ChipMusic.org - MIDI Fighter Spectra

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-21T00:41:14Z

The Pianocade looks so sick! I'm gonna get this for my parents bar haha!

And sweet! I'll PM you wedanced!

I'll probably order mine next week!

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T23:46:45Z

I own a spectra and a midifighter pro. They are wonderful to use and the actual people them are really cool when i met them. I use the thing with ableton and it works wonders. If you want you can hit me up.

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T23:39:35Z

There's also this:

It's a relatively different layout but has some neat synthesis capabilities in addition to just MIDI.

http://www.pianocade.com/

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T22:38:39Z

I pm'd you Bitman!

Anyone have any experience mapping stuff on these babies?

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T20:59:07Z

I own a MIDI Fighter and I use it for both DJing and with mGB and an Arduinoboy for banging out drum stuff for some projects I am working on. I'll weigh in:

Get the Spectra, don't buy an older MIDI Fighter (unless it's the MIDI Fighter Pro, which is a cool and rare beast) secondhand. The 3D one (in my opinion) is nice but unnecessary when it comes to the motion sensitivity thing. The big thing is platform/software compatibility. If you want to use it in Ableton, you'll have lots of fun using it in the drum rack. Be sure to check out Mad Zach's tutorials for custom drum rack building. Make sure you think carefully about the button designs on the unit itself, etc, they are hard to re-arrange.

Be aware that the buttons are not pressure-sensitive, so you may have to manually go back and add velocity/sensitivity to a lot of drum stuff. I use the pitch bend wheel on my MIDI keyboard to map the velocity while drumming with one hand, it allows me to accent by wheeling up and decrease the intensity of certain notes/beats, and the pitch wheel snaps back into place, which is handy.

However you use it, make sure your hardware or software will compliment its limited yet powerful mapping. It's tons of fun, makes drum beat and note entry a snap. Great to throw in a bag, or DJ with at parties. Also, the resell market for these are pretty solid (if you have a symmetrical/tasteful button layout) and you won't hit a mega-loss financially if you decide the MIDI Fighter isn't for you. PM me if you have any questions or need any help setting up.

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T20:13:03Z

Velocity is definitely something I realized I would miss. But yes I've tried doing things like finger drumming on akai drum pads, and the pads are just not comfortable. I've had experience with this buttons on Arduino Devices, and I see them as a super fun alternative.

Re: MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T19:43:11Z

Well, they're SANWA arcade buttons, so short of a total firmware fail, if you like buttons like that, it won't go wrong! Those buttons take a punch and if they should break, you could easily replace them with new ones.

Totally makes more sense to me than buying a controller with similar functionality using buttons you can't get off the shelf, but you might be missing things like LED indicators and velocity sensitivity.

MIDI Fighter Spectra

2013-08-20T19:13:22Z

I was wondering if anyone here at cm.o had a Spectra. (https://store.djtechtools.com/products/ … er-spectra)
I'm looking to get one but wanted to do a little research before I went all out and bought one. Does anyone have any experience with these Controllers? Is there any reason I should not buy one?

I honestly think they look really fun, and pretty close to what I want/need in a controller.

EDIT: I'm also looking to use this device with Ableton.