mpk49 pads

[ruckus49]

is it possible to break these pads in? i have had this since may and mine are still really stiff. i haven't been using them at all since its kind of pointless unless you want a finger workout. i was bangin on them today like a maniac, but it didnt do anything. i read elsewhere on the net that they will loosen up after 6 months to a year. i love this controller but these pads are just a waste of space as of now

[mks]

Yeah, don't really care for them. I've had mine for almost a year and half now. The pads were so stiff that I ended up just using the keyboard for my drums like I always have. I can't be arsed to work on them enough to break them in. Other than that, this is a great controller that I get loads of use out of. The knobs, buttons and faders with the keys is all I need really.

[aux]

i got mine recently as well.

pads are stiff yes, but you can always get your ideas down quickly with them first, dont need to hit it like a madman, just quick ideas.
then go back and add velocity if needed.
Seems to work for me, tho it might sound like it's double to work, it's worked out really well for me cuz then i can get my drums out faster than a keyboard (in my case anyways).

[lonewolf]

Same here, had mine since feb this year but the pads were a pain in da ass. I was using the mpd24 along with them but now I have Maschine which is brilliant, the pads are exellent to play with.

[sigmund floyd]

yeah, i use those pads to change "modes" in logic...which is actually pretty convenient

[deadly_habit]

we just got in the akai lp8 i think it is the competition for korg nano series by akai and the pads on that are even worse
feel like m-audio ones
i mean the mpk pads are lacking compared to their mpc series pads or mpd controllers, but they kill the m-audio and competition imo

[deadly_habit]

Same here, had mine since feb this year but the pads were a pain in da ass. I was using the mpd24 along with them but now I have Maschine which is brilliant, the pads are exellent to play with.

see to me the machine pads are a lil more stiff and less velocity sensitive than even the mpk49 pads

[Undrig]

[nowaysj]

If I can find my electrical tape without making a lot of noise, I'm doing this tonight.

[relik]

hmmm...i swear i posted in this thread before but it's all gone...anyway...

if you do the electrical tape mod instead of getting pad corx, don't cut individual little pieces like in the video. it will take you forever. take 4 long pieces (enough to cut 16 squares) and layer them all on top of each other and then cut them into smaller squares....will save you tons of time.

also, a lot of people seem to be completely confused on the sensitivity and threshold settings within these units. even the guy in the first video says "it defaults to 10, but at sensitivity 16 it's terrible". first off, if you have to hit the pads hard to trigger sound, you want to be adjusting the threshold...set it to 0 and it's mad easy and you can play just by lightly stroking like in the vid (i can on my mpd32 anyway). the sensitivity setting is more for how hard you have to hit them to trigger velocities only...i set this to 0 too because i don't even use velocity notes (disabled in my DAW) and manually edit. if you wanted you could set your own velocity curve to get it to trigger velocities for your own playing style.

[nowaysj]

also, a lot of people seem to be completely confused on the sensitivity and threshold settings within these units. even the guy in the first video says "it defaults to 10, but at sensitivity 16 it's terrible". first off, if you have to hit the pads hard to trigger sound, you want to be adjusting the threshold...set it to 0 and it's mad easy and you can play just by lightly stroking like in the vid (i can on my mpd32 anyway). the sensitivity setting is more for how hard you have to hit them to trigger velocities only...i set this to 0 too because i don't even use velocity notes (disabled in my DAW) and manually edit. if you wanted you could set your own velocity curve to get it to trigger velocities for your own playing style.

The mpk49 only goes down to 1 on threshold. This determines the lightest hit that will trigger a note on. Set at 1, the mpk will often skip hits. This shit is extremely frustrating when your drum line looks like a hockey player's smile, with intermittent gaps where there should be teeth. You've got to go in and pencil in all the missing hits. At this point, why are you even using a controller?

Sensitivity determines the velocity level of note ons. The higher the sensitivity, the higher velocity from lighter hits. 16 is the most sensitive setting on the mpk. At this setting a full on donkey punch to the mpk may still result in an 80 being sent, or it could be a 127, it changes from hit to hit... again, velocity data in this scenario is useless because it is not reflecting anything to do with your groove. Should just be drawing in your velocities. And yet again, why are you using a controller, if you have to go back to the pencil to correct all of the errors the controller introduces.

PadCurve determines the relationship between the internally measured velocity strength and the transmitted strength. 'A' gives you a curve where middle level velocities will transmit at higher levels. This convex curve has the effect of upwards compressing the velocities from middle up. I also have a velocity curve inside of fruity that allows me to further upwards compress the incoming velocity data. But still, get random choppy velocity levels that don't really match how hard the pad was hit.

