How can I tell if my Octapad works
December 7, 2005 3:06 PM 
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Anyone know how to use an
Octapad?I have recently aquired a (used) Roland Octapad II, an old MIDI drum trigger set that looks like
this, via eBay. I want to test it to see if it works, but I (presently) have no synth/drum machine or anything else with a MIDI IN to test it with. (more inside)
I do not have the manual either.
I've been messing around with the options and I've set all the velocity curves that I can to 7 and all the sensitivites to 16 (which I believe are the most sensitive for either variable). When I whack on 5 of them, I see the little velocity indicator bar (think VU meter-ish display) register in the expected manner for varying strength hits. However three of the pads seem less obviously functional. One them requires quite hard hits to get the editing system to move to it (when it edit mode it seems to jump to the options for a pad as soon as it detects any hit on that pad). The other two register hits seemingly sporadically.
How should I test this to make sure it works? I have a feeling (or maybe I'm just in denial) there is something I'm doing incorrectly settings-wise that is causing a disparity between perceived functionality of the pads.
The auction promised "100% Technical Functionality". It was run by a
QuikDrop outfit in Richmond, VA. If it is borked, anyone have experience dealing with these places?
posted by phrontist to technology (4 comments total)
Hook up the drumkit to the MIDI In of the MIDI adapter.
You can then run MIDI Monitor to view incoming MIDI messages (hit the pads and see what happens).
posted by Rothko at 3:41 PM on December 7, 2005