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Santa Question: Arturia BeatStep USB/MIDI/CV Controller and Sequencer
Goodyear Junior has just inherited my Air1 and, of his own volition, has found a few simple/Mickey Mouse drum pad/sample type 99 cent apps which he has suddenly discovered he loves playing. For the record/assessment, he's 14.
Finally. An interest in my interest 
He mentioned getting a bit of kit for Christmas perhaps (we have nothing hardware-wise in the house) and mentioned the Novation, but as we have no Ableton-ware here, I'm thinking something simple to use with iPad apps etc.
I do want something fun and easy that might seduce him into the deep dark woods, but I also don't want to spend the usual vast sums on something that might just as easily end up under the bed and and forgotten before the middle of January...so....
Arturia BeatStep? 99 bucks on Amazon.
Any quick thoughts?
Comments
I'd spend a little time on the Arturia forums before purchasing any of their hardware. They are renown for bad firmware and bad customer service. Last I checked, the Beatstep was still a buggy mess.
Love to hear this. My (now) 16-year-old and I are actually jamming together now, which is a gift of noteworthy magnitude. Back when he was 14, we experienced a bumpy road in the same house together, but music now significantly takes the edge off those bumps. When I look at how Santa and the birthday genie helped along the way, I note how some gear that seemed right two years ago gathered dust--until suddenly today it is indispensable. In other words, don't sweat it too much. Early in the process, I'd lean toward "more and cheap" to find the right ingredients. And try to align to the type of music that he listens to and wants to create. Go get 'em.
How 'bout a used Roland TD-9. It is still considered one of the most useful, (midi in/out) ekits. I got mine for about $400, and built a stealth drum kit from old drums. Just a thought.
For the price I couldnt find a better alternative. It does have issues but I think people expect too much for this price point. I use it for making arpegio loops/ acid 303 style loops, midi controller and as a drum pad. Some people report double note ons for single presses/hits on the pads but this is a fault, you can return it! Other reports say it has problems with older cv input systems (a bit esoteric for me)
Top features for me
Connects directly via CCK to Ipad
Random play mode as well as reverse, and looping modes
It feels very well built
Downside would be the knobs, even though they can be set in absolute or relative modes and have three different acceleration profiles, nothing Ive tried gets them quite right for me. The Pro is much nicer..
NB Once you start using this controller you are going to want to get the Pro version. I did this but I still use the beatstep as a controller and simple 16 step arp. The pro needs a powered hub so its not quite as portable/accessible.
If you want to see the complains go to the forum, updates are slow to resolve some specific problems but the latest firmware on both the Beatstep and the pro have enough features for the non-pro
Hope that helps your choice
I grabbed the original BeatStep (same one) on sale for either $69 or $79 on Amazon. Can't remember which price, but it was one of those: "okay, at THAT price, I'll do it!" purchases. It was really plug-and-play to get it working as a simple controller. I remember being amazed that it could run off CCK power from an iPhone or iPad, considering that it has to power up quite a number of lights. For what it's worth, it's also a pretty hefty piece of equipment. I feel like the Arturia stuff out-classes their price range at least in terms of perceived hardware quality. That's different than actual hardware quality or long-term durability - can't speak to those yet.
But I was a little frustrated with the pads on it - I know you can adjust sensitivity via software, but it seemed like they weren't responding quite like I'd hoped. Yet I read tons of other reviews where people thought they were great. I've actually tried a few other pad controllers, like a used Korg PadKontrol, which I like better. But I'm keeping the BeatStep because it has both DIN MIDI out and a simple monophonic step sequencer. In other words, I don't think it's great at any one thing, but it's plug-and-play and does a lot of different things.
If I were 14, I could also see being drawn to the "cool" factor of how it lights up. I do think that a MIDI controller, as opposed to a dedicated drum machine or sampler, is a good place to start for him. So many options on iOS.
I have beatstep. Works great with iPad and never had issues. Find it rather limited though.
I love the beatsteps. Easy to find them used or on sale for less than $99. More like 50-60.
Maybe one of the akai controllers could be cool too. Or the newer Korg nanokey studio. They both have drum pads but also sport traditional keyboards and fun instant gratification stuff like arpeggiators.