Korg nanoPAD Pad Controller User Reviews at zZounds

"Great product, really brings the sounds you want to life." submitted December 29, 2008

By a customer from yahoo.com

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Hobbyist

Music Style: Hip-Hop,Jazz,and Pop

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Sound: it doesnt make sound, it has velocity pads tho. Feature: I wish the roll could be a little bit better but it gets the job done. Like if u roll your hi hats , it can be a lil off beat. It really isnt a big problem though because u can just hit the pads fast enough to get the sounds u want. i Really like the flam feature. It makes it easy to stack kicks and snares. The x-y axis pad thingy is very useful. Ease of Use: You just plug it in and bam!. that easy. Quality: I had to give it an 8 because the main pads that i beat up feels a little weird. I had this for a few days, i dont maybe i'm abusing my pads or this they are not as strong as they should be. And if you like to beat up pads like me then i suggest that u get something to keep your nano pad stable because the rubber dots on the bottom doesn't keep it in place that well. It wont mess up ypur flow though, just giving a heads to. Everything else is built pretty well. Value: I would have to say it's worth buying. 60 bucks for a control like this is wheres its at. Its worth way more then what they are selling it for. Manufacturer Support: N/A The Wow Factor: I don't really care about the looks but this little hardware doesn't hurt the eye. It looks like it can do work. The design reminds me of apple products. It matches my mac book. But the looks doesn't matter. Overall: Overall this is a great product. It gets the job done for drumming to sampling. It really helps me find the sound i want from chopped up samples. If you are into sampling, making drum sounds and on a tight budget; then you should pick this up.

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"get it" submitted November 19, 2008

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Sound: well it does not make sounds on its own so i cant fault it Feature: Now before all yall winey spoiled lazy musicians say what it cant do let me remind you that for under a 100 bucks you cant find a better controller. Assign chords to pads. 4 scenes. x-y axis is GREAT. Pads are very responsive. I think just as good as the mpc. its small so does not take up ya whole desk. Wish it came wit some more templetes especially for reason. The software lets you program paramaters in plain english. And you can do it while you using it. Ease of Use: NOt so much. Dont get me wrong i didnt need the manual too much however.......if your new to such editing it aint easy. like i said they should have made a couple more templetes and scene sets to get folk going in a better direction depending on the app you use. Quality: plasic but i already dropped mine (DARN KIDS!) still works like a charm. Value: what piece of new equipment can you get that lets you make music so creatively as this for under $75. This is the first controller i know that you can assign chords to the pads or keys PERIOD. AKAI mpk 49 does not do that nor does thier mpd32. Now im not saying this is better but im not paying $250 for a drum controller when i could get 2 of these for that price. Its just a responsive and the roll function is similar to the note repeat button if you work it right with the x-y pad. Manufacturer Support: not sure yet but the manual is clear as far as i can tell Overall: GET IT. IMO its the best drum pad controller you can get.

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"If only this product worked..." submitted January 24, 2011

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Musical Background: Active producer/writer/artist/engineer

Music Style: Hip hop, R/B, pop

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Sound: It's a pad controller/trigger so it doesn't have it's own sounds. Feature: One of the coolest features of this product is the xy controller. I would prefer to use it instead of multiple knobs, not that I have anything against knobs. It's potentially a great product if it worked. From what I've read about it, hardly anyone seems to have a working unit- mines didn't either....only two pads and the xy controller. I'm pretty sure this is a ridiculous quality control issue with Korg. You have to test your product before you sell it. Either that or something very bad happens when they ship these things. Ease of Use: I really believe that this is "potentially" a user friendly product. I would love to use a working unit. There's probably a lot different possibilities with it. Quality: Felt sturdy. Don't think I was going to break it anytime soon. Value: Seems to be a great product for the price. I would think that it would be a game changer for some of the home studio producers and on the fly producers considering your soundbank is at least mediocre. Manufacturer Support: Never used it....Then again I didn't use the product either. The Wow Factor: I wanted it so much that I went and got it!!! Now I just want it to work so bad that I went and got a similar product...Akai lpd8. I purchased it from the Guitar Center based off of another review. I asked a guy who worked there about the nonopad and he literally gave me a one-word review on it- and not a good one. They had so many of them returned.

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"Not an angry review, just a disappointed one. Pay a little more for something better." submitted October 13, 2009

By a customer from gmail.com

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The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Digital Producer

Music Style: Rock, Hip Hop, Pop

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Sound: The product itself has no sound. It is a trigger. Feature: The flam and roll do not have BPM matching, making them virtually useless in most realistic practical ways. It might be good for a random video clip trigger, but musically it is horrible. Ease of Use: The driver I believe is a huge issue. Windows automatically recognizes it as an audio device, and you have to download the driver from the net, as there is nothing included. I don't connect my music workstation to the net...most serious digital musicians won't. That's what my netbook is for right? I understand this is $60, but a CD cost less than a dollar to press Korg. Quality: The design of the product in itself is actually okay. The pads are smaller than typical, but that's pretty much the plan with a portable device. I bought the black one, the first one only had a working XY pad. I wanted to use this pad as a backup to do multichannel beat programming. The second one I received: the pads barely worked. Over-triggering (Like playing drums at more than 95 BPM) would cause other pads to cancel out. Almost like there was a short in the unit...Yes, the second one. Value: If it worked as planned...GREAT! Multi-midi channel interface as small as your laptop. Touch sensitive pads, etc. Neither of my units worked. It wasn't an "Oh, what is a midi channel" user type of thing. The units just don't work. At least the black models, from what I know. Manufacturer Support: I haven't used them, so I can't judge them. The Wow Factor: You'd definitely want these if everything panned out. Many others have had different experiences with the original white units, but my experience in Windows XP with Sonar Producer's Edition, as well as running individual VST's as a trouble shoot....It's all bad. Overall: I noticed that when leaving the original generic Audio Device driver in XP, you can get the pads to play without any lag or cutting out. But, there isn't any channel programming of individual pads, using the Korg Editor, or Velocity Sensitive programming. You will be hard pressed to find many negative reviews in Google due to I think many novice users use these things, but you will notice there are a lot of DEVICE/DRIVER/PROGRAMMING questions popping up. I believe it's really these devices.

