats
• Lighter & smaller than a laptop
• Compact DJ control surface
• USB powered – no extra power supply needed

• 2 Mixing decks
• 3-Level equalization per deck for producing big sound
• 2 jog wheels to navigate tracks
• 1 Cross fader and 2 volume faders
• 4 Buttons to browse music lists
• 2 Buttons to load tracks
• Alter your music files with your own effects
• Save your mixes as your own music files
• Non-slip pads ensure perfect stability

So there you go. It works with both Mac and PC and seems to be optimized to work with the packaged VirtualDJ software. It’s obviously aimed at beginner DJs, but it looks solid enough to be used by anyone.