The four rows of 16 pads have subtle lines between each four pads on the casing, so you’re back to working with that old faithful input method of drum machines and sequencers of the past.
It certainly feels like this is going to go the distance and take whatever you dish out in your music making and performance.Īt first glance I was excited to see that although the more common grid pattern of modern workflow has been adhered to, there was a familiar air to the top panel with the old step sequencer vibe being adopted too. There’s a nice snap to the engagement of the buttons and a firm response from the slightly softer velocity sensitive pads. The plastic housing keeps the weight down, but it is still pretty tough, and all the buttons and pads have a great feel to them. The housing has a nice low profile, and sits firmly on the desktop without any unwanted movement when being punished. Being that Akai have had a hand in building controllers for other platforms before, you’re pretty safe in assuming they have this one all stitched up. It’s about half the size of many of the popular pad grid controllers for other software platforms, yet it packs in twice as many pads as most. It doesn’t need to be big or expensive, it just needs to be focused on delivering the tools required to get the most from the software, and that is exactly what the Fire does. There are a lot of generic MIDI controllers available on the market, but as we have seen over recent years, a controller specifically designed for a certain software platform can really open up the possibilities.
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