Artuira Minilab MK2 vs Novation Launchkey MK3?

guit4eva

Hey guys,

I am now thoroughly addicted to Drambo and looking to purchase a controller for it. I am currently running Drambo on an iPad Air 2. I'm looking at either the Minilab or the Launchkey (or perhaps the Akia MPK MK2...?)

I have two questions though:

1) Can all of these run off the iPads power alone (connected to the camera connection kit)?

2) Which one to get?? :) From my research, I'm leaning towards the Minilab - but which one would be the most suitable for Drambo?

Will greatly appreciate any input!

quartzite

I'm not sure about which can be powered. In terms of suitable, I'd probably go with the Launchkey because it has 16 pads, which matches with Drambo. But I've never used any of these.

supadom

Arturia has better keyboard but endless notched knobs which you may or may not like. It should power off lightning port.

Novation launch key mk 3 won’t power off lightning so you’ll need a power bank or usb c device. No endless knobs here and the keyboard is ok. The onboard arp is nice but if you software has one already it becomes unnecessary.

I prefer the pads on arturia. They have slightly more bounce but are reassuringly firm to play.

Arturia is a bit heavier.

Changing midi channel on the fly is quick on both.

guit4eva

Thanks for the replies :) I ended up getting a Novation Impulse 25 that I picked up for really cheap which I will try power off a powered USB through CCK. It's much larger than I expected though! :)

Still trying to find something more portable however. The Korg NanoKey Studio looks like it might actually fit the bill, but the only drawbacks are the strange keys and the 64 CC resolution. Absolutely love the fact though that it can run standalone on batteries and through bluetooth!

At the moment, I'm just using a normal BT computer keyboard mapped to midi for portability - it actually wouldn't be toooo bad if it somehow had rotary encoders ha ha.

Ah, the endless quest for THEE midi controller...

Tahiche

https://forum.beepstreet.com/discussion/comment/32906#Comment_32906

I own a Nanokey Studio, I love the form factor and that’s it Bluetooth. However it has 2 big drawbacks for me, so I also bought the Launchkey MK3.

• there’s no way to change midi channel from the unit. You can have scenes on different channels but even for that you need to run and program with the Korg app on a desktop. Changing channels is a breeze on the Launchkey.
• It doesn’t have a display, the Launchkey doesn’t either. But I find it very hard to see what’s going on on the Nanokey when dealing with scales, arpeggiator… on the Launchkey at least you have some writing on the keys to guide you.