Keith Mcmillen BopPad
- Thread starter Jono
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charlieclouser
Senior Member
Can't find any pictures of the mounting system - their website says it mounts on a "cymbal stand". Interested to see / hear about how you're mounting it to a stand or whatever....
Very interested in this myself - let us know what you think!
charlieclouser
Senior Member
Thanks for the pics. At $199 it seems like a no-brainer. Nice!
OP
OP
Jono
Member
Yeah it really is. I just spent 4 hours using it to trigger a synth and it put down patterns that I could never play on keys.
The editor is simple and intuitive. Choose what note you want each quadrant to be and save. Can have all the same if you like. Choose which cc data gets sent in addition to the velocity info.
Only minor gripe is the editor appears not to connect with the pad whilst inside cubase but that's a 2 second work round.
OP
OP
Jono
Member
Update 're my last point straight from KM:
Windows has a problem with connecting MIDI ports and sending to multiple clients simultaneously. It's a known error on their end, but there's nothing we can do about it. They should be updating their OS soon to take advantage of the new multi-client API, but at the moment devices can only connect to 1 piece of software at a time.
Windows has a problem with connecting MIDI ports and sending to multiple clients simultaneously. It's a known error on their end, but there's nothing we can do about it. They should be updating their OS soon to take advantage of the new multi-client API, but at the moment devices can only connect to 1 piece of software at a time.
Pier
Senior Member
So I got my Bop Pad.
Let me start this by saying that I've been playing percussion instruments on and off all my life (djembe, bongo, conga, darbouka, tabla, frame drum, etc). I'm the kind of guy that is using everything around as a percussion instrument. For example I tap little rhythms in the car steering wheel while waiting for the traffic light.
My first impression is that it's less sensitive than I expected for finger drumming. To get to 127 velocity you really need to hit the thing very hard with all your hand so it's almost impossible to do it with a finger. I feel like to get all the velocity range from the pad I have to play as if I was playing a djembe, although I was expecting the bop pad to be more like a frame drum / bodhran.
It's certainly possible to play with your fingers but you only get about 30% of the velocity range and the pad won't trigger lighter touches. It seems very difficult to know which light touches will be triggered so it's just safer to play harder. The editor allows you to set velocity curves and change the sensitivity setting which can alleviate this lack of range but it doesn't change the fact that this is an instrument better played with sticks/mallets.
This is so far my only negative aspect of it and it's not a deal breaker. You can be very expressive playing with your hand instead of your fingers or you can use sticks/mallets. Since the QuNeo is much smaller I suspect this is the reason @gregh is not happy with it.
Radial detection is awesome.
After touch detection (or pressure as they call it) is precise, but unless you keep a firm pressure on the pad it's very easy to retrigger a note on event. The bop pad does not behave like a touch sensitive surface if this is what you are expecting.
Build quality is excellent. The device is light and feels very solid, perfect for playing on your lap. My only minor gripe is that the manufacturer used a micro USB port (probably to keep the device thin) which feels flimsy. I would not feel comfortable using the bop pad for concerts and such.
As for the editor it's a really good piece of software. It's easy to use, everything is customisable, and it runs great in macOS. I can change settings while running Logic and it takes a second or so to upload the configuration to the device.
I will try to upload a video if time permits to show everything I've mentioned here.
Woah this got really long. Don't hesitate to ask questions!
Let me start this by saying that I've been playing percussion instruments on and off all my life (djembe, bongo, conga, darbouka, tabla, frame drum, etc). I'm the kind of guy that is using everything around as a percussion instrument. For example I tap little rhythms in the car steering wheel while waiting for the traffic light.
My first impression is that it's less sensitive than I expected for finger drumming. To get to 127 velocity you really need to hit the thing very hard with all your hand so it's almost impossible to do it with a finger. I feel like to get all the velocity range from the pad I have to play as if I was playing a djembe, although I was expecting the bop pad to be more like a frame drum / bodhran.
It's certainly possible to play with your fingers but you only get about 30% of the velocity range and the pad won't trigger lighter touches. It seems very difficult to know which light touches will be triggered so it's just safer to play harder. The editor allows you to set velocity curves and change the sensitivity setting which can alleviate this lack of range but it doesn't change the fact that this is an instrument better played with sticks/mallets.
