So I’m saving up money for the new VCI 400 right now but I want some midi controllers for cool effects and beatmashing I was thinking a korg kaos pad quad for some of the cool effects and customizable effects that it has and then a midi fighter pro but I’m not completely sure what midifighter pro I should get between the beat masher, the cue master, and the super knob edition. I know you can map it however you want to but I’d rather leave the mappings how I get them until I fully understand how to map buttons correctly. Opinons please!
why waste cash on the kaos pad when u can use internal effects in traktor? esp as u say u are saving up…
u don’t say what (if any) controllers u have already. a mf classic is fine for instant grat and beat mashing etc - depends if u want the extra buttons and knobs. u can attach extra controls to the classic too if u fancy a bit of modding…
if u like the XY pad type input of the kaos pad there’s always the cheapo nanopad or the better vestax padone. the padone has decent pads and would be fine for beat mashing too.
I have a Numark Mixtrack Pro right now kinda sucks but college has been keeping me from having a job till now. So im finally making some money and I just saw Ean’s video about the new VCI400 and it looks very nice! as far as the extra midis for beatmashing and effects I’m not sure what to get. First off what exactly is beatmashing? and for effects I think I’d like a little more control than just a 4x4 square with buttons you know?
“beatmashing” means using the beatmasher effect in traktor, which kind of comes up with 7 (i think) different mashed up versions of the beats that u can mess around with.
a waaaaaaaaay too over used effect - but can be very effective if used selectively
same goes for the over used phrase cue point juggling… there are times to do rapid cue point switches but again seems to be way too much over used by the way people talk about it here.
u can do a lot with just a 4x4 grid. all the mf-pros gives u are 4 extra small buttons and 4 pots. every mf has inputs anyway tho so u can always solder on some extra controls to a mf classic if u really need them.
i am going to add 4 extra buttons to mine so i can use the “external 4 banks mode” which then gives u 4x a 4x4 grid instead of just 4x a 4x3 grid if u use the internal 4 banks mode.
also +1 on the lpd8 - awesome controller. checkout my midimasher thread if u want true midifighter 4banks (or normal) emulation via your lpd8.
alright I just ordered an Akai LPD8 and on ebay they had a sale so I also got Korg NanoPad, NanoKey, and NanoKontrol. I could probably map some good effects and beatmashing stuff on those right?
tho i do also have the lpd8+nanokontrol+nanokey myself i guess
yep - u will be able to do plenty with that lot…
i find the nanokey pretty crap - to use as an actual musical/piano keyboard - but its not bad just as a set of buttons to map - and it’s soooooooo small.
haha really??? I thought the nanokey would be cool because I produce as well but I’ll take your word for it. How do you like those scs.3d’s? and what do you use the midifighter for???
i bought the nanokey for production/song writing too… but the keys just aren’t great for that. something like an akai lpk25 would be much better.
the scs.3d’s are very cool - not much u cant do with those… love one so much that i got a 2nd not had any time to use my real midifighter at all yet. i have a virtual midifighter on my launchpad that i use with the instant grat tsi - quite fun - but not sure i’d use it in an actual set.
the arcade buttons of the midifighter will be cool for hot cues or sample decks or something tho i am sure…
yep basically. it’s a pure grid controller. each led has 13 different shades of colors so it’s pretty cool for laying out a complicated mapping on, using the different colors so u know what is where etc.
u can use automap or my own midimasher software to create virtual faders from a set of buttons, add multiple pages/layers etc - so it’s pretty flexible. i’ll probably get a 2nd one at some point.
very useful for ableton - but also i have a lot of fun using it with traktor. i do prefer having something with actual pots/faders on tho for levels/eq. i don’t use ableton as much as i would like - but when i do i use my nanokontrol for levels and the launchpad for clip launching.
it’s just the name of my app - link is in my sig. it just helps u to mash/map/route midi messages and i haven’t (yet) come up with a better name
it lets me connect to all my controllers and then use scripts written in LUA to do whatever i want with them. i have a big tsi file for traktor that contains all the actions i might want so means i dont need to mess around in the controller editor too much.
for example if u wanted to map the control ‘fader4’ on my lpd8 to the deck A level in traktor i just add this line to my config:
i have a couple of mappings available for the lpd8 at the moment - but the idea is for people to customise their own - not to just use what i might create.
okay and I also see you use Traktor Pro 2 and Ableton LIve. Can you explain to me the functionality of using Ableton Live with Traktor Pro 2 for making mixes or what not? LIke what do you use it for? and what does it let you do that Traktor doesn’t?
the two can be synched together for one thing… traktor only has 8 sample slots whereas in ableton u can have a whole stack of them, with follow actions (so once sample 1 finished it triggers sample 2 etc) so ableton is great for remixing live your own stuff.for just dropping a few samples/loops over other peoples tracks then traktor is usually enough.
i just have an old version of live5 that i originally bought and the live8le that came with my launchpad. it can be used to creating/producing your own stuff as well as re-mixing live, it’s pretty cool, tho i much prefer traktor for more traditional (if u can call it that) dj’ing…
or grab my midimasher and run the lpd8_midifighter_4banks.lua config. it uses PAD mode for the top 2 midifighter rows and CC mode for the bottom two. emulates MF 4banks mode and lets u just use any midifighter tsi like the IG one etc.
kinda sucks but college has been keeping me from having a job till now. So im finally making some money and I just saw Ean’s video about the new VCI400 and it looks very nice! as far as the extra midis for beatmashing and effects I’m not sure what to get. First off what exactly is beatmashing? and for effects I think I’d like a little more control than just a 4x4 square with buttons you know?
not had any time to use my real midifighter at all yet. i have a virtual midifighter on my launchpad that i use with the instant grat tsi - quite fun - but not sure i’d use it in an actual set.