Nord User Forum

Hi, I'm sure this has been covered before but I couldn't find it. I'm looking for a pad (with at least 4 trigger spots) to use as an external trigger and was wondering if anyone could recommend one that works well with the drum synth. I notice there's a nice looking Nord pad on the way but the specs say it only works with the Nord drum 2. Also wondering about users thoughts on the ipad app as a sequencer. I have an iPad but would like to make sure it's decent before forking out for a midi conversion.
Thanks in advance, Andre

andre99 wrote:Also wondering about users thoughts on the ipad app as a sequencer. I have an iPad but would like to make sure it's decent before forking out for a midi conversion.

I can't say anything sensible regarding the Nord Drum, but a cheap USB-to-iPad connector and a cheap USB MIDI interface work fine too if you don't know if you'll use it a lot.

I have an E-mu XMIDI 1X1 (cost me about $30) and it works fine with both an iPad 1 and an iPad 4. With the iPad 1 I use the Apple Camera Connection Kit and with the iPad 4 I use a cheapy USB to Lightning adapter that cost me $2.90 including shipping. I think even those cheap USB MIDI interfaces from China work, but I can't say I have experience with those.

Some genuine knock-off products:

• http://dx.com/p/usb-female-to-lightning ... 5cm-205760
• http://dx.com/p/usb-2-0-to-midi-convert ... gth-110980

Of course, the products from companies like Yamaha, Alesis and IK Multimedia that provide MIDI for the iPad are much nicer, but for a cheap solution to test out MIDI on the iPad, $9 including shipping is not bad. I have that USB to Lightning convertor and it seems well made (especially for the price): at least is uses real rubber in the strain relief (I have cheapo Chinese cables where the 'strain relief' is just a bit of hard plastic). The USB MIDI adapter looks exactly like the ones I sometimes see for $15-20 in the shops, but of course it is still possible that it is a copy of a copy of a copy, etc.

Hi!

I agree with MJ, since the introduction of core MIDI with iOS4 it has become easier and cheaper as a lot of interfaces will work. I was surprised that even my -small, but big for iPad- ESI M4U (4 in 4 out) works without the iPad complaining that the device is using too much energy -

Anyway, I like the App, it's very much 'what you see is what you get'; an uncluttered 6 track step sequencer, intended for drum units only (controls only one note per track!), perfect for the ND1/ND2!
You can get an impression of how the app works; you can download it for free, but note that it won't produce any sound on its own. There are other sequencer apps out there that can do a lot more; 'Genome', 'Cubasis' - but they are not cheap, some apps discussed here: http://apps4idevices.com/categories/mid ... tml/page:1

Then your question about pads...
Indeed you'll need a ND2 to use the Nord Pad,

I haven't seen too many small units with pads intended just for MIDI:
- have read some negative stories about Alesis ControlPad, (can't play 2 pads at the same time!)
- I don't know about their PercPad/SamplePad, it is really cheap though... here, and on other forums people seem to like them..
- Of course there are the Yamaha DTX-multi12, and Roland SPD-Sx etc, which are good instruments with pads, -but much more expensive!

I wonder how much latency is an issue with MIDI pads, I think that pads directly connected with the unit have lower latency theoretically,

Good luck, have fun!
Albert

Thanks Albert and MJ for your replies, will follow up your leads, Andre