Korg - nanoKONTROL - USB and Bluetooth Studio Mobile MIDI Controller

Delivery - Excellent. Build quality - better than expected. Performance ? Read on.... I have a Korg nanoKontrol 2. Great product. Slightly short faders but fits on the bottom of a Macbook real sweet. Also works with several KORG apps on iOS - iMS20, iElectribe and Gadget. Best is iMS20 by far. One button switches between mixer and synth. If the app had Link it would be the total business. Only drawback is the USB lead. Not good on an old school 32 pin iPad with a camera adapter, better on a Lightning equipped model. So the wireless version should provide all of the functionality of the USB only model right ? Maybe a bit more ? Wrong. All my KORG iOS apps recognise it and flag it as connected. So let's try some of them.... iDS10 ? No. Well I could hope.... iMS20 ? No. iElectribe ? No ! Gadget ???? After all, there is a button on the front panel labelled "SCENE" - maybe you could cycle between scenes ??? Very limited mixer control only. Jog wheel, scene buttons and FF/FR buttons are redundant. The track buttons are duplicated by the Select buttons above the faders and don't illuminate.... Leave them alone. And why is there a label with Wireless on it painted out ???? I will keep it. In a few years time, secondhand iPAD Pro's will be within my grasp and a Link locked 8 track version of Gadget will run like clockwork. Oh dear KORG it could have been so much more..... How about some downloadable profiles for the editor ??? TIP - If you connect this unit to the editor on Mac, the SCENE lights will come on and the unit will no longer talk via Bluetooth. If you can find a factory reset mentioned anywhere on the net, you are well clever. I used the same routine as described for the wired version ? Hold down CYCLE and the two TRACK buttons and power up using USB. Worked for me. UPDATE 20/5/22 I HAVE UPGRADED TO IPAD AIR. WITH KORG ELECTRIBE WAVE, THIS UNIT PROVIDES FULL CONTROL. 2 BANKS OF 8 FADERS INSTANTLY. WELL DONE KORG FOR IMPLEMENTING. INCREASED RATING TO 5 STARS

Why did you choose this product over others?: I have had the nano series for several years and they have been fairly reliable and convenient when travelling. I'm not too impressed with this new version as it will only connect to a few DAWs with a bit of extra programming via the control editor and even then not all the functions it supposedly has. It's sturdy hard plastic but way too expensive for what it is. When I have more money I'll buy something better.

Excellent controller, but could not get it to work with Logic Pro X until after contacting Korg support and finding out the Korg Logic plug-in requires you to start up Logic in Rosetta mode on an M1 Mac. It does not state this anywhere in the literature. I am told Korg will be updating their Logic Plug-in but no idea when. All working great now thanks to the great support but also slightly disappointed by the aforementioned and also that the scenes only work if you use it without the plug-in as an assignable midi CC controller. Hence only 4 stars.

Firstly, I am blind so please excuse any errors due to dictation. Anyway, I saw several reviews of this product on the main Amazon website and noted that quite a few were bad reviews. I really can't see why. The main reason why I purchased this item is because it has a jog wheel which is very handy for me. That being said, the installation was absolutely no problem at all. Are you Sonar cakewalk and the instructions on their website to get it up and running properly was spot-on perfect. If a blind person can do it, I don't see what the issue is. Okay, so the build is not rocket, but what do you expect for the price. Anyway, are you likely to throw it down the stairs or treated in any other way than it was designed for? As long as it sits on your desk there is no problem. The buttons are great, easy to navigate around by touch and the LED light which is something that I can just about notice it's very handy for me. I have three mixing desks and this particular one is just purely for track management. It does the job, it does it well and for the price, it's very acceptable.

Doesn’t work with 2025 MacBook Air .

