So today i finally got the Korg nanoPAD2 , a part of the new nanoSeries2
i recently did a review on the Korg nanoKontrol2 (HERE) and the Korg MicroKontrol (HERE) and they were surprisingly good for the price. The nanoPAd2? Here are some quick comments that i have regarding the software...
WHERE IZ MY SOFTWAREZ???
That's right - the Korg nanoPAD2 is supposed to come with some goodies, freebies, including the EZ DRUMMER LITE, they supply you with a serial number that you are suppose to input in the "Korg Kontrol Editor" , okay now...
The problem is... THE KORG KONTROL EDITOR DOES NOT SUPPORT the nanoPAD2 yet!!! (or the nanoKontrol2 in that matter, i mentioned this in my nanoKontrol2 review)
I have spent hours and hours looking for the latest edition of KORG KONTROL EDITOR which supports my nanoPad2 with no luck!! (coz as far as i know as of 16/04/2011 they dont exist!!)
The latest release that i could find was V0110 which support the old nanoseries and the microKEY, but no nanoSeries2, and where the heck are we supposed to put the serial numbers anyway??
Instructions arent clear and kinda blurry
The Pads... not bad but not too good
I am going to be very honest here, the pads in the nanoPAD2 arent that great at all, in fact i much prefer the feeling of the old nanoPAD or even the AKAI LPD8. But you do get 16 PADS, with 4 program changes, so you pretty much get 64 pads to map! Price wise, yeah it is pretty cheap and good value, but i must stress you that these pads arent really built for extreme performances, slow drumming is fine and pretty responsive but once you try to do ultra-fast rapid fire tricks they start show their weakness
The XY PAD... okay but not very accurate
For less than $60 you really wont get ultra-responsive, multi-touch xy pads so this is understandable. The bonus features such as the gate arp and touch scale are PRETTY COOL i must admit, but not really for professional performance coz they aren't so accurate
VERDICT?
Hmmm... this one is kinda hard to decide, 16pads with 4 banks and xy pad seems really good on paper, but the nanoPAD2 pads really dont feel so good and arent so responsive, if you are okay with that or if you are planning to do slow sample triggering then that might be fine, but if you are into hardcore cue juggling and rapid fire sample launching the nanoPAD2 will not perform to your expectation, the LPD8 is much more responsive although it gives you HALF of the amount of pads, so...
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY! Make sure you can live with the pad's performance before you decide to buy one - i am considering returning the item too actually...
Korg nanoPad2 Review by Ivan Zilch
Bought from citymusic singapore ($76SGD, much less than USD$60 i think)
Amazon Links! They are Cheap!
Korg nanoPAD2 Slim-Line USB Pad Controller, Black
