What is the problem?
The Synth pads are good for finger-drumming and the MIDI out allows to play a drum machine on your DAW. However, currently the Synth lacks a grid making the most of finger-drumming usual pad layouts, like 4x4.
What should this feature achieve?
A grid that perfectly matches drum machines via MIDI and other related setups used widely:
- 4x4 area on the bottom left, that can be mapped to a regular 4x4 drum machine. Here you could finger-drum.
- 8x4 area bottom right, which in practice is half of the also very popular 8x8 layout. For instance for more finger-drum and/or clip launching.
- 12x1 strip at the top, for instance for a keyboard-like use. At the top is better than at the bottom because usually on 4x4 pads you use the bottom row a lot for kick / snare / hats, and you could have more accidental taps if the 12x1 strip is below.
Are there any workarounds?
Reuse a grid that uses a 4-pad area, like the 3x3, but you’re likely going to waste precious pads. The layout suggested makes the most of the 4x4, 8x8, and keyboard references.
Any links to related discussions?
- Custom Grids for the Synth
- Store Everything in Plain Text Files (mentions the ability to create new grids)
Any references to other products?
MPC, Maschine, Launchpad, and many other pad synths and controllers that made popular 4x4 and 8x8 pad grids for finger-drumming and clip launching.