About to buy a KORG MicroKONTROL

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 3:31 pm

Hi guys,

i'm almost to buy a used microkontrol for 250 EURO, mainly to control Ableton Live 5.... and perhaps Live 6 too. Im not a dj, so its only for the studio, arranging, triggeirng drum samples, automating parameters, etc.

I know many people don't like its small keys, but im not a keyboad player so i dont think it was a big problem for someone like me...

What do you think about?

Is it a good deal?

@ betatesters...does the microkontrol worth the pain in Live 6?

Thank you, cheers!

djfm · Post by **djfm** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:06 pm

i had one of these babies and think they are very good. But the size of the keys forced me to sell it. Im no keyboard player either , if you have fat fingers you may get frustrated with it like me
but other than that good deal mate

jb61264 · Post by **jb61264** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 4:37 pm

I test drove one of these a while back and I liked it but ended up buying a Novation X-Station 49 instead...just a personal opionion but I think Novation products are very nice!...I like the feel of the keys and the after-touch...they are just a well built solid instrument.

I'd consider looking at the variety of MIDI controllers that Novation offers now too...X-Station may be more than what you're looking for but they have some really nice MIDI only controllers that have come out recently

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:11 pm

jb61264 wrote:I test drove one of these a while back and I liked it but ended up buying a Novation X-Station 49 instead...just a personal opionion but I think Novation products are very nice!...I like the feel of the keys and the after-touch...they are just a well built solid instrument.

I'd consider looking at the variety of MIDI controllers that Novation offers now too...X-Station may be more than what you're looking for but they have some really nice MIDI only controllers that have come out recently

Novation... i considered the SL series, i have seen the video tutorials and they seem pretty amazing... but they seem also buggy and, by other hand, i find this deal (250 EURO i think its a nice price for a microkontrol, they are about 340 EURO new)

But still i don't have close the deal with the guy, so i may think about it... i havent played this keyboard and a dont know if it has quality pads, sliders and encoders, besides the mini keys...

håkan bråkan · Post by **håkan bråkan** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 7:15 pm

the microkontrol works great to trigger samples, as the the drum pad consist of two pad groups you could assign one of them to do mackie stuff, and the other midi. I made a killer setup for a party this weekend and was dj'ing all night long with the microkontrol without even touching the mouse

. I hope the abes implement automapping soon though, would be awesome to have the lcd feedback you get in reason with the microkontrol.

martin peter 20 · Post by **martin peter 20** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:54 am

I have had a MicroKontrol for around 18 months now. Bought it for £150 on ebay and it has never let me down.

As mentioned by someone else here the pads are excellent and can be split into two sections. The faders and encoders are also of good quality and feel nice to use. I find the keyboard ok for triggering samples or playing simple melodies but turn to a larger keyboard for more ambitious stuff. Also worth a mention here is Korgs librarian software (PC or MAC) which is excellent and automapping coming to live 6.

Sounds like the MicroKontrol is perfectly suited to your needs. However I, like others on the forum, have been impressed by Novations SL range and intend to purchase a Zero SL for live / djing use within the next couple of weeks. Can't wait to get my hands on L.6 with automap!!!

autoy · Post by **autoy** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:42 am

Often when people talk about minikeys they seem to forget there is a big pro about them, which is very important for my setup: it's the only way to have three octaves in a compact size. In fact you get three octaves in the same space as a two octave keyboard, and definitely two octaves don't suit my needs, though I am no keyboardist. It's just nice to play little melodies in a wider key range. This (plus the nice pads+coloured-coded leds) is in my opinion why the Microkontrol is still unrivalled in the market. It's so nice native mode is coming in Live 6...

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:29 am

I promised myself to look for a keyboard before tried Live 6... but after reading some of you... i cant wait

mmm... guys i think i'm gonna buy it

Size is not a problem, but i think is important that:

1. it carries trigger pads (impulse and drums triggering, in general), and
2. 'automaps' the most stuff as possible in Ableton Live (mixer, devices, racks, and even the more common third party VSTi's).

