[tutorial] fx control with korg nanopad

hey all.

I have received quite a number of requests (via email, icq and whatnot) to explain Zabiela-style FX mappings on the nanopad, so I decided to make some time and talk about the basics so you can build your own FX combos.

this, of course, is geared towards the more inexperienced users who just started fooling around with the program. if you feel like you're a pro, how about contributing? post your own ideas and approaches.

normally, I would record a vid to save you the effort of reading , but right now I'm too busy working, moving, preparing contest entries and relaunching my website. expect video tutorials and/or demos sometime around october, for now let's consider the long read a fair exchange for me writing it.

oh yeah, don't forget that the user rainerh has written a nice compendium called the traktor bible.
for the record: I have no intention whatsoever of copying from or competing with his work.

well, anyway. the most prominent thing James does - if I'm not mistaken, I really watched only one or two vids of him doing his thing out of curiosity - is a chained combination of beatmasher2, filter and gater (in the order mentioned). if you remember some of his early efx-1000 stuff, it's a natural thing to duplicate and improve on it in traktor. yes, it's very cool, but it's also not really rocket science. let's begin.

set the fx unit to "chained" and preselect the appropriate effects in the order I mentioned (traktor saves your selected combination, so when you start it up next time, it will be as you left it):
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/fxset.jpg
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/fx.jpg

I assume that you know how to activate a MIDI controller inside TSP, so let's skip that part and go straight to MIDI mapping:
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/midi.jpg

in order to be able to seamlessly switch between the beatmasher and the gater whilst having them at the same interval setting (which is something you want - trust me), you logically have to map one axis of the touchpad to both values. let's go with the X axis, because it is longer and allows for more precision. doublemap it to "FX1 amount" and "FX3 amount".
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/assign_norm.jpg

the filter, however, is a little different. because you might want its value to return to the neutral setting when you lift your finger off the pad, you might want to assign the value of the Y axis to pitch bend (because like a pitch bend wheel, it will return to neutral value once released). do this inside the korg mapping utility.
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/bend.jpg
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/assign_bend.jpg

then, proceed to map the Y axis to FX2 amount. slide your finger across the touchpad and take a look at the indicators of the FX unit to confirm that it's doing what it's supposed to. now let's go to the pads which you will be using to control which effect in the chain you want activated.

this is fairly simple - map the pads to "effect 1 on", "effect 2 on" and "effect 3 on". there are two ways of working - you can set the control to toggle (meaning: push once, effect = active - push again, effect = inactive) or hold, which I personally prefer (meaning: push, effect = active - release, effect = inactive). it allows you to switch between FX instantaneously (try it with the beatmasher and the gater).
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/trigger_hold.jpg

remember: assign the deck to the appropriate effect unit and make sure that your tracks' bpm are in order. I'm a vinyl user and I don't care much about beatgrids and syncing, so I can tell you for sure the bpm value alone is enough. set the bpm detection to auto and there you go.
http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/bpm.jpg

this, however, is only the very beginning. you can do much more wicked stuff - please be creative and try to sound like yourself, not like some other guy... here's a few hints:

• try using two nanopads, or a nanopad and an akai lpd8 (looks like they were made for each other)
• having one chained fx unit and one advanced fx unit allows for some really interesting combos.
• if you only have one nanopad, you can try making macro assignments for the parameters of two chain fx units - which can be cool as long as you don't activate all 6 of them at once. not like you'd be using more than that in a set.
• take advantage of modifiers. they require a little bit of thinking, but it pays off when you need to be really fast (think of them as variables allowing you to quickly switch back and forth between two control layouts).
• remember that the nanopad's touchpad also has a "common" MIDI control value that basically tells the software "the user has his finger on the pad" and can send separate velocities when touched and when released. you can map that independent of the axes. http://www.traenq.com/tuts/tsp_fx/common.jpg
• we all love our toys and FX, but don't overdo it. people might want to hear the actual track once in a while - just because you get an orgasm mashing it to pieces doesn't mean they will.

I hope that will help some of you to get started. have fun experimenting!

 

you ever get around to doin that vid tutorial?

 

X2

 

nope... judging by the poor response to this thread (seriously - NO posts in 6 MONTHS) which I spent quite a time writing - and I did it only because several people kept nagging me - I wasn't really motivated to waste even more time on doing a vid. plus, there's a truckload of useful tutorials already available on youtube, and figuring out the quirks of traktor really isn't that hard. you just have to experiment.

sorry if that sounds bitter, but I've really spent too much of my own free time over the last couple of years helping people... I might've continued if anyone actually ever bothered to say "thanks" or give me any other kind of feedback (I was hoping for people to contribute by sharing their own combos and tricks). now I need to get some of my own projects done for a change

 

thank u so much!