Korg nanoPAD2 Slim-Line USB MIDI Pads - White

This thing is fantastic! I've been looking for a basic drum pad device for literal years, but all of them were either far too big for my specific setup, didn't have enough pads, or were far too expensive for my budget/desired use cases. I already have pads galore in my setup, each of which is linked to something different, so I wanted something simple to function as a dedicated slice/loop player. Akai has a similar device for a comparable price, but it has a bunch of knobs I'm frankly not going to use, and only 8 pads. This thing checked all the boxes I was looking for - 16 pads instead of 8, quite inexpensive, and its shape fits my setup beautifully. It's nearly perfect for me. I was surprised at how thin it is. The pads are decently responsive, feeling surprisingly squishy/pushy compared to novation and akai pads. Not amazing, not horrible, but more than playable. I'm using this to trigger things like sliced loops, so I don't need much velocity sensitivity. It comes with a generous software package, including Komplete Select, which I was excited to see. Some of the software is iOS exclusive, which may be a loss for some. Build quality is appropriate for the price - it is fairly bendy plastic, which helps keep said price low. I'd pay more in the future for a metal version. Despite its almost absurdly low cost and bendy feel, this thing is an insanely full package. The only thing I don't like about it is that the pads are not backlit, making it hard to see during night time music production. That's the ONLY downside I can find. The software for adjusting the four "scenes" is fantastic - each pad can be linked to a different MIDI channel, so you could effectively have a weird mix of 16 different instruments connected onto this single controller at once (lol have fun). With the 4 different scenes available, you can comfortably have 4 different instruments on 4 different MIDI channels you switch between at the touch of a button. Though convoluted, the software is well worth using to configure the controller to your liking as a result. The XY pad is tricky to link to some daws - I found that touching the pad counts as a MIDI input itself, making it tricky to link more than only the x or y parameters. I had to manually configure the controller's on/off touch to one CC on a given port, and the X and Y to their own CC's on the same port, then set the nanopad to that port in my DAW. After manually configuring the controller linkages to the specific CC's and port I set, it worked beautifully, and suddenly became what may be a game changer for me as far as effect controls. Overall, this thing is absolutely worth the buy. I have yet to find anything on the market as solid that is so feature complete as this for the price, and I'm quite pleased with my purchase. Thank you, Korg, for making the thing no one else was making!

I bought this for the XY pad, the drum pads are a bonus. Thefact that you can get in the software and program chords on the pads is a big bonus. Kick off big pads, play with the XY…takes a minute to get it programmed, but worth it. I can see getting through an ambient or DJ set with this and a laptop, easy. Best thing, you can set the XY to park, or stay without returning to center or zero. Big bang MIDI control in a small format plastic box. A reasonable, feature packed alternative to $400 or OSC on an iPad.

This is my first midi controller ever, and it isn't too bad. This is a very simple controller and is easy to set up, but the control pad on the left is kind of obsolete, at least for FL. This controller is able to easy load in your samples but things like all other controllers, it has note repeat which isn't really ideal. I was looking forward to using the pad like a fader or filter control. While all of the pads work fine, are super responsive, and have 4 banks for plenty of sound storage....the pad doesn't correctly get its input right. I tried multiple things, but getting FL to detect it is easy, but it doesn't actually work. I don't know what the issue is, but it seems to stutter or suddenly stop. It is a shame but it can be forgiven. Overall this controller makes a great first since it allows you toy around with setting up and using a midi controller. It is the cheapest controller I've seen so far, and I believe it's worth the buck you pay.

This pad controller is extremely compact, low profile and packed with very interesting and useful features. I also like the feel of both the sixteen pads and X-Y pad very much. The pads are great for drumming with good sensitivity. The downloadable editor software is pretty easy to use( as far as the basics go) but the documentation is a bit confusing, so a lot of discovery through experimentation is needed, but that is normal in the world of digital audio. The scale on the sixteen pads can be set to anything you like, with each pad individually adjustable for any note or cc value. But there are also some preset scales that you can choose from including major, minor, etc. The default scale setup is whole tones from left to right in each row with the top and bottom rows separated by a semitone, giving it a transposing arrangement by a shift of the hand(as long as you don't shift off the edge!). You can also select any midi channel for each pad, as well as choosing between momentary or toggle modes. The X-Y pad has several tricks of its own and gives some fun effects when combined with the arpeggiator. You can also assign the X and Y control to any cc value. Given that having sixteen pads and an X-Y pad is a useful tool to have in your midi arsenal and this is a well made instrument for a low price, it is a must have! You may wonder if you should spend more and get a sampling pad controller. Instead of spending a lot more, you could use this with sampling software, some of which you can get for free. After all, what makes a pad controller a sampling controller is the software. One excellent free sampling program is TX16wx. It is used as a plugin to your DAW and is superb! Another no cost option is the use the free DAW, LMMS which has a built in sampler(the sound file processor) and is an excellent DAW. LMMS does not do audio file recording so you can just add the free AUDACITY program which is also excellent.

