Description
Korg MPS-10 Drum & Percussion Sample Pad
The world of multi-pad drum and percussion units has been dominated for many years by Roland.
Alesis also have their fingers in this pie! Until now, KORG’s efforts in the world of stick-playable electronic drums have been more esoteric with things like the Wave Drum.
Drummers can attach this to their acoustic kits for variety. Percussionists can do much the same. Many people use as MIDI trigger inputs and others simply as a standalone drum/percussion pad.
The Hardware
As its name suggests, the MPS-10 has ten velocity-sensitive pads. Six are of the square variety and occupy the main playing area. There are four smaller pads across the top edge that KORG call CC Pads allowing, they say, control over other parameters such as filter cutoff. This allows the user to manipulate sounds without dropping their sticks. Front and centre of the MPS-10 is the user interface. As soon as I saw this I had nightmarish visions of over-enthusiastic drummers smacking that centre console and causing some irreparable damage mid-gig. It does seem odd to have these controls surrounded by pads.
The rear of the MPS-10 sports a range of I/O options that includes stereo audio out, headphones, a pair of sub-outs, Line and Mic in for sampling, two dual-zone trigger inputs, a pair of footswitch sockets and one for an expression pedal. There is a solitary 5-pin MIDI Out port, a USB to-host port and a USB socket for a USB drive containing your own samples. The omission of a regular MIDI In port is odd. One assumes MIDI In and Out can be accessed via the USB port. Whilst this is a performance device, I’d still like to be able to trigger sounds via MIDI.
All of this is packed into a sturdy case with a backlit LCD which is ideal for live use. Each of the pads has a colour-coded LED bar.
The Specs :
Kits
200 (including user KITs)
INST 2358
SAMPLE 3000
Effects
77
Max Polyphony
48
Audio outputs
Headphones (6.3mm TRS)
MAIN OUT L, MAIN OUT R, SUB OUT 1, SUB OUT 2
Audio inputs
LINE IN L/R, MIC IN (6.3 mm TRS phone jacks)
Control inputs
CH A/B, C/D (6.3 mm stereo phone jacks)
Foot pedals: 1, 2 6.3 mm TRS phone jacks)
Expression pedal (6.3 mm TRS phone jack)
MIDI/USB
MIDI Out
USB-A (Type-A) USB standard ver. 2.0, Hi-Speed compliant (480 Mbps)
USB-B (Type-B) USB standard ver. 2.0, Hi-Speed compliant (480 Mbps)
Internal memory
32gb (inc. preset data)
Audio playback
WAV, 44.1 kHz/48 kHz, 16-bit (up to 60 minutes long)
AIFF, 44.1 kHz/48 kHz, 16-bit (up to 60 minutes long)
Display
320 x 240 backlit colour LCD
Operating temp
0 to +40oC
Power supply
AC adapter (DC 9V)
Dimensions
424 x 264 x 75mm
Weight
2.3kg
Included items
AC adapter
