What a pleasure this site! I will check for a
AKAI Professional MPX8 – Thomann België
Very small, with Midi and even sample player!
I’d advise do your research … I don’t know that one, but some of those little AKAI controllers have a fixed midi channel.
EDIT: oops … going OT … sorry
This time I would go test in store first! 
Sounds like a great idea,
Cool fix, how are the results? does this increase sensitivity as well?
It amazes me that people are still being surprised by the pads on the Model range. There is so information about them on Elektronauts and other forums, even in original reviews, and I’m surprised people throw money at hardware without doing research.
I had a Model: Samples and Model: Cycles. They’re great machines and worth the price of entry. It is well known that Elektron are not great at making velocity sensitive pads which appeal to finger drummers. Thankfully for me, I gave up wanting to be the next Pete Rock some time ago, and even with an MPC I use either full velocity mode or 16 levels for everything. I really do think the Model range would benefit from a 16 levels mode, as this is something that blew my mind on the MPC back in the day. Sure, it wouldn’t be much good for the finger drummer virtuosos but it would sure solve a lot of problems.
1 Like
For me, the issue is not that, it’s having to hit the pads so hard to even register a hit. I’m not a finger drummer, and the allegedly velocity-sensitive pads are practically useless for me, even when set to fixed sensitivity, because of the force needed. I only ever enter notes via the 16 trigs or via external controller.
2 Likes
Yes you dont have to bang the pads to register anymore, but still stiff pads by design, not rubber soft.
A quick question, since I just got an M:S and am trying to figure out if it’s defective or not.
I was expecting bad sensitivity, since that was mentioned by a few people (though some units seem to be perfectly fine… weird).
Mine is completely unusable, even with fixed velocity.
With fixed velocity I need to hit the pads quite hard to even get them to register a press. Though pressing them slowly and holding down the button for half a second kind of solves that. I guess the aftertouch works better than the velocity.
With variable velocity, I can’t get above 50 even if hit really really hard and there’s zero range, they seem to be working in a binary mode between silent and non-responding at all.
To me this seems to go beyond what has been reported here, or is this just how they are?
Had 2 M:S units are both were similarly bad - however the second one was slightly better than first one (but still really bad). I really even had issues with pads registering slow presses - as you’re mentioning.
At the same time I had 1 M:C unit - was bit better than both M:S units, however still unusable for finger drumming (but usable enough for pressing with fixed velocity)
Sold all of these units and moved on to DT/DN
Hard to say if yours is worse but the pads on my M:S are also pretty bad. 
Thanks a lot for your feedback on this! Yeah I guess it’s just like that. I guess I was just too surprised by a company like Elektron to put out a device that has such an obvious flaw.
I guess that’s why they are so cheap now.
I have to say though that I’m very tempted to keep it anyway. I’ll wait for a few more days to see how I get along with it.
It’s such a straightforward, fun little instrument! Having many of the things I like to use on the OT but with a much more accessible interface.
But yeah, the pads really are a major, unexplicable, letdown.
Same here. I just received M:S from the factory and I wonder if I’ll return it or not. To me it’s a design fault. Anyway this machine is far from been as good as my DN.
1 Like
I think it was bubble gum wrappers actually…with the metal side up?!?
1 Like
Yeah I saw that too people also use tinfoil but apparently metal things have a risk of frying something iirc. Might be broscience
The pads definitively suck. Settings that have helped me:
Fix = OFF
VDep = ~70 (feel it out)
Dst = DIST
DDep = 63 (max)
This way I can still get loud hits without breaking a knuckle. Definitely improves the dynamic range. Doesn’t fix the inability to do subtle ghost notes and whatnot though.
4 Likes
I don’t mind the MC’s pads too much, but I’m definitely smacking the heck out of them when playing.
If you have other MIDI controllers with velocity sensitivity I recommend that to be sure. Personally, I’ve been controlling mine via MC-707.
I’ve found the M:S pads respond better to a medium touch–they seem to not respond to a light touch, but also don’t respond to being mashed/smashed.
1 Like
Here are some important detail infos for the Elektron Model:Samples sensitivity fix as it was posted by mpluis (Elektron Model:Samples sensitivity fix - YouTube):
- first, yes you will still need the transparent strip (in the video it’s not clear if it shall be left out, but yes, it has to go back in)
- second and most importantly, it’s NOT sufficient to use just “ANY” tape: you need a certain THICKNESS to make it work perfectly, in my case it was somewhere between 0,4-0,5mm, i.e. a rather heavy duct tape. I used grey T-REX duct tape for my “stickers” which is 0,43mm thick (please measure with digital callipers). If you use too thin tape, the sensitivity still won’t be as good. If you use too thick tape, the pads don’t work at all anymore, so you can try different ones until you found the best tape. I applied the tape, then only fixed 7 or 8 of the screws (around the first pad and near power/audio plugs) and so I could test it before fixing all 9000 screws.
- third: cut your “stickers” beforehand, not on the machine. they need to be square 15x15mm with a ~5mm hole in the middle, that’s all. Can be done by a kindergarden child. But be careful to leave no burrs on the edges. It’s almost satirical that Elektron already delivers a sheet of nice graphic stickers with this machine, they could’ve simply included those six pad “stickers” as well
- forth: as said before, do not overtighten. Use just a T10 torx bit and a bit holder (from your drill), not a real screwdriver-bitholder, so your hand torque can’t go too high, then gently find the thread start (reverse screw until it drops down a bit), then screw down until it bottoms out, then stop applying torque.
My M:S pad sensitivity is really nice now, a gentle tap with a finger is sufficient to trigger the pads, and I can even do drum rolls etc. with two fingers, which would’ve been impossible before.
4 Likes
So ridiculous we have to re-engineer things with bits of tape!
Wonder if those stick-on rings for reinforcing notebook paper holes would work. Of course paper would wear out over time.
Somebody should sell a kit.