I've had this a couple of years now. It has spent most of its time back in its box because it mostly does not suit my needs. I own a lot of Korg gear, and this is the only Korg thing I've bought that I wish I hadn't. But first... The pros: 1. It's solid. You can smack the heck out the pads and not worry about it breaking. 2. It's ultra lightweight and will fit into a large handbag, backpack, laptop case, nor will take it up very much space on your desk. 3. You can hit anywhere on the pad, such as the barest smidge of a corner and the pad will work. 4. If you own a Korg Kronos, and I do not, you can connect the NanoPad directly to the Kronos via the USB port and the NanoPad will work without a PC or Mac in between. 5. The pads can be configured on a per-pad basis, meaning some pads can send out note/velocity data, other pads can send out CCs (see also the cons below), and some more pads can send MIDI program changes, along with each having the ability to be a momentary switch or a toggle switch, all within one scene. In addition, each pad can send up to four notes, CCs or program changes at once. All of that is pretty decent and worth the price of admission. You can also enable or disable the Gate Arp/Touch Scale options if those features appeal to you. The X-Y pad, too, is configurable with the software, and you can choose between pitch bend or MIDI CC transmission on either axis. You can set both to CC if you want. There's not much point to sending both to pitch bend unless your pad swiping skills are messy, because the pitch bend on both axes is not additive, and you can only pitch bend one whole note anyway. And that's about it for the pros. The cons: 1. The velocity sensitivity of the pads is spotty at best. There are only three velocity curves available plus one constant velocity value option in the Korg Kontrol software. To get the most sensitivity out of the pads, you'll want to choose the "Hard" curve option. If that doesn't seem much different to you than the other two curves, you're not alone. With the absolute lightest touch I can manage, the pads typically send out velocity values between 5 and 45 on the hard curve. That isn't particularly expressive and you will struggle to play with any kind of nuance. 2. You'll need a computer and some kind of DAW or other MIDI software like MIDI-OX for this to work (unless you have a Kronos -- I don't know if the new Korg Nautilus will work with it straightaway). This is the most annoying thing for me. If you don't work ITB (in the box, i.e. on a computer), then you'll need to get a USB MIDI Host, and those cost between $50 to several hundred dollars. I do not recommend buying a NanoPad if you plan to work DAW-less, because why spend more money on a USB Host just to get your NanoPad to work with your gear? If you already have lots of class compliant controllers and a USB MIDI host, then getting this might be OK for you. If Korg ever updates the design of the Nanopad, I hope they consider adding some 3.5mm MIDI jacks like what you get on a BeatStep Pro. 3. The X-Y pad. While the Korg Kontrol software lets you configure the pads on a per-pad level differently in its four different scenes, the X-Y pad can only be configured on a global level, which carries over from scene to scene. That limits its functionality greatly. When the X-Y pad is configured to send out CCs on either axis, the pad becomes unipolar on that axis. It would be better if it let you specify unipolar or bipolar behavior for CCs, along with giving you two CCs per axis (to work like a Korg joystick controller). There is also no option for each axis to send on a different MIDI channel, the pad can only send on one channel. There is a Touch/Release mode that activates when you simply touch the pad, but I don't find that particularly useful for me. It might work for you. Finally you can't set the amount of pitch bend the pad will do (unless I have missed that option somewhere). 4. There is no aftertouch (AT) on the pads. For the price of this, that's fair enough, but it would be nice. If channel or polyphonic AT is important to you, get another pad controller that does it. 5. When the pads are set to transmit CC data, they can only send out a full data value of 127. You cannot configure this to send out a certain value to be used as a threshold value for instance, or to respond to velocity as input. That's a shame, in my opinion. This severely limits the usability of CCs on the pads. But you can set a threshold value on the X-Y pad when in Touch/Release mode. You can forget sending out any kind of NRPN to your gear too. 6. It's lightweight but the rubber feet don't hold the NanoPad in place very well on some surfaces, like aluminum on a keyboard panel for instance. I use a piece of non-slip shelf liner to keep the NanoPad from moving when I use it. Summary: If you're looking for a decent, basic pad controller to beat on indiscriminately, and you don't mind working via your computer, then this might fit the bill for you. If you're looking for nuanced play, a full MIDI spec implementation and tons of configuration options for controlling your extensive MIDI gear, then you'd be better off spending a bit more money on a pad controller or sequencer with pads. After trying to get on with this thing for a few months, I ended up getting a BeatStep Pro instead for the finer pad work, but I do use the X-Y pad on the NanoPad for pitch bending one of my synths.

