I Finally upgraded from the nanoPAD to an Akai MPD24. I really love this thing.
Geeky Gigs #9 is a bit of a hodgepodge mix up of styles, kinda trap, kinda vaporwave, kinda trip hop, and just kinda weird. I cut up son Janet Jackson, 808, casio rapman, my own real drum samples, some vinyl drum samples and some synth parts and bass lines using the UVI digital sensations and Plastique VST. Everything is live sequenced and triggered in Ableton Live Intro.
The end is a bit of improv. Hope you like it!
If you’re just getting started playing pads, these videos can be of great help. They helped me quite a bit. Even if you already play, there’s some great techniques shown in Jeremy’s vids. If you’ve never seen Jeremy Ellis play pads, it is truly a sight to behold. He is seriously one of my favorite “drummers” right now.
If you’re looking to buy a pad controller, I recommend the Akai MPD26 below. They’re very affordable and very well made. I have the 24 which is very similar but no longer being produced.
There’s more options for finger drummers out there than ever right now, and M-Audio fairly recently released their new Trigger Finger Pro. The more I see about this controller the more I like it. This video shows a great performance using all the original samples that come with the unit. The nice big display screen is definitely a nice feature and the built in step sequencer is a very cool feature.
The only controller that seems to be in the same league as the TFP one is the Maschine, which is an amazing product. But the Maschine MK2 is $599, where as the TFP is only $199. I can’t comment on the feel of the pads themselves since I haven’t used one personally. But from what I have seen they look like nice sized pads and most comments about them have been good.
Subscribe to my youtube channel and check out this performance with Ableton Live Intro with a nanoKONTROL and nanoPAD2 control surfaces.
I made a couple of melodic loops but am playing all the drum beats live on the nanoPAD2. I used mostly Simmons SDS7 and SDS5 drum samples and a couple others.