Hands-on solutions
This month we’re all about creating beats directly within your DAW, but there’s another way to create beats with a computer: by playing them in via a dedicated drum controller or MIDI keyboard. Some more musical producers swear by this approach as it allows them to nail a more realistic approach – with timing and velocity variations that sound more human – or to produce beats with more spontaneity. Others might use this approach but then still lock the beats into a quantised grid after recording them. It’s entirely up to you, but having an external dedicated piece of hardware certainly adds a more physical angle to your beat creation and it also makes it less about fussy programming.
For drum pads on the very cheap (and very small), consider Korg’s nanoPAD2, SubZero’s MINI series and Akai’s LPD range. Moving up, you have Arturia’s excellent BeatStep range, Presonus’ Atom, and Novation’s Launchpad and Akai’s MPD ranges. There are also MIDI keyboards with integrated pads from most major makers.
There are some great hardware/software hybrid systems that deliver the best beats of both worlds. Native Instruments’ Maschine kickstarted the trend – now in Micro and Mk3 forms – but the company that created the whole pad/beat creation concept, Akai, has come back with its updated MPC range including the One and Studio. Then, of course, there’s Ableton’s Push controller which makes creating beats with Live a joyously instrumental process. And like the NI and Akai ones just mentioned, it’s not just for drums – you can easily do full-on tunes with all of these particular pad controllers.