Thanks much in advance! All comments welcome and much appreciated. Wait for holiday / Labor Day / Christmas sales on equipment coming up in the not too distant, along with new releases? Does NI have a history of discounting equipment / sale pricing as they do with their sound packages? What does it NOT do (that it probably *should* do in this price range, and being ‘married’ to the company? What deep integration does it lack?). What are the limitations / negatives / CONS of the MK3? (It helps if the software needed to operate / enhance the equipment and its features is well-supported.) Just what am I getting myself into with NI? (Not at all unusual.) I also realize that integration (compatibility) is the main issue with various controllers with more extensive features. They (NI) seem as if they are technologically advanced, but there seems to be a lot of yelling & screaming on the NI forums about failing to fulfill promises of ‘soon-to-be-released’ features & improvements. Many companies want customers to be locked in. How is it living in the Native Instruments ‘world’ / eco-system? Will it really enhance my MIDI keyboard – Reaper home setup? (I have seen the posts from some that say the value of it is in quickly sketching ideas and transferring audio stems & MIDI into Reaper, as well as sound manipulation & tweaking - perfect for me.). Some questions, if I may:ĭoes it play well within Reaper, after all the investing in the machine and setup? ![]() I have seen posts to the effect that there is no 'deep integration' of the MK3 with Reaper. I also see that there are some advanced Reaper folks who use this. I was not prepared to go into this price range for a controller, though this is way more than a controller, and I am reluctant to enter into the extensive NI ‘ecosystem’ (e.g., constantly spending), but if it’s THAT good, I may have to bite the bullet. The next level seems to be the Native Instruments MK3. Still a really nice controller though, and still could be perfect, afaic…) Not sure if the newer software would have helped, but after the ‘glitchiness’, I lost interest in finding out. It was only $200 US, and I did not expect miracles or state-of-the-art processing improvements. Didn’t really enhance my setup or improve upon entering drum parts via keyboard. Seems that the older MPC software was included, but the newer software was only available as an upgrade. Great pad sensitivity (!!) But, I eventually found that it didn’t all work together well within Reaper. I spent a week downloading software, setting up, & mapping to a couple of drum sets in Big Bang Drums. I thought that this would be the perfect controller for my needs. I originally narrowed my choice to the AKAI MPD series (218 and 226) for pad sensitivity, some extra sliders & knobs, as well as included sound libraries. I’m mostly interested in traditional, classic & modern drum sounds as played on real drums & percussion (vs drum ‘machine’ sounds). I have nothing at all against extensive ‘setting up’, MIDI mapping, and all the typical gyrations needed to connect & configure any controller 3.) maybe a couple of other ‘goodies’ included might be nice but not crucial, like other flexible MIDI control options / knobs / controls, sound package(s), and things like that. My priorities are: 1.) pad sensitivity (the best pad sensitivity available is priority #1 2.) must play well with Reaper. (also following the controller integration and hi-hat samples threads with great interest here….) I have asked for suggestions about drum controllers before, but I’m still looking……. ![]() For ideas, sketching, and demos, this ‘pickiness’ has led to an exhaustive search for a drum pad controller. I’d rather have a living, breathing drummer, any day. I have, though, been blessed to have played with some really, really good ones (precise, ‘punchy’, ‘slappy’, dynamically-oriented, with CRAZY arrays of drums, cymbals, chimes, percussion, etc…) as well as noticing certain qualities and subtleties of drumming in my general listening over a long period of time. I am very particular about drums for some reason.
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