Korg nanoKontrol Series 2
While it may be easy to pick at the form of
the keys themselves, these devices were never
designed with concerto-style performance in
mind. They’re all about making music on the
move or saving precious desk real estate, and
the nanoKey 2 fulils this role well.
Paddywhack
The original nanoPad pleased us greatly with its
sturdy, responsive drum pads. They’ve grown in
number from 12 to 16, with a slight separation
down the middle, efectively presenting them as
two banks of eight. The Flam and Roll buttons
have been replaced with Gate Arp, Touch Scale,
Key/Range and Scale/Tap options. These are
performance-oriented controls for use in
conjunction with the excellent X/Y pad.
In its standard mode, the X/Y pad transmits
CCs; in Touch Scale mode, the X axis instead
sends notes while the Y controls note length.
Thus you can play musical patterns and phrases,
much like on Korg’s Kaossilator series. Scales
and keys are accessible via the Key/Range and
Scale/Tap buttons – while holding one of these
down, you can select notes and scales by
pressing the pads.
Gate Arp creates rhythmic ‘gated’ notes at a
speciied tempo (set via tap tempo or synced
to MIDI). You hold a pad and use the X/Y pad to
control the rate – ideal for glitchy efects or basic
drum rolls. By engaging Touch Scale mode, you
can play gated melodies on the X/Y pad.
There are four bank select buttons, making a
total of 64 ‘virtual’ pads. With each able to trigger
up to four notes at once (ie, chords), the nanoPad
has melodic potential aplenty.
Kontrol freak
Bringing up the rear is the nanoKontrol. Almost
every single control on the thing is conigurable
via the Korg Editor software (see Editor’s choice
above), making it a lexible general-purpose
knobs, faders ’n’ buttons MIDI controller. Like the
other devices, it’s lightweight but still feels solid
for what it is.
Unlike the others devices, however, the
nanoKontrol can now be used as a Mackie
Control device. This gives you direct control of
your DAW’s transport and mixer channels, with
minimal setup required. Here, you get eight
channels’ worth of level, pan and solo/mute/
record switching. The dedicated record buttons
are new for series 2, although eagle-eyed nano-
lovers will have spotted that this new version
has eight channels instead of the previous nine
(which worked nicely as an ‘eight plus master’
coniguration). The new marker buttons let you
set markers in your arrangement and jump back
and forth between them, which is a great
worklow-smoother.
The new track select buttons let you page
through the channels in banks of eight when in
Mackie Control mode. This efectively replaces
the original’s Scenes function, the advantage
being that you can access more than four banks,
while the drawback is that there’s no LED
indicator to tell you which bank you’re currently
in. You also lose the option of having four
separate scenes in MIDI mode (ie, four
switchable conigurations), while MMC (ie, MIDI-
based transport control) has also disappeared.
This means that you can’t have a setup that
easily combines DAW transport operation with
MIDI control of synths, etc. The new version
seems more geared towards mixer control, then,
but with such short faders and basic functionality,
the value of this is questionable. Some users
may therefore prefer the old nanoKontrol.
The original nanoSeries turned out to be nifty
companions for Apple’s iPad, and this holds true.
Apps that support Core MIDI (eg, GarageBand
and Akai SynthStation) should work just ine.
Korg’s own iElectribe and iMS20 apps sport a
‘nano 2 native’ mode, which will assign the
controls appropriately when you plug in a
nanoKontrol or nanoPad. Just be sure to disable
this if you want your custom mapping to remain!
Some decent new functionality and a gentle
makeover sees the nanoSeries heading in the
right direction, especially the much improved
nanoKey. However, fans of the irst nanoSeries
might be annoyed that certain features have
been ditched to make way for new ones, rather
than the existing feature-set being expanded.
Web www.korg.co.uk
Contact 01908 857100
Korg
Verdict
For Improved design and build
nanoKey’s feel is notably better
New performance modes on nanoPad
Expanded transport on nanoKontrol
Highly afordable
Against nanoKey still a bit awkward
Some functionality lost from irst series
The new hardware looks and feels better,
though some may be disappointed that
certain features have been left behind
Alternatively
Akai LPD8
N/A » N/A » £40
Eight pads and eight knobs, this is
ideal for the very tightest of spaces.
Novation Nocturn
124 » 10/10 » £70
A less conventional compact, with
buttons, rotaries and a crossfader
The full feature-set of the original
nanoSeries could only be accessed via
the Kontrol Editor software, and this is
still the case. There are a few changes
for the new devices, though.
The absence of the CC Mode means
there’s now less to conigure with the
nanoKey. It’s still worth getting the
editor, though, because you can set
things like velocity curve and timing
of buttons for pitch, mod, etc.
On the nanoPad, each pad can send
four notes, CCs or program changes, as
opposed to the original’s eight. Per-pad
options to determine whether a pad is
included when using the gated modes.
The X/Y pad can also be assigned as
you like, although this is now global
and not per scene.
The previous nanoKontrol had
attack and release options for its
buttons, which faded CC changes in/
out; these are now absent.
Your custom conigurations can be
stored in the device itself, so no matter
what you plug into – iPad included –
your mappings will be ready to rock.
Note that you can download the Kontrol
Editor before buying a nanoDevice to
get a feel for its mapping possibilities.
Editor’s choice
“The nanoKontrol 2
seems more geared
towards mixer control”
Tinkering with the nanoKontrol’s mapping in Kontrol Editor
July 2011 / / 87
korg nanoseries 2 / reviews <
CMU166.rev_nano 87 5/17/11 11:15:32 AM