Korg nanoKONTROL 2 black Reviews

Good for the price...

A good controller for the price, does the job. The build quality and the quality of pots / faders is not too great so protect it when travelling with it or they will just start falling off

Easy to set up mini mixing console

I am using this with Cubase 9 and Live 9.

The controller is especially good as it is:

- Not expensive

- Portable

- Powered by a USB ( Therefore only one cable necessary)

- Easy to install in different DAWs

- Soft buttons ensure silent control (good if your a loud spacebar hitter like me :))

I am using it for the following purposes:

- Recording automations

- Position Bar

- On-the-fly crossfading

Highly recommend this as a cost efficient solution that can fit on any studio desk.

OK could be better

used for daw control (reaper)

volume would lose its control occasionally, sometimes would not work at all. would have to replug the usb etc. Great when it did work. pity really. Software could be a bit more transparent and easier to use.

Really handy little tool

Great little midi controller which allows quick manipulation of DAW software,

Quick and easy to set up,

for the money does exactly what you need.

workflow and portability

This unit one of these in category of a 'must have' and a 'life saviour' for studio, rehearsals, live of freelancing of any kind. Simply brilliant.

Installation problems in Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

Small but fairly powerful control device.

Good price performance ratio.

Unfortunately, installation failed because recent driver (1.15.1401) is not properly digitally signed for install on Windows 7 64-bit.

After many attempts, (KORG support non existent), problem solved with older driver 1.14.1202.

good equipment for good price

Positives: good price, easy to use, well defined support

Negatives: can't tell

I think it's a good entering external tool to do any automation (volume or FX) jobs in a DAW programme. It has a factory preset by which it can be used in no time, that is pressing some buttons simultaneously provides immediate possibility of use the predefined factory functions.

On the other hand, it is also programmable by downloading the free software, thus the device can be taught for any function, and any fader, knob, etc. can be assigned to any parameter as user wishes. Using this SW a user can switch between the factory preset and his/her own preset.

Good/Cheap

I picked up a nanoKontrol as an inexpensive means of getting my hands on some sliders to control my DAW. In this very simple regard it performs ably. It lives in my travel bag and is perfect for making music on the go, rather than carrying a large controller. If I had criticism then it would be around the cheap feel of the device - however that's also part of the charm. The plastic that tops of the sliders has come off in my bag many times on my travels - that said, they pop back into place without hassle. If you need a hands-on means of controller DAWs and plug-ins then I'd happily recommend this item as long as you can accept that it will feel cheap/borderline disposable! Some great templates available with a little browsing online to marry up with your DAW of choice.

Awesome little midi controler.

For its price it is full of capabilities and super programmable through korgs kontrol editor. I only wish that Ableton Live had a built-in mapping for it, like Reason has.

Korg nanoKONTROL 2 black

I really like the idea of these little controllers but they are a bit flimsy, the knob and sliders come off easily, so unless you're going to fasten them more securely when you get it be prepared to loose them gradually over time.

Good, great for the price, but could be better

I bought this to have some easy physical control of a home recording setup using the Samson Studio GT interface (bundled with Cakewalk Sonar X1 LE) and a small laptop.

Good things are that life is much easier with physical transport controls plus level on 8 channels plus buttons for record, mute and solo on each channel. Compared to working on a small computer screen it's just faster and easier and more relaxed. So I'm pleased with the purchase and for the price it's excellent value for money.

Less good things are the manual, there are instructions for interfacing with the various DAW software packages but those for Sonar are really not complete and it took me a long time and a lot of false starts to get the nanoKontrol installed and working. There are a few vital steps not explained. The worse thing is that having installed it, I think I've forgotten how I did it so I can't pass it on here. You'll have to study the various settings on your DAW software and read anything you can find online about nanoKontrol.

Also the buttons don't behave completely correctly. I tried switching on the record on all channels (mainly to see what would happen) and on the last channel the button would not light up, but when I pressed a different control the record button did light up.

So that feels like a software problem and I suggest you keep an eye on what settings you have before you start recording. I overwrote a track and I can't work out if I forgot to turn off record on that channel or the software turned it back on for me. But I'm definitely suspicious of it and looking out for random acts of vandalism by the software.