This is so far my only negative aspect of it and it's not a deal breaker. You can be very expressive playing with your hand instead of your fingers or you can use sticks/mallets. Since the QuNeo is much smaller I suspect this is the reason @gregh is not happy with it.
Radial detection is awesome.
After touch detection (or pressure as they call it) is precise, but unless you keep a firm pressure on the pad it's very easy to retrigger a note on event. The bop pad does not behave like a touch sensitive surface if this is what you are expecting.
Build quality is excellent. The device is light and feels very solid, perfect for playing on your lap. My only minor gripe is that the manufacturer used a micro USB port (probably to keep the device thin) which feels flimsy. I would not feel comfortable using the bop pad for concerts and such.
As for the editor it's a really good piece of software. It's easy to use, everything is customisable, and it runs great in macOS. I can change settings while running Logic and it takes a second or so to upload the configuration to the device.
I will try to upload a video if time permits to show everything I've mentioned here.
Woah this got really long. Don't hesitate to ask questions!
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Thanks Pier, and all,
I'm interested in knowing if the velocity is enough to play a percussion track and it will eliminate the need to use a real djembe and a mic.
Can you use vi-libraries from other companies to play and record?
I'm trying to create percussion tracks that will immediately be MIDI without having to do any extra conversion. Could this work?
Thanks!
I'm interested in knowing if the velocity is enough to play a percussion track and it will eliminate the need to use a real djembe and a mic.
Can you use vi-libraries from other companies to play and record?
I'm trying to create percussion tracks that will immediately be MIDI without having to do any extra conversion. Could this work?
Thanks!
Pier
Senior Member
Yes, you can use any virtual instrument since the bop pad outputs midi notes.
I'll try to record a video if time permits this weekend.
Pier
Senior Member
I really need to get my new iMac... I've found I cannot record screen + webcam + run logic at the same time without audio dropouts.
Anyway, I opened the preferences in the BopPad editor and found there is a global sensitivity setting and it was set super low at 16! I moved it up to about 30 and it's perfect now for finger drumming.
Another thing I found is that running the BopBap from a USB hub is not a good idea since it introduces audible latency. This is not so evident when playing keys from a midi controller piano, but when playing percussion instruments it felt weird.
The last tip I can give is to edit the strike density to "low". By default it's set at "high" which produced double notes and inconsistent behaviour.
I'm loving my BopPad and I would really recommend it to anyone that is looking for a way to play cinematic, orchestral, or any other kind of percussion.
Anyway, I opened the preferences in the BopPad editor and found there is a global sensitivity setting and it was set super low at 16! I moved it up to about 30 and it's perfect now for finger drumming.
Another thing I found is that running the BopBap from a USB hub is not a good idea since it introduces audible latency. This is not so evident when playing keys from a midi controller piano, but when playing percussion instruments it felt weird.
The last tip I can give is to edit the strike density to "low". By default it's set at "high" which produced double notes and inconsistent behaviour.
I'm loving my BopPad and I would really recommend it to anyone that is looking for a way to play cinematic, orchestral, or any other kind of percussion.
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Straight2Vinyl
Member
I just started looking into getting a new drum controller to play parts unquantized. I was thinking of the BopPad, but not sure it's the best way to go. Thank you for your review as it's the only one I've read that was of any use. Knowing it's not quite sensitive enough for finger playing is a big minus. Still useable, but I wasn't planning on using sticks or mallets.
For now, maybe I'll just get an MPD218 or something in that price range and in a year possibly upgrade to something needing sticks like the Alesis Performance Pad Pro.
Thanks again for your review, it was very helpful.
shomynik
Active Member
I just got a BopPad and I have a problem with double notes (crosstalk I guess) on higher general sensitivity. As I'm finger drumming, default general sensitivity is too low for me, but at 30 top left quadrant is "leaking" while hitting any other quadrant. Does your devices have/had a similar problem? I'm struggling to find a solution to it.
Pier
Senior Member
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