Music Technology in Education

Working for Korg has been a dream come true so far. I have always been a huge fan of the full line of Korg products - everything from the M1 to the Kaossilator and their full line of amazing tuners! As an employee, I get a bit of a discount on gear, and I have made quite a few purchases in the last four months. One of my recent purchases was the Korg padKontrol. While I already own the microKontrol (which has 16 pads on it) I love the feel of the larger pads on the padKontrol. They are completely touch sensitive, and unlike other MIDI pad controllers on the market, every square millimeter of the square pad is active.

I have been using my padKontrol with some of my favorite sequencers, including GarageBand, Reason & Logic. What is great about the padKontrol is that when you use it with the software synthesizers (particularly the drums) you can play the instrument with a much more humanized feel. There is something very different about playing the pads instead of playing keys on a MIDI keyboard controller. Each pad on the padKontrol is assignable - you can select any pitch or sound for each pad. When I played one of the Whirly’s in Logic, I assigned the pads to a dorian scale and had a ball making music in a non-keyboard environment. The sensitivity of the pads is amazing. I especially like the flam and roll feature that really makes your drumming sound human. Finally, the X-Y pad gives the padKontrol a Koassilator feel and the combination of the pads and X-Y pad is a terrific way to perform with this great instrument.

From a pedagogical standpoint, I believe that the padKontrol opens up some wonderful opportunities for those “non-music makers” in your school. I personally feel that there is no such thing - every child is musical - they just might have some obstacles that get in their way, like knowing how to play a traditional instrument. I used the padKontrol with some middle school students this week and they had a blast with it!

Check out this great video demonstration from YouTube to see what the padKontrol can do.

I welcome your comments and questions.