Arturia BeatStep Black Edition USB pad controller

Allmänt

A pad controller can be used to enter drum or percussion parts into your DAw, for instance, as many prefer the use of pads over keys for this purpose. With the Arturia BeatStep Black Edition USB pad controller is a high-quality device, and while it may not be the only option on the market by a long shot, it's certainly one of the most appealing ones. That is in large part due to its excellent build-quality; it features an aluminium housing and extra-sensitive backlit pads. Clearly, it's a device that is versatile enough for the studio, and durable enough for a life on the road.

Arturia BeatStep Black Edition: options

There are 16 pads for your performance, and 16 rotary encoders for adjusting parameters on the fly. In CNTRL mode, you can play the pads as if they were keys, even pressing multiple pads simultaneously. In SEQ mode, however, the BeatStep turns into a sequencer, with each of the 16 pads representing a step. You can store up to 16 sequences on the BeatStep itself. There's also a few transport controls on the device, which you can use to start or stop your DAW, for instance.

CV/gate

In addition to the usual USB MIDI communication, the Arturia BeatStep supports CV/gate out, which is quite remarkable. CV/gate allows you to control classic, vintage synthesizers - in the 1960s and 1970s it was the preferred way of communication. After the introduction of the MIDI protocol, CV/gate was largely discarded, but with the increasing popularity of vintage synths, CV/gate is once again in demand.