akai lpd8 Vs Korg Nanopad 2
Which one do you guys think is better? According to djtechtools, the korgs build quality is garbage. The akai doesnt have as many pads as the cords but does have 8 knobs. Which one should I get. Or if you know any other pad controllers in the same price range, please suggest
I hate this question. I dont know what your persnal mixing style is. I don’t know what you like to do with effects and EQs. this is a decision you should make on your own. I personally would, however, recommend the LPD8 because i has 4 banks of 8 pads, giving you 32 pads. The fact it has knobs and the nanopad doesn’t makes this an extremely easy decision to make. but then again, do you want an XY pad? make the call yourself.
i had both.. i preferred the lpd and took back the korg. wasnt as responsive as the lpd and the XY pad is bust. takes way to much pressure to trigger and isnt as practical as the 8 knobs for my style. plus the lpd lights up rather nicely.
I own a LPD and the build quality is real nice, but your going to have to break in the pads (a lil stiff at first)
+1 lpd8
Got an lpd8 last week and love it. The pads are really nice and its built well. For E40.00 it was worth every single cent.
Choose it over the Korg because everywhere i went i heard about its sh*t build quality and also i don’t think you can use an xy pad in Traktor?
On the other hand those knobs are absolutely useless. Try and find some replacements or something to glue on top of them to make them large enough to use.
i use them nicely,and i havent needed to increase the size.. but mine is setup all special so im sure increased size would be profitable for everyone else. its still better than the korg. and yes you can use the XY in traktor
i actually quite like the pots on the lpd8, no issue with them not being tall enough etc.
changing banks is a bit of a pain with the lpd8 as you need to press 3 buttons to do it but you can just use the note and cc modes to get 2 banks quite nicely and is much easier to change banks then as you only need to press the one button.
ofc you can also use both methods and have 4 banks of 4x4 pads in effect.
i was thinking the same thing anyway and went for the lpd8 over the korg. i’ll probably also get a vestax padone as it has nice quality pads with feedback, more of them than the lpd8 and an X/Y pad (plus the pads have aftertouch with is what i am mostly interested in) but its not in the same price bracket at all ofc. you could get 3 lpd8’s for the price of one padone.
i guess im gonna go with the lpd 8, thanks for the feedback.
How is the lpd8 compatability with traktor with 4 channel mixing in mind? any1 have any experiences?
It’s a midi controller. You decide how it works and as a result your question doesn’t make much sense.
What are you trying to do with it?
Ehm well its a midi controller so you can map it to do anything you want really.
I find the lpd8 is great with Traktor but i wouldnt use it for 4 channel mixing i dont really like doubling up too many controls.
I use mine alongside a dvs setup for controlling cue points and loops mostly.
i use mine as a dedicated Midifighter. i dont see how it could be setup for 4 channel mixing without having to use different presets and stuff. too much hassle for me >.>
Sorry guys, probably should have specified. First let me say I have always mixed on two CDJs and a standard mixer. I recently got the lpd8 because I want to start 3 channel mixing without forking over a new mixer AND cdj.
When I say 4 channel I really mean 3 channel mixing. I just am missing the ability to have two songs playing together and then looping them and fading out as i come into a 3rd song as I only have 2 CDJs so its impossible without making my own pre-made mash-ups which is lacking in quality and fun.
I was going to set the pads to cue points and set 6 knobs to EQ and 2 knobs to the fader. Its possible to set the knobs to control a channels fader, correct? If so, I figure I can just have another mapping for the 3rd channel’s EQ and fader since the lpd8 only has 8 knobs. Any help with this n00b would be appreciated
im sure you could do basic control of a third deck using the lpd. it just takes some mapping and getting used to. if you use the lpd’s channel program you can make the knobs less or more accurate which would be helpful in EQs and faders. its definently do-able though
Actually you could mix 4 decks fairly nicely with a volume + filter for each channel. It’s not ideal but it’ll work.
The program change could be used to select each deck since there are 4 banks.
the 8 pots could be mapped to 3 eq’s and volume faders for 2 decks without any issue - and you have 8 pads you can map with the note+cc modes and the pc mode can be used as 8 triggers or toggles too. you can also use the 4banks that it has but i dont personally like having to press 3 buttons to change them, i.e: PROGRAM + hit a pad + note/cc/pc depending on what mode u want to get back into
Plus you have a permanent visual feedback which bank you’re on. Actually you can even utilize the program change mode if you put some sort of midi translator in between (i used MidiPipe when I still used my LPD8).
yep, good point. my midimasher can translate the progchange pads into something more useful - but you only get a midi event when you press it, not when you release so can’t be used for everything. but i’ve used those three modes to turn my lpd8 into a virtual 4x6 grid controller and it’s pretty cool.
anotherl thing is that it remembers the pad states when you switch between note/cc/pc modes but not in it’s actual 4 banks, which seems odd to me.
i.e: send a midi note to light up a pad in note mode, switch to cc mode and it goes out, go back to note mode and it lights up again. change to a diff bank and then go back to your original bank and no cigar…