I think this a fabulous piece of kit. Truly. But I supposed you need the right use for it. If you use a DAW at home (I use Logic Pro btw) then this gives you a physical mixer/looper and jog wheel. It works a treat. The Bluetooth never cuts out and it leaves your USB ports free. No latency either! NOW, I bought it to use in a live rig and it’s brill for that too. I run Logic for live performance of drums and backing and play along on MainStage. This Korg ‘sticks’ to Logic, lets me control it while MainStage dominates the screen. For that purpose it is an absolute boon. Well done Korg! It fits neatly in any iPad holder too! Only gripe? I’d like a case for it - it’s designed to be portable, so what do I carry it in....? But buy, buy, buy!

This thing is a game changer for mixing live shows on iPad. I mapped it for mixing station to control my XR18 and it is almost perfect. The only function it is lacking is motorised faders but that is a fair trade off for completely wireless mixing and I’m not sure motorised faders would be possible without a mains power cable tying you down. The only other issue I found was when I attempted to map the backlight function to latch rather than momentary. For some reason the functions assigned to buttons don’t respond the same using while using the latch function. I’m not sure why and to be honest I’m not bothered if the buttons are lit or not as long as the assigned functions work as expected.

Pratique et très utile, mais pas facile,à programmer avec certains daw

この手のフィジカルコントローラー、Avid、Mackieはじめ色々買いましたが場所を取るわりに出番が少なく、結局マウスでやるのが早いので全て手放しましたが、今回VST instのHanz Zimmer StringsのMIDIデータ入力用に購入してみました。 マックOS BigSur11.6.1でドライバー不要で、電源を入れるときに、キューベースモード、ミディコントローラーモードなど選んで立ち上げると、すぐ認識し、初期設定は簡単でした。 音量とビブラートを同時にスライダー入力したかったので、とても便利になりました。 BlueTooth接続用にエネループも購入しましたが、こちらのレビューにあるように、電池の取り出しが不便そうです。 そこで写真３のようにナイロンの端切れを乾電池の後ろに挿入するようにして、取り出しやすく一工夫しました。 ムービングフェーダーの入った重く大きなものより、手軽に持ち歩けるし、必要なVST inst関係のデータ入力にはこれで十分でした。 フェーダーのタッチもいいです。 おそらくキューベースのミックス作業には使わないと思いますが、もし使ってみて便利だったら？？こちらの情報アップデートします。

Ci sarebbe da scrivere un libro intero sui prodotti MIDI, in questo caso ci limiteremo a qualche riga. La NANOKONTROL STUDIO è un prodotto versatile, funziona bene ha un bell'aspetto ma soprattutto è wireless (Bluetooth). La compatibilità non è come quella delle sue concorrenti, mi spiego meglio, a differenza delle altre, dove sul web trovi ogni tipo di configurazione, template etc, per questa non ho trovato molte informazioni utili per settaggi e configurazioni. Se non conosci il linguaggio MIDI, può essere un problema serio, ciò non toglie che è un prodotto utilissimo e ben fatto, lo consiglio.

I don't write reviews very often, but I thought I'd write a review on this unit to help those considering this purchase. First of all, there are more powerful and complete control surfaces for DAW software, which is what I'm using to unit for. These more complete units are in the $600-$1000 range, so you should expect more from them. The Korg unit does not have motorized faders, and it doesn't control bus volumes. What it does is give you tactile control over eight channels that are bank switchable, all basic channel and transport controls and a very nice jog wheel. I am using it with Sonar Platinum, and the set up was very easy with presets for Sonar and other DAW software. This unit is replacing a Tascam FW-1082, which I liked very much. The Korg nanoKontrol Studio is much simpler, and if you look at it as a supplement to the mouse/keyboard interface, well worth the money.

