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Pad Inputs

Pad Inputs are designed for a more specific purpose than MIDI Inputs, they are for controlling layers and modules (especially the Grid Pads controller with a pad-based MIDI controller such as an SPDSX, or even an E-Kit). A good way to remember the difference between MIDI inputs and Pad inputs, is: if you are wanting to use your MIDI device to control knobs, then you most likely want to set up a MIDI hardware input; if you want to use your MIDI device to trigger sounds, then you most likely wan to set up a Pads Inputs.

An ovewview of a pads input module An ovewview of a pads input module

Initial Setup​

Once you have created your Pads input, if you've already enabled your pads-based midi device in the settings panel, you can select it as the input for the Pads input.

The Pads Input defaults to a 3 x 3 grid, but you can customize the grid in accordance with your physical device (up to an 8 x 8 grid).

Learn​

If your device has an ascending pad-to-midi-note layout (for example, Pad 1 = 64, Pad 2 = 65, Pad 3 = 66, etc), then you can:

  1. Select the Auto-fill from first pad option in the Learn drop down menu.
  2. Select the Learn button
  3. Strike the lowest pad on your device.

Then the Pads Input will automatically learn the rest of the pads in ascending order.

You can select Manual to learn the pads one-by-one, or Manual and auto-advance to learn a pad and advance to the next pad without clicking on it.

Connect​

The Pads Input most sensibly connects to the Grid Pads controller, which can also be configured to mirror the grid you have set up in your Pads Input.

Just like any layer/module in the software, the Grid Pads can be filtered by the input badge of a Hardware input, so make sure your Grid Pads device filter either shows All Pads, or matches the badge number of the Pads Input device.

From there, you can drag and drop any module type onto any pad and begin building and controlling sounds with your pads-based device.

The Pads section of a pads input