When I use all these settings, I still get missing notes and unusable velocity data. Not good bros. Am going to try the electrical tape mod, if that doesn't work, I am going to stop by a chemicals type store to see if I can make a mold to pour some softer pads.

[nowaysj]

Best mod of my life broz! WHOO HOO.

I've got pads,

I've got pads, in different area codes.

Got some 3m super 88 electrical tape, thick as shit, 4 layers, got it on there real tight, perfectly conforming to the interior curves of the rubber pads, the 3/4 inch tape fits perfectly in there like it was meant to be there.

My pads trigger perfectly now. Light taps register, hard taps max out, NICE. And I can still keep the threshold on 1, the lowest.

Now, playing the padkontrol next the mpk... padkontrol still wins... ha ha ha, the pads are softer with a little more consistency, feel and touch and there is just the right amount of space between pads, and there's 16 of them lol. Maybe I'll start sampling some waltz for the mpk pads.

But still, the mpk pads went from completely unusable to legit. Thank you undrig for posting that video, I'd completely given up on these pads!

[mks]

Best mod of my life broz! WHOO HOO.

I've got pads,

I've got pads, in different area codes.

Got some 3m super 88 electrical tape, thick as shit, 4 layers, got it on there real tight, perfectly conforming to the interior curves of the rubber pads, the 3/4 inch tape fits perfectly in there like it was meant to be there.

My pads trigger perfectly now. Light taps register, hard taps max out, NICE. And I can still keep the threshold on 1, the lowest.

Now, playing the padkontrol next the mpk... padkontrol still wins... ha ha ha, the pads are softer with a little more consistency, feel and touch and there is just the right amount of space between pads, and there's 16 of them lol. Maybe I'll start sampling some waltz for the mpk pads.

But still, the mpk pads went from completely unusable to legit. Thank you undrig for posting that video, I'd completely given up on these pads!

Nice!! Was it fairly easy? I'm always a bit sketched about opening up electronic devices because I always think I'm gonna fuck something up.

[nowaysj]

Just went back and remoded my mod. A pad started sending just a touch of aftertouch data after it was released. So I pulled it apart again, and removed one layer of the super 88 electrical tape. The pads feel slightly less responsive but still very good. I am really trying to talk myself out of making a mold of these pads and pouring a softer rubber. Think I could sell the pads, but I'm not trying to be a pad salesman.

Yeah, since this is a midi controller, there really is nothing to it. It was an easy mod. The hardest thing was removing one layer from all the stacks of electrical tape. HA HA HA. I spent 4 times as much buying the 3m tape because it was thicker, and then it proved to be too thick. Live and learn. I grounded myself, and didn't really touch the electronics. The mpk's case's screws tap into plastic, which is not so great, I don't think you want to open and close this thing too many times as the plastic threads will start to deteriorate.

[ruckus49]

can u take pics?

[hayze99]

Well, I think this settles it. I'm going to get myself the MPD, and just mod the shit out of it. Shame that it can't just work out of the box, but I need the faders and rotaries, which the padkontrol just doesn't have. I'm guessing all this stuff applies equally with the 26, as the 32?

[nowaysj]

can u take pics?

I was gonna take pics and document the whole thing, but I got impatient, couldn't find the camera (biproduct of having a wife) so just went for it. I just buttoned the case up this afternoon after testing it.

I'm guessing all this stuff applies equally with the 26, as the 32?

Can't say, they seems similar enough. I might recommend getting the pad korx or whatever they are called. When all was said and done this took me some time of fine tuning and what not. And I'm still waiting to see how the electrical tape holds up in the heat.

Also please note that the mpk has the worst pads of the entire akai line, and my board had the worst pads of all the mpk's I tried. After I bought this thing, I was like the pads don't work, I brought a laptop into my music store, and tried a couple of other mpk's and they were better than mine. I should have exchanged mine but got too bizzy. So maybe you won't need to mod it at all? Buy it and see, the mod is always there if you need it.

I was watching a product demo of the mpk25 and the pads in that video protruded like twice as far as mine do, so I'm thinking maybe akai has made adjustments, after all the uproar regarding their earlier controller releases?

[hayze99]

Does anyone know whether there's any real difference between the MPD26 and the MPD 24?

I'm wondering if the old one is better before the cheaped it up and made it look like an M-Audio toy.

[relik]

main difference is the 24 has no note repeat and two less knobs. also there are probably differences with the software and drivers. i know a lot with the 24 said the mmc controls did not work at all depending on your DAW and then to get them to work you have to manually map. this was probably addressed in the 26.