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"It's worth it, get one =)" submitted February 3, 2009

By a customer from hotmail.com

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Musical Background: Producer/Engineer

Music Style: Basically everything from acoustic to metal to techno and back.

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Feature: It's got all you really need to control drum beats within your DAW, or to punch in new beats on the fly. The XY controller was something that was added into it for added features, and it's worth the price JUST for the drum controls. Ease of Use: Very simple, this is as close to plug and play as any midi controller can get. I used it in conjunction with Ableton Live, so it was made very easy for me. I'm not sure how easy it is to set up in other DAWs but it shouldn't be too difficult. Quality: I had mine for a month or two and I had a problem with the USB port... had to get it fixed and resautered. It only dropped on the floor once, and I think that since this unit is meant to be portable, they should have made it a little bit more durable. Value: You won't regret paying the low price for this, this is MORE than you bargain for by far. Perfect for the on-the-go drum programmer =) Manufacturer Support: Korg has always given me great support. Overall: Get one =)

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"I went through 3 that didn't work. Don't waste your time it's a pile of junk!" submitted December 8, 2009

By a customer from cox.net

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Musical Background: Active Musician

Music Style: Indie/Modern Rock

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Sound: When the Nano Pad works it works great Overall: I have to give this a 1 for an overal rating, because I went through 3 of them and they all had reliability issues with pads. Some pads would work, some would work intermittantly, and some wouldn't work at all.

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"It is worth the price..." submitted March 28, 2009

By a customer from hotmail.com

Overall

Sound

Features

Ease of Use

Quality

Value

Manufacturer Support

The Wow Factor

Musical Background: Studio owner, Producer

Music Style: Urban Styles

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Sound: This is only a midi controller, and thus does not produce any sound on its own... Feature: I like the features of this item. The Editor software is pretty good. I own this and the nanokontrol. The software works great with both of them. The roll and flam is cool, but it cannot be synced to the tempo of your sequencer. This is the only drawback... Ease of Use: I know my way around the editor because I had the nanokontrol. But those of you who are new to this might want to read the manual. it does not come with any templates. Quality: This is one area where I have to dock this item by a few points. Yes I know this thing is 60 bucks so it is very hard to complain about anything. BUT, I see someone compared these pads to mpc pads... Come on now be serious. Maybe the newer numark/china MPC pads (1000, 500, 2500, 5000). But real MPC pads???? The pads on this don't even come close. It is just plain misleading to compare these pads to MPC pads. Also, Someone else mentioned the feet on the bottom. I am thinking about getting my own rubber feet to put under there. If the thing is not sitting flat It can move around and be a bit noisier than I would like. But, overall I think for 60 bucks it is still a good deal. Value: 60 bucks to bang out drums on the go... Nuff said... Manufacturer Support: Haven't needed it. The Wow Factor: The black ones get a ten. The white ones... eh not so much... Overall: Overall I give it a nine. The unit is noisier than I would like and not very sturdy. Other than that, I love it and if it breaks after warranty I would get another one.

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"Would be great if it worked, but the black ones don't." submitted December 20, 2010

By a customer from gmail.com

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Musical Background: Guitar Player; new at Home Recording

Music Style: Jazz and Blues

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Sound: I ignored the online reviews that consistently said that there was a manufacturing problem with the black nanoPads, thinking that they must all come from the same factory so it's just coincidence... Well, after having received 2 different black ones and both exhibiting the same problem (some pads don't work or work intermittently depending on how hard you mash them). I think if the nanoPad worked it would be a great tool, but the first one I received only had a few of the pads work. I returned it and asked zzounds to send me a white one instead, which they said they would be happy to do but the white ones were out of stock at the time. Being impatient, I said to just send me another black one. While that one was better (all of the pads worked except for a few), it was still defective. Also, I found that the latency with it made it unusable, but I'm sure that was my setup/PC. So I returned it and won't be repurchasing. Feature: Great if it worked. Ease of Use: Didn't work. Quality: Horrible quality control on these things. Value: Great if it worked. Manufacturer Support: I'm giving the 10 to zzounds - they as always were great. As for Korg - I never called them (I tend not to ever call tech support from any company....they're always useless). Overall: Broken. Two defective units...

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Korg nanoPAD USB MIDI Pad Controller

User Ratings

"Great product, really brings the sounds you want to life." submitted December 29, 2008

"get it" submitted November 19, 2008

"If only this product worked..." submitted January 24, 2011

"Not an angry review, just a disappointed one. Pay a little more for something better." submitted October 13, 2009

"It's worth it, get one =)" submitted February 3, 2009

"I went through 3 that didn't work. Don't waste your time it's a pile of junk!" submitted December 8, 2009

"It is worth the price..." submitted March 28, 2009

"Would be great if it worked, but the black ones don't." submitted December 20, 2010