Mad Decent

(photo: Ben Harris)

Hi from Derek Allen, aka DJA.  As some people already know, I'm the in house engineer/producer/tech nerd here at mad decent.  I'm going to be talking about gear and production related things - including reviewing stuff that I and others at mad decent have been using.  Not all brand new, just kind of whatever is happening with us currently.  I'll also only be reviewing things that have really been used - obviously there is no lack of people who review this same stuff everywhere, so the best I can offer is my take on the real world results.

Over the past couple years i've really loved all the mini usb midi controllers that have come out.  They are inexpensive, and can be literally used for almost anything.  I just recently got two of the newer ones, the Akai LPK25 and LPD8.

Both of these are priced around $70, and it seems like most big chain music stores carry about as many of these as they do guitar picks.  I've been using them both for well over a month, and so far they have gone above and beyond my expectations.  They feel sturdy, even if you are banging on them hard, and the keyboard - in its own weird way - is actually quite comfortable to play.  I've found that I get the best results from the keyboard just by using a long cable and setting it on my lap.  The drum pad feels a lot like an maudio axiom25 that I own, and the knobs don't feel like they are going to break off in your bag.  Still - you need some kinda small bag or sleeve because I don't think either of these are gonna be indestructible if its in and out of a backpack multiple times a day.  Mine have been stayed good on trips and daily use hauling it around -  but i've been keeping them in the plastic sleeves they come in.

On that note though I have to shout out another in house guy here, Jesse Novak aka Tugboat - we were in the studio a few weeks ago and I noticed he uses a wine bottle cooler to carry around a Korg Nanokey - brilliant idea!!!

Bottom line: both of these work exactly like I want them to.  It doesn't feel like its gonna break, and the action is good in its own way.  The pads are at least as good as anything out there, maybe one of the best.  Many people are gonna be confused by setting it up with the editor software, but the same thing that makes it confusing will allow kids to make all kinds of custom setups to use with DJing and performing.  I would recommend loading it up before you try and do anything - otherwise its pretty confusing trying to line up kits or samples to make sense on the pads.

Some uses with serato and ableton may seem ridiculous when its like cutting up queen over tipsy or whatever, but I know that the price of these combined with the accessibility of software for producing and DJing will surely spawn some crazy shit from kids in the near future.  

The only really bad things I have to say about either one of them is that I wish they had more octaves and that the editor software seems kind of archaic.  There are four octaves on the drum pads - but with only 8 pads, you feel really limited to most drum kits in ableton and logic.  As for the editor software - maybe i'm missing something, but you have to program each individual octave separately, as opposed to other editors i've seen where you program them all at once.  It can make a tedious process even more tedious.

Do yourself a favor if you use ableton, buy one of these and then immediately download the ski beatz slicing preset for sampler here: 

http://www.ableton.com/skibeatz

As a matter of fact you can download that preset and make straight hits on your computer keys if you want to. But the akai pads are way nice with samples in ableton….

Protip - don't rip the little rubber feet off of the drum pads.  It scoots around on your desk, and gets really annoying..  I pulled mine off after losing one in my backpack and regret it now.