Microkontrol replaced soon?

LiveLong · Post by **LiveLong** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:36 am

I have seen on samash site, only 5 left

Do you know if the Korgs are plotting to replace it soon

autoy · Post by **autoy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 3:15 am

I don't think so, they're actually expanding the range with the kontrol49 now, which is exactily the same with 49 full sized keys and extra mod and pitch bend wheels. I really hope they don't abandon it's development tho

but sadly korg has a great record on product abandoning. I really think it's a unique and great product, there's not many controllers displaying parameter names in LCDs on top of each controller, neither one offering also drum pads or 3 octaves on that size.

Milkmansound · Post by **Milkmansound** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 4:42 am

as many good feature that there are on that thing, I had to abandon mine. The keys were just too friggin small to use, and the pads felt cheap and unusable. Maybe they needed more time to break in or something. And when I went to resell it I had to lower the price a lot to get it to go on ebay... I think the demand for this will determine its fate.

The control 49 looks way better, but its a little too large for me. Right now I am suffering with an oxygen 8 that I got for free.

LiveLong · Post by **LiveLong** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 5:24 am

The control 49 looks way better, but its a little too large for me. Right now I am suffering with an oxygen 8 that I got for free.[/quote]

Thanks for the info, why do you suffer with the oxygen? it is (was

) one of my options...
There is a nice one from Alesis, two versions, the good one has audio i/o I don't need, but still $199

, Edirol price.

endless knobs, the 3D mushroom xyz controller, pitch, mod... I want to check how it feels in reallity

.
The other one is the Novation, expensive, but more controllers.

I guess these are my options.

karate · Post by **karate** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 7:04 am

Whatcha guys think of this???

filarion · Post by **filarion** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 9:43 am

I sold my Xstation cause of the crappy OSX drivers and some usability issues. great concept though and I hear that it's a lot better now than half a year ago. ah well. I'm on the preorder list for a Bitstream 3x now, who needs a keyboard

autoy · Post by **autoy** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 4:12 pm

Milkmansound wrote:as many good feature that there are on that thing, I had to abandon mine. The keys were just too friggin small to use, and the pads felt cheap and unusable. Maybe they needed more time to break in or something.

I actually think picking 3 octave minikeys was the right choice, they perfectly suite my playing. It's just the same feel of the microkorg ones. I can easily reach notes that I normally wouldn't and do faster playing, in the end an xtra octave becomes very handy, thus keeping the unit very compact. I definitely prefer this to 25 full sized. They surely have a soft feel but the velocity curves help my soft-playing too, as I set them quite sensitive. I guess if you are a serious keyboard player you will certainly hate them.

The drumpads are not as big as the MPC ones, but they do work well and get way softer with use. Just hit 'em hard for a few weeks

On the other hand, the metallic/hard plastic body makes it a lot more sturdy than the Novation range and looks good too.

Again, the LCDs make it so very special... it'll just make you use all of the controls instead of a portion of them beacause you don't remeber which is assigned to what (despite of those labels in the Novations and Alesis, which you will give up changing all the time).

A bit of a pity that the encoders don't always send incremental values, but I guess CCs are more compatible with everything on the market. For incremental values the host must support the so-called korg native mode, but if supported it is just amazing.

rikhyray · Post by **rikhyray** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 5:49 pm

Novation has definitely the best keys of all these small controllers but I didnt like the rest, fader ask "break me". I dont find much use of 2 octave keyboard other then using the keys as switches, even for "emergency" use like in hotel or a tour bus . Novations layout, design is sensless and it is bulky. I feel that 49 version is much better specially X version.. Contrary with Korg, their 49 is worse then micro, they should have done better chassis and throw some more goodies into such big box, missed opportunity.
So I got rid of Novation and till something better appears, got the MicroKontrol, liked the built quality except the keys and the pads ( both miserable) , it works nice with Reason 3, no setting. Obvious that it is a product of real music instruments company, very good for stage ( you can actually see what you control), I might keep it for longer as Reason controller.
However I wouldnt recommend it to anyone as the only keyboard ( I have 61 keys synth and waiting for new 88 and 49 controllers).
Get at least 49 or 37 keys even if you are not much of a player. Novation, Korg or new Edirols , maybe Alesis and Emu will be good too.

filarion · Post by **filarion** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 10:46 pm

I replaced my XStation with a Nord Modular G2, best choice ever

12micsn1 · Post by **12micsn1** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:35 pm

The controller market is looking pretty interesting lately. I wonder whats coming next.

tomperson · Post by **tomperson** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 11:50 pm

The alesis Photon X25 looks pretty nice indeed...anyone using it here?

I contacted Alesis support, they confirmed it supports ASIO 2.0 (in the Alesis website nothing is said about this particular detail), the knobs are made of rubber (YES!!!) and they said they tested it with ableton live and works OK!

manZoo · Post by **manZoo** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 12:14 am

got the O2 by M-audio, not bad, different feel on the keys, not like there previous offering...very slim and easily transportable, got it for like 120$, not bad for the price...but no midi in jack

peace

Microkontrol replaced soon?

Microkontrol replaced soon?

I WANT IT