Yes to only buy something you will fully be able to utilize…but without researching it’s not apparent to everyone just by reading specs what applications something may have. I personally have been trying to get into djing/production and have been doing a lot of research over the last half year. There are many things that I didn’t even know exist, and many things that I knew existed but had no idea how useful or fun they could be until I asked questions.
I didn’t even know how to properly record a guitar on a budget before and was using a quarter inch adapter to a eigth directly into my computer, getting horrible latency and being clueless on what to do to improve it
I did try googling around and researching but thing is I find there’s a huge learning curve for this stuff, and lots of the time I don’t even know where to begin in the phrasing of my questions in order to find out the answers to them.
Also on equipment that I bought for one purpose; ex: novation launchpad for ableton, doing research around and finding a free mapping for traktor which my mind was certainly not creative enough to imagine was definitely fun. A lot of people like getting different perspectives and having their mind open to the potential of gear they might even already have and be using to the fullest according to their knowledge.
As far as advantages go over drum pad controllers…one big one is durability. Before i even knew what a MF was I was modding and building arcade sticks, I have tried out lots of buttons from different manufacturers and the Sanwa switches are by far my favorite. They are rated for millions of button activations. Also customization options with colors and such that you wont find elsewhere.
The positives with DJ specific integration- clip launching, effects, beat juggling, etc…the buttons are super responsive with quick activation. Doing multiple presses like triplets and such are super easy. The multitude of mappings and the ability to make your own really lets you customize it to your style of play.
Do these outweigh the cost over a $40 midi drum pad that can be programmed to do basically the same thing and is also velocity sensitive? I think this is really left up to the individual and their specific situation.
Thanks found that response very helpful! I can imagine how satisfying it would be to press an arcade button, versus my very tight action pads on my mpk49. At the budget level I have yet to find something that consistently responds to my playing style so velocity sensitivity still has to be edited quite often or re-recorded multiple times therefore it’s not too great of an advantage for me and I could live without it.