Propellerheads Kong vs The MPC

[Ominous]

I wish

Why not do Maschine and Reason 5 and use Maschine as a controller for Reason when needed?

Cuz I have Reason and I can't afford Maschine. If I had the doe, I would totally get the Maschine. But I dunno want to have 3 different MPC like interfaces. I just want one for workflow purposes.

 

[wrightboy]

NICE!


Now do you know if you can switch the pads between Note On and One Shot like you can on an MPC.


With Kong, it seems like you only have the option for a One Shot on triggering samples.

not being an mpc user at all (i have never used one in my life...i know, that's blasphemy in hip hop), i'm assuming that when you say switch between note on and one shot, are you talking about when the pads cut each other off? for instance, i hit pad 1, the sample is playing, as soon as i hit pad 2, the sample from pad 1 stops playing...if that is what you're referring to, then yes, kong can do that by assigning mute groups to each of the pads.

on a side note, it also does 16 levels with the mpd.

 

[Ominous]

not being an mpc user at all (i have never used one in my life...i know, that's blasphemy in hip hop), i'm assuming that when you say switch between note on and one shot, are you talking about when the pads cut each other off? for instance, i hit pad 1, the sample is playing, as soon as i hit pad 2, the sample from pad 1 stops playing...if that is what you're referring to, then yes, kong can do that by assigning mute groups to each of the pads.

on a side note, it also does 16 levels with the mpd.

Not quite.

That is MUTE GROUPING. I know the MPC and KONG do that.

What I am talking about is, if you have a 4 bar sample that lasts about 4 seconds, you can set the pad to play the sample as long as you hold the pad down. As soon as you let go of the pad, the sample stops playing. It is handy for things like bass lines. So if you have a bass sound for a sample, you can use the NOTE ON feature to play your samples almost like a keyboard. It is a great way to get a chopped sample feel without using mute groups.

If KONG could do that too, my MPC would be useless to me.

 

[Ominous]

on a side note, it also does 16 levels with the mpd.

This is good to know too. So I guess with an MPD you can get both 16 levels and FULL LEVEL for each pad. I wish there were some good Kong Vids on youtube. This cat has a few...

http://www.reason101.net/

 

[Shonsteez]

I know its not as exciting, but you know the redrum has done this forever right?..
You just hit the little switch with the waveform. But really it'd be easiest to just play bass via a synth or sampler module.

 

[Ominous]

I know its not as exciting, but you know the redrum has done this forever right?..
You just hit the little switch with the waveform. But really it'd be easiest to just play bass via a synth or sampler module.

Yeah. I just wanted it in Kong I guess. Redrum limits you to 10 samples but I guess when I chop samples I rarely need more than 10 banks. It was more about my workflow. Which means I may never get rid of my MPC. 64 sounds per program over 4 banks and you can load up as many programs as your RAM can handle. I just find it strange that software has not been able to mimic something so simple.

Besides Maschine I guess...

 

[Shonsteez]

I agree, it is kinda lame they didnt just mimic the features of the MP to the T and then add a bunch of other cool stuff, but IMO thats what propellerhead always seems to do, they make a great product but it always falls short of expectations a tad. Still a cool upgrade though...

What I would do if you really just want to use samples the exact same way as you would on the MP, is load them all into the NNXT, then you can assign mute-groups and whole lot more, plus if you want the samples to specifically play off your pads sequentially the way they would on your MP, you can manually assign each samples root-note.

 

[thedreampolice]

You do know you can route a Kong pad to NNXT right? So you get all the functionality of any device you want inside Kong. I dont see how Props fell short at all.

 

[Shonsteez]

Yeah true, but they sure make it so you have to go through a grip of extra steps just to attain the same workflow and thats my point.

 

[thedreampolice]

Do it once and save it as a template then you are done forever.

 

[Shonsteez]

lol...i knew u were gonna say that....yeah, i dig it. Just saying....

 

[thedreampolice]

ha ha, the problem is that everyone wants a different workflow. Some people hate the MPC workflow. So props has stuck with the build it how you want it mantra and I am cool with that.

 

[wrightboy]

ok. the functionality in redrum is called drum decay and it's the little switch next to the length knob. that's also in kong. if you expand kong, you can adjust that parameter for each pad. it's in the amp env section and once you turn it on, you use the decay knob to adjust the one shot to your liking. i'll try and get a picture of it if i can.

 

[Ominous]

ok. the functionality in redrum is called drum decay and it's the little switch next to the length knob. that's also in kong. if you expand kong, you can adjust that parameter for each pad. it's in the amp env section and once you turn it on, you use the decay knob to adjust the one shot to your liking. i'll try and get a picture of it if i can.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Muthaphukn Finnigan for the fukn WIN!

 

[Ominous]

You do know you can route a Kong pad to NNXT right? So you get all the functionality of any device you want inside Kong. I dont see how Props fell short at all.

Yeah see, I'm with Steez on this one. It's not that I think software has limited abilities compared to hardware. The opposite is true. Software is almost infinite in capability reliant on youy processing power. And now that you can chain computers together and just keep adding more processors to the project, you can have hundreds of track and synths. But like Steez, I keep looking for speed and ease of workflow so I can focus on the creative process and not the tasking involved. And so far the MPC is king for that when it comes to sampling.

I kept looking for that NOTE ON function in another part of the KONG interface because I am so stuck on the MPC's workflow.


The reality is, I can load 4 KONGS and get 64 pads to trigger. And instead of hitting a bank button to switch between like, A,B,C, or D, I can just use my mouse to click the second, third and fourth track of the sequence and get those sounds.

It's just that on the MPC, you can access all that with one click and you have 64 sounds that can all be on a mute group together so making sampled beats feels way faster with an MPC than KONG has felt so far.

In theory...


I can deploy 10 KONGS, have the CV signal activate the mute of the other KONGS on the track mixer using a CV splitter and have 160 pads that are all on one huge mute group. So KONG has way more customizing and potential compared to the MPC, but it is the MPC workflow and ease of loading and playing and accessing samples is what I can't seem to get Reason to beat.

 

[wrightboy]

Ominous - This may be an even easier way of doing what you want. Damn, i'm learning a lot because of your post. good shit!

 

[Ominous]

Awesome. Thanks for posting this vid.

 

[mono]

"you can also change and move the pads' designation, hmmkay..."^^

 

[mogrizzly]

 

[amal shakur]

Full Level in Kong

A simple way to use Kong's pads in FULL ON mode is to use your computer keyboard as the pad controller. Click F4 or menu to show on-screen piano keys. I have an Akai MPK49 keyboard controller and it has Full-Level and 12-Level, 4 pad-banks, and Note repeat. And it comes with a Reason preset that's awesome.