I haven't tried to reassign any of the controls but having read about it it looks like there is not a way to re-assign the rotary 'Pan' control to act as an input gain control. I think that's a midi issue but it's not helpful. I would also like to assign that pot to effects but again it's not clear whether you can do it. Given the vagueness of the instalation instructions I think I'll follow the rule of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and not bother to try the NanoKontrol software which you need to do any reconfiguration.

So basically it is very good value, it gives you direct control of the main settings for recording and mixing and for the price I don't think there is anything that offers more useful features. It's not a high precision device but it's good enough for a home studio.

As I'm only recording voice and acoustic instruments it is more useful to me to have good controls for 8 channels than the keyboard that comes with most of these midi controllers that offer fewer mixing controls. Anyway I have an old keyboard with midi output if I ever need that.

Very nice, but a bit small

A great idea and extremely useful in the field or in a cramped space - like a laptop mini studio.

It does not have the highest build quality and the USB connector feels like it might break, but it is still a solid little piece of hardware at a decent price.

The faders have a good feel to them and the buttons are well spaced and useful, the layout is well though out too.

My only real gripe, apart from the lack of a 32 channel mixer with EQ when using this, is that it's so small - my big hands struggle to only hit the intended button or fader. So not really for precision use or careful mixing, but a great product for rough mixes, recording in the field or just playback mixing.

Fine little thing!

Korg never disappoints with the built quality. The controller is extremely portable and very intelligently designed. Easy to use and does the job very well, especially if you are on the move. Don't expect large-high-quality knobs or sliders as you might get disappointed, this product is supposed to be nano size and in my opinion, is a perfect tiny product.

Nice feel, and it works

I mostly use this as a remote transport when I'm recording myself. It took me a little while to figure out how to make it work in Cubase, but I think that's down to Cubase more than the device.

It feels compact and not flimsy, which is nice. The faders are short but they have a smooth action. The lights on the transport buttons are only momentary and they're not colour coded. This is my only complaint, and I realise it's probably a bit of an ask with the limits of MIDI - but it would be nice if the play or record buttons followed conventional colours and showed the current state (i.e. play button remaining lit and green during playback).

Great Controller

The thing with NANO controller is that you can configure it with anything you want, is versatile and handy, the only thing I would miss is some kind of rubber in the back of the surface that prevents the controller to move around while you use it, you have to use "alternative" methods like tape or any other just to make it be steady.

Cool device

This little thing can make more than you can imagine.

First of all, it's a very solid piece of equipment, Korg did a very good job with it. The knobs & faders are really solid and the buttons very soft to press. Also, it's size gives you the advantage to carry it with you ,if you are a DJ on the road or if you want to have a small mixer into your bag.

With the nanoKONTROL 2 , you can assign multiple parameters from your Digital Audio Workstation on different knobs,faders or buttons. I find it very useful ,as you can have total control of your DAW, such as various automations and controlling your channels volume.

Smart & useful gadget !

Descent but price worthy.

I had some problems to get this to work properly with Cubase in the beginning,

but after a couple of hours of testing I got it figured it out.

It does its job as it should and I find it very handy when I’m mixing drums or a section of strings (or any other “group” of instruments that play together as one) where I easily want to have control over each individual instrument.

The Korg nanoKONTROL 2 have a bit of almost “toy-ish” feel over it, but I the knobs have a nice response to them.

Overall I think it’s a decent midi-controller and for its very price worthy.

You basically get what you pay for, more or less.

Compact and effective

I've been using Cubase through several versions now and since buying this piece of kit, I've wondered how I managed with out it before.

Easy to configure and takes up little desk space, it gives you much more control for an extremely reasonable price.

Exellent controls

My son uses three pieces as drawbars for Hammond B4 vst program, with two manuals. What can I say , just superb.

Not what i expected

This unit isn't as much useful as i wanted it to be.

It's nigh impossible to use (maybe if you have one of the supported DAWs, but i don't). Plain MIDI implementation somewhat works but pan pots are out of whack and you can't really switch between tracks, you're basically stuck with first 8 tracks. The resolution of the faders isn't nearly enough to fine-tune a mix (and this is expected, since the faders themselves are too small), and since this unit is cheap, it obviously doesn't have touch response or motorized faders (without which using a control surface is basically impossible).

The unit itself is well-made and is good at what it is supposed to do, problem is, it doesn't do much (but you get what you pay for).

Overall, one of the few purchases i regret making. If you, like me, want a control surface to have some physical interaction with your mix - don't fool yourself, save some money and buy a proper control surface.