Ich liebe das Ding! Tatsächlich ist es fürs Live-Looping zwischendurch mein Controller Nr.1 geworden und wird - dank der Flexibilität der Bluetooth-Verbindung - häufiger verwendet als mein geliebtes APC Mini. Für "richtige", komplexe Arbeit an der DAW findet es bei mir keine wirkliche Verwendung, einfach, weil das Setup an meinem Studiotisch bereits fest besteht, aber ich sitze oft mit Laptop, Keyboard und Nanokontrol auf dem Sofa und bastele und loope ein wenig vor mich hin - dafür ist es einfach perfekt! Mithilfe von Control Surface Studio (Software-Empfehlung!) habe ich mir ein genau auf meine Bedürfnisse zugeschnittenes Ableton Live Script erstellt und kann mit dem Nanokontrol durch Abletons Session View navigieren, Clips und Scenes abfeuern und stoppen, das Metronom einstellen, automatisch auf die Bedienelemente gemappte Spur- Instrumentalparameter steuern, u.v.m. Die zusätzliche Arbeit hat ein wenig Zeit in Anspruch genommen, war aber nicht besonders kompliziert und hat sich definitiv gelohnt. Verglichen mit dem Nanokontrol2 fällt mir vor Allem eine Verbesserung der Fader auf. Sie sind etwa 1,5cm länger und laufen mit ein wenig mehr Widerstand - bei beidem ist zwar noch Luft nach oben, aber man kann gut und recht exakt damit arbeiten. Auch die Mute, Solo, Record Arm und - neu dazugekommen - Select Buttons sind nicht mehr zwischen den Fadern angebracht, sondern darüber, was die Bedienung deutlich erleichtert und einem versehentlichen Verstellen der Fader bei allzu hastiger Benutzung vorbeugt. Die Potis sind etwas größer und angenehmer zu greifen, dasselbe gilt für sämtliche Buttons, was jetzt keine weltbewegende Verbesserung ist, aber die ganze Sache etwas weniger fummelig macht. Wirklich begeistert bin ich vom Jogwheel und der stabilen Bluetooth-Verbindung, bei der ich keine hörbare Latenz wahrnehmen konnte. Bei meinem Macbook Pro 2019 / MacOS Monterey war keine Einrichtung notwendig: Batterien rein, anschalten, Verbindung herstellen und los. Alternativ lässt sich das Nanokontrol Studio auch per Micro-USB-Kabel betreiben - eine USB-C-Buchse wäre mir da persönlich lieber gewesen, ist aber kein Beinbruch. Eingestellt wird die bevorzugte Betriebsart an einem Schalter, der das Gerät auch in den Standby-Modus versetzen kann. Benötigt werden 3 AAA-Batterien, über deren Langlebigkeit ich noch nichts sagen kann. Meinen Testzeitraum von circa 10 Stunden haben sie aber schon mal durchgehalten ;) Gibt es Negatives? Da fällt mir nur eines ein: Die von einigen bereits erwähnte, seltsame Lichtshow, die nach einigen Minuten Inaktivität einsetzt und die aktuellen Einstellungen "überstrahlt" Bewegt man irgendein Element des Controllers, wird das Blinken gestoppt und alles leuchtet wieder wie gehabt. Für mich persönlich ist das aber kein wirkliches Problem - im Gegensatz zur Lichtshow meines Launchpads zieht mir das Nanokontrol nämlich keinen Laptop-Akku weg. ;) Neutral bewerten würde ich Korgs Editor. Er ist zwar recht umfangreich, aber auch recht umständlich. Das gleiche gilt für den internen Scene-Speicher des Gerätes: Mit einer einzigen Taste lassen sich der Reihe nacht fünf indivduell belegbare Scenes durchschalten, was angenehm simpel, aber mitunter auch nervig sein kann, wenn man von der zweiten zur ersten Scene zurück möchte und den Knopf viermal drücken muss. Ich habe dieses Problem in meinem Script umgangen und einfach die erste Scene mit verschiedenen Modes belegt, die es mir erlauben, unterschiedliche Funktionen auf die Bedienelemente zu mappen, ohne den MIDI CC-Wert tatsächlich ändern zu müssen. Fazit: Mit ein klein wenig Bastelarbeit und Know-How ein wirklich guter Controller, der einiges draufhat! Ich bin sehr zufrieden und würde ihn nochmal kaufen.