Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list
Subject: Mini-Kaoss Pad Report (Was :RE: [AN1x] Do they know it's Christmas?)
From: "Ed Edwards" <gleobeam@...>
Date: 2008-12-29
Well, the Mini-Kaoss Pad is a groovy little beasty. It's (for the most
part) a filter touch pad with some quality flangers, phasers, ring
modulators and acceptable samplers, reverbs and delays. Either can be on
either axis (x or y) and you move your finger from any point to any other
point. Seems like it's a bit redundant to the ribbon controller on the
AN1x. the first preset is a low pass filter crossed with resonance - a very
common set of parameters for the ribbon on the synth. Oh, the pad isn't
pressure sensitive (like on the AN1x), it just does left/right for one
effect and up/down for the other. I was hoping the looper would be a bit
more adjustable, but seems to be pre-set at a couple of seconds. You can
compensate by moving your loop point to a spot in sync with what you're
playing with your other hand. I had the most fun using it was the
arpeggiator in the synth. One preset will fold the loop and play it
backwards (at variable speed). that's nice. The LFO when set to square can
do some polyrhythm funkiness, as well as go into that quick loop that begins
to enter audio frequencies. All in all - it's a great piece of gear for the
price. I forgot to mention that it has a tap sync button, which is great
when you want to get it "just right" with the AN's arpeggiator. There's a
hold button that keeps that "really nice" setting after you release your
finger, an effect fade function that keep the effect from abrupt cutoffs and
2 memories where you can store your own preset creations.
Santa brings fun things (and in this case) small bills (sometimes).
Ed
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