In addition, i agree with you: microkorg look is very very nice in its small housing...

autoy · Post by **autoy** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:05 pm

alvaro wrote:I promised myself to look for a keyboard before tried Live 6... but after reading some of you... i cant wait

mmm... guys i think i'm gonna buy it

Size is not a problem, but i think is important that:

1. it carries trigger pads (impulse and drums triggering, in general), and
2. 'automaps' the most stuff as possible in Ableton Live (mixer, devices, racks, and even the more common third party VSTi's).

In addition, i agree with you: microkorg look is very very nice in its small housing...

Keep in mind that automap will only be available in Live 6 and that we don't know yet how it will be implemented.

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:34 pm

autoy wrote:
alvaro wrote:I promised myself to look for a keyboard before tried Live 6... but after reading some of you... i cant wait

mmm... guys i think i'm gonna buy it

Size is not a problem, but i think is important that:

1. it carries trigger pads (impulse and drums triggering, in general), and
2. 'automaps' the most stuff as possible in Ableton Live (mixer, devices, racks, and even the more common third party VSTi's).

In addition, i agree with you: microkorg look is very very nice in its small housing...
Keep in mind that automap will only be available in Live 6 and that we don't know yet how it will be implemented.

I know that, but if im not wrong, microkontrol has a technology called 'Native Mode' or something that provides various instant templates for the most common sequencers and VSTi's... please correct me if i am in mistake...

autoy · Post by **autoy** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:20 pm

alvaro wrote:
autoy wrote:
alvaro wrote:I promised myself to look for a keyboard before tried Live 6... but after reading some of you... i cant wait

mmm... guys i think i'm gonna buy it

Size is not a problem, but i think is important that:

1. it carries trigger pads (impulse and drums triggering, in general), and
2. 'automaps' the most stuff as possible in Ableton Live (mixer, devices, racks, and even the more common third party VSTi's).

In addition, i agree with you: microkorg look is very very nice in its small housing...
Keep in mind that automap will only be available in Live 6 and that we don't know yet how it will be implemented.
I know that, but if im not wrong, microkontrol has a technology called 'Native Mode' or something that provides various instant templates for the most common sequencers and VSTi's... please correct me if i am in mistake...

Yes, automap is just the same as native mode. It's not exactly instant templates, rather the host informing the hardware what it has to control when you select a plugin in your computer screen, so you get all these parameters laid out automatically on the korg. This is the way it works in Reason 3 and Logic 7 too. It's just about the host talking to the hardware. And, yes, it rocks

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Sat Sep 02, 2006 9:30 pm

I just bought it!

But one thing disappointed me, was that jumpy faders issue (i am using Live 5.2.1)..... i mean: if you don't have a fader in the same position when you restart your project, operating it causes a nasty "jump" to the actual value displayed on Live...

Is there any solution?

Is Ableton going to fix that on Live 6?

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:24 pm

alvaro wrote:I just bought it!

But one thing disappointed me, was that jumpy faders issue (i am using Live 5.2.1)..... i mean: if you don't have a fader in the same position when you restart your project, operating it causes a nasty "jump" to the actual value displayed on Live...

Is there any solution?

Is Ableton going to fix that on Live 6?

Hi, please someone can tell me about this? Still I haven't found anything about this issue in the board... i will appreciate any suggestion

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 4:51 pm

Korg had the "good sense" of putting in rotary encoders with the controller, which would, when designed by humans, mean that jumpy values could be avoided quite easily.

Korg however decided that this functionality, no matter how basic, should only be available in what's called "Native Mode" - which completely ruins the feature of rotary encoders for many purposes...

alvaro · Post by **alvaro** » Sun Sep 03, 2006 5:32 pm

Machinate wrote:Korg had the "good sense" of putting in rotary encoders with the controller, which would, when designed by humans, mean that jumpy values could be avoided quite easily.

Korg however decided that this functionality, no matter how basic, should only be available in what's called "Native Mode" - which completely ruins the feature of rotary encoders for many purposes...

Sorry Machinate.... what?

I am talking about its faders. With or without Native mode enabled.