Midi Fighter Vs. Akai MPD

Hey Everyone,
My first post but I have been stalking this site for over a year now and I have a question for all of you Midi Fighter owners.

Disclaimer: This is not meant to start a war; just an honest question.

Here it is - I have been debating on buying a Midi Fighter or a custom Midi Fighter, but after doing some serious research I ask myself - "what is the point?"

I just priced a Midi Fighter out (assembled, etc.) and the total is $200, not including shipping. A custom Midi Fighter is $450 to start.

Doesn't it make more sense to purchase an MPD 24 or MPD 26? Both are available for $200 (including shipping where I live). How about the MPD 32 for $300?

The Midi Fighter doesn't have touch-sensitive pads, faders or knobs but is more expensive than the akai products. The MPD 32 has more options than what the custom Midi Fighter can provide and is pound-for-pound a better deal.

AGAIN - I'm not bashing DJ TechTools, but I have to ask you all, what is the advantage to purchasing a Midi Fighter over an MPD? Am I missing something?

I want to purchase one more controller with pads or buttons for DJing with my S4. I plan on mapping hot cues and FXs to the controller instead of using the buttons on the S4.

Can someone let me know if I am missing something really groundbreaking between Midi Fighter and MPDs (other then selecting the button colours)?

Thanks - Peace and Beats!

- Snipaz

Here's my current setup:
M-Audio Axiom 49 2nd Gen.
Behringer MS20 Monitors
Traktor S4
Presonus Audiobox USB (with Mic and Headphones = 1Box)
N.I. Maschine (I don't want to use this for DJing, I would rather travel with a cheaper controller i.e. Midi Fighter or MPD)
Mac Book Pro

i believe this is really just about the feel of the arcade buttons which are almost exclusive to the midi fighter. since i never really liked to play cue points etc with drumpads or regular buttons, i'd like to get my hands on one. (other than that theyre just real sexy gear)

if you like the pads on the akai, it's a fince choice too!

The midifighter has great mappings for Traktor already, with the MPD you'd have to make your own or find a custom one someone has made. And since DJTT is a small company they can't really sell their products for super cheap either, but you do get that small company love and support with the mf and this forum is always really helpful too. I have tried both, but I stayed with the mf since I was hooked on their mappings and support.

midifighter: you get djtt mappings + buttons are good for cue point juggling

mpd: if you wana do your own mappings and you don't wana cue point juggle, then hands down get this.

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Originally Posted by IznremiX

midifighter: you get djtt mappings + buttons are good for cue point juggling

mpd: if you wana do your own mappings and you don't wana cue point juggle, then hands down get this.

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You can use DJTT mappings with MPDs in most circumstances, but you have to be a bit clever to make Instant Gratification to work.

Interstingly enough it was actually using my friend's MPD24 that made me want to buy a midifighter, since I saw the flexibility of the 16 button grid but wanted the arcade button feel, small size and DJTT support. If I wanted a controller to do everything, I probably wouldn't get a MF. That's arguable, but it's my point of view. However, it makes a brilliant complimentary controller to an existing setup.

How many midi notes does the MPD send out on one fader? The Mf sends out three, maybe four I believe enabling some wicked mapping tricks that can't be done with anything else.

Personally I'd go for the mpd. I think a lot of the love for midi fighters is just the desire to support the community here and it's a bit like a badge that states that you are a real DJTT type fellow.

Can't you use those midi programs to make a single note trigger multiple ones? I thought that was what they were for. I dunno. I've never touched them.

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Originally Posted by MrPopinjay

Can't you use those midi programs to...

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Keep in mind that it will take someone hours and hours to map out the MPD from scratch to match the midi fighter's mapping. So the question would be: Are you the DIY type of person that will take the time to make an awesome mapping? Or will you spend the extra dough to have those mappings already done for you? Not only that, DJTT keeps on constantly adding new features to the old mappings. I think the DJTT forum supports both! This whole site was based on the DIY.

Fair enough I suppose. It is better out of he box with traktor, cannot deny that.

Honestly man I felt the same way. I was like ... uhh i'm paying $200 for fucking 16 buttons? Fuck that. Especially since I already have a Maschine, and I figured I could map that or use that as a a MIDI fighter. But as mentioned before, the feel and responsiveness of the MIDI fighter is phenomenal.

Side note: I am not sure how hard it is to copy the instant gratification mapping but I would ask Quigley because he was attempting to do it a while ago.

Xtanw convinced me over night though after watching instant gratification videos (it was pretty easy since I suffer from GAS - refer to DLVS post for this on the other thread) and at first i was like "crap I think I wasted $200", a day later when I got the combos down... it was the sickest thing since sliced bread.

The great part is the mapping allows you to do sick transitions too, and the buttons are fun as hell. For me I hit the trifecta. I supported DJTT (which is my second home), it allowed my transitions to sound sick as hell, and I got more buttons!

I love my Midifighter to death, and when I can afford it i'm buying a custom one too. It's just a truly awesome product once you figure out how to use it best with your style of mixing.

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Originally Posted by Shane Says

Keep in mind that it will take someone hours and hours to map out the MPD from scratch to match the midi fighter's mapping.

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Not really. All you have to do is change the MPD's midi notes to match the MF ones and then use the same mapping. You can even make a kind of 4 banks mode for the IG mapping by using different pages.

For a lot of people I dare say that could take hours :P

hehe yeh, fair point.

Feel I should point out that I've never EVER heard of someone who wasn't pleased with their midifighter. Unless of course it's not working.

I had come to a similar conclusion (though i do plan to order a custom midi fighter just for those dang arcade buttons) but I wound up using an extra padkontrol I had with farmpad. one advantage I like with using the padkontrol is the multiple scenes independent of traktor mappings. but as they say for beat juggling the arcade buttons do have a nice feel to em. One thing i would like to see on a midi fighter is the XY pad as I really like to use that for expression for some scenes on my controller ;) multiple scenes (independent of traktor) would be nice to ;)

I also do all my own mappings so having premade mappings is not that big of an issue for me personally.

I'm sure you could mod a midifighter with an XY pad.

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Originally Posted by fullenglishpint

I'm sure you could mod a midifighter with an XY pad.

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I was actually going to hit up ean about that when I decide to order as i have some design ideas for the midi fighter I would like to have myself ;)