I bought this specifically to use with the Korg Kronos Workstation. This integrates beautifully into the Kronos. You just plug it directly into one of the USBs on the back of the instrument, and it works without setting up any software. You can only really use pads 1-8 with the Kronos, but it works just like the velocity pads on the M3 or the OASYS. The pads feel great, just like the other workstations. The touch pad on the Left side is not great. It feels cheap when you use it, and sometimes gets in the way if your hand bumps it by accident. It comes with a pretty generous bundle of software that I haven't tried out. For $60 it was a nice upgrade to the Korg Kronos!

I wanted very much to like this, but it isn't possible. It doesn't work nearly as well as my other midi pads. There is inconsistent messaging with respect to what drivers you are expected to use. All of the drivers and configurations I tried resulted in input lag. The lag is so bad that the pads were impossible to use. I use Ableton Live as my DAW so essentially I'm trying to make music in real time. With nearly half a second of delay from tap to midi, there is no way to be on beat with these pads. Along with that the pressure sensitivity was very unpredictable. No matter how I pressed the pads sometimes it would register a strong press and other times it would be as if I had only blown a kiss to the pad. After a lot of searching for answers it seems this is a relatively common issue. If the drivers don't just work for you then you're going to have a bad time. Sorry Korg. You're still a cool company though...

X-Y pad controller is really cool and useful in gate arp mode. Unfortunately the pads are not "great-feeling" as described, they're quite stiff and make it very difficult to impossible to tap notes very quickly. I would have considered keeping it if the driver settings weren't such a headache and it didn't just stop showing up as a device on my computer after a few days. I bought an Akai LPD8 to replace it and am much happier with the pad feel and the plug-and-play capability.

Very useful for drums and bass

Lo utilizo para samplear baterías en Ezdrummer y Superior Drummer, me da justo lo que necesito, es sencillo, es económico y es 100% funcional, "toco" las baterías sobre la marcha sin tener que escribir a golpe de ratón en el secuenciador, por mi parte, 100% recomendado

La serie Nano della Korg è quanto di meglio si possa trovare, andando in ordine, per prezzo, efficacia, compattezza e versatilità. Per la versatilità, chiaramente, dovete essere anche voi un po' smanettoni... è un controller midi, non una lampada di Aladino ;-) Il Nano Pad 2 viene riconosciuto tranquillamente sia in ambito Windows che in quello Apple e, probabilmente, con un'interfaccia OTG, anche da tablet e cellulari (anche se ancora non ho provato). Nel mio caso lo uso con software per DJ, programmi di editing audio e video. Su alcuni (soprattutto quelli audio) la funzione Midi Learn aiuta a configurare i singoli pad con le funzioni che più interessano e che non sono quelle standard, per altri programmi, tipo Adobe Premiere e simili, lo uso per gestire delle macro che velocizzano il lavoro, tramite appositi software che si possono trovare googlando per convertire i comandi midi in comandi tastiera. La costruzione è pur vero che risulta un po' plasticosa (non dimenticate quel che costa, però), ma fa molto bene il suo dovere. Il cavetto, nel mio caso, risulta un po' corto ma qui su Amazon c'è l'imbarazzo della scelta e non è un problema prenderne uno che fa al caso vostro. Un buon acquisto a prescindere

Super Controller! Man kann mehrere MIDI-Noten mit einem Pad triggern. Das Pad fühlt sich gut an. Schade, dass die dazu gehörige Software von Korg nicht besonders komfortabel ist. An sonsten: Alles gut!

Super produit et très bon rapport qualité prix. Je le branche directement sur mon iPad avec garage band et ça fonctionne nickel.