Meet the Korg nanoKontrol. It's essentially the controller I wish had existed when I first went shopping for one years ago. Finally, someone has caught up with the desire for increased portability in laptop-based music. At the moment, my main MIDI controller for home production is the MPD24, which I have nothing but good things to say about, but, well...it's a pain in the butt to schlep it to smaller gigs. Plus I don't really need those pads for DJ gigs.
Those pads are total butter, though.So, what do we get with the nanoKontrol? Nine faders, nine knobs, and 24 buttons, 18 of which are placed with the faders, and six of which are designed to be transport controls. Korg has also wisely elected to feature four different switchable "scenes" for the controls, giving a total possible 168 assignable parameters.
Right from the get-go, the controls feel surprisingly solid for how tiny the unit is (I'm not sure the precise dimensions, but it's the length of a first-generation Macbook, and the width can't be more than 2-4"). The faders and knobs have decent resistance, and while they certainly don't hold a candle to something like Native Instruments' Kore, for such a cheap and portable controller it's to be expected. The buttons are rubbery and firm - as others have pointed out, it's possible to get the buttons stuck underneath the plastic face, but this is easy to avoid and also to correct.
The real diamond in the rough of this controller is the behavior of those buttons. Using the free Kontrol Editor software, you can change the buttons from momentary to toggle function (useful particularly for turning virtual devices on and off), and also set attack and release times. The adjustable attack and release rates on the buttons make for some dynamite possibilities - set both high up and get an instant filter-sweep, for example. It's a neat feature, and good on Korg for including it.
Tight!
Right from the get-go, the controls feel surprisingly solid for how tiny the unit is (I'm not sure the precise dimensions, but it's the length of a first-generation Macbook, and the width can't be more than 2-4"). The faders and knobs have decent resistance, and while they certainly don't hold a candle to something like Native Instruments' Kore, for such a cheap and portable controller it's to be expected. The buttons are rubbery and firm - as others have pointed out, it's possible to get the buttons stuck underneath the plastic face, but this is easy to avoid and also to correct.
The real diamond in the rough of this controller is the behavior of those buttons. Using the free Kontrol Editor software, you can change the buttons from momentary to toggle function (useful particularly for turning virtual devices on and off), and also set attack and release times. The adjustable attack and release rates on the buttons make for some dynamite possibilities - set both high up and get an instant filter-sweep, for example. It's a neat feature, and good on Korg for including it.
Tight!The nanoKontrol is pretty clearly intended for use with Ableton Live - it even comes with a $50 coupon good for the purchase of Ableton (sadly, not valid for upgrades or educational, and thus useless to me). Even so, I've had no trouble getting it to work with my other setups in SuperCollider and Digital Performer. The unit does feel a bit flimsy - it's slim, shallow, and plastic, and certainly doesn't have the commanding weight of other controllers. I get the feeling it could easily be snapped in half by hand, if I wanted to. But I don't, and for a portable controller at a decent price with lots of options, it's pretty unbeatable.
Note: There are two other controllers in this new nano line - the nanoPad and the nanoKey. The nanoPad features 12 pads plus a kaoss-syle x/y controller that Korg is known for, while the nanoKey features two octaves of tiny keys. I haven't try either in person, so I can't really comment, but they both look at least worth checking out.
Note: There are two other controllers in this new nano line - the nanoPad and the nanoKey. The nanoPad features 12 pads plus a kaoss-syle x/y controller that Korg is known for, while the nanoKey features two octaves of tiny keys. I haven't try either in person, so I can't really comment, but they both look at least worth checking out.
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