That intro was really useful to me. I recently bought a Novation MK3 Launchkey Mini to start experimenting with live performance, but the big thing I was missing were the drumkits/plugins. So now I know what software to look for so thank you ^^
Thanks a lot and great job job for your tuto, i just got a maschine mk3 and already owned addictive drums 2, your tuto was very helpful to make a drum Map as i wish. Happy New year and thanks sharing your precious knowlege
Thanks man, this is great. remapping all sounds that come with NI and other samples is a like pulling teeth. How to learn to drum in the default mode that NI comes with
Robert, thank you so MUCH for your beginner course on your web site and for this video. I'm just getting started with MK3 and this video really helped me get the controller working in MIDI mode. I plan to support you on Patreon. Looking forward to more awesome content. Alex.
Good tips, especially the one about CC dial for the hat... will have to investigate that. When assigning MIDI notes to pads, another reason you'd want separate notes is (polyphonic) after-touch.
Hi great tutorial, This is gold man! Are you Dutch like me? If yes, your English is spot on! And another question Maschine Related: Is it possible to choose another template from within the hardware? Thanks man! Keep up the good work! Subbed! About the CC I really didn't know that that was available in AD2, Now I can finally make my hi-hat of my Millenium MP850 work correctly!
I don't think you can select another template, but if you turn Pad pages "on" you do have 8 banks you can select on the Maschine itself. So 8 different pad setups / colors etc. And yes I'm Dutch!
Good you use the cc control HH on a knob, but you can also use aftertouch on cymbales great for mute sound! ;) Aso AD is good but you must try superior 3 it sounds really better stéréo or 5.1
I wi check out SD3 soon! For me personally, the cymbals kept muting because of accidental aftertouch so that's why I like to turn it off. But I agree it can be used, it will probably take some practice :-)
@@TheQuestforGroove Yup but not so much practice, i had this problem too; also maybe aftertouch sensibility can be adjusted somewhere... SD3 with a 5,1 soundbar must be awesome but it's really awesome just with an headphone too. Also presets are not so "style oriented" like ez drummer or AD so they can be switched on the fly. (but you can add any ez expention pack if you want a style oriented sound like the hip hop expansion who is very good too! The SD3 Yamaha stock kit with the black beauty snare is very versatile. And it's really plug and play.
Yeah this is a relatively new development. I noticed this with the newer mikro mk3 devices I bought. It seems NI has changed the baseline sensitivity on newer devices that hey manufacture, so in those newer devices, the most sensitive settings achieve the opposite effect sometimes. It used to be different (it wasn't the case when I made this video, that's fore sure).
Thanks for the fantastic video. Because of your advice, I've purchased a Machine mk3 and am setting it up in accordance to what you've recommended in this video. Quick question: Why shut off pad banks? I realize that your main bank is what you normally use, but for my workflow other "speciality" banks of percussion, a wide cymbal array, a tom page, etc... would be nice. I would have my main bank for finger drumming and other others for certain things. Is this something that I can still do and do you shut it off for a technical reason or for personal preference? Thanks so much in advance for your advice on this.
Thanks! In all honesty it's just idiot-proofing. If you use midi learn and accidentally move to another bank, all of a sudden your drum kit will be gone. I got multiple people telling me their controller didn't work and it was because of that. It seems like you're smart enough to operate a few pad banks though, so I would say go for it! :-)
@@TheQuestforGroove Thanks so much for the great advice. Taking that into consideration, I made my pads Color Off of each bank the color that the pad buttons are so everything matches and is color coded. Now if NI would just make Note Repeat work in MIDI Mode we would be set (the Atom is still great for this feature alone if you use Studio One). Thanks and keep up the great work!
Hello there, thanks for your post. Mapping Maschine Mikro MK3 in Controller Editor is not supported in Controller Editor. But you can switch Maschine Mikro MK3 to MIDI since the update of Maschine 2.7.10. Just ensure to update Maschine and you can switch Maschine Mikro MK3 to MIDI mode by holding SHIFT and press the MASCHINE button in the upper-left corner. It is not possible to edit the mapping of Maschine Mikro MK3 MIDI mode. Cheers, Philipp
Thanks Philipp! I just typed more or less the same answer in another post :-) happy to see other folks from te community doing some of the work for me! Thank you! This video was recorded before the firmware update. But I checked it out and it works now. Very well, too bad you cannot edit the notes though.
how can I set up my Maschine pads without messing up the grooves library that I drag into a project? whenever I set up a midi pad template the grooves are different than the playback demos. I'm obviously messing up something with the midi notes
I'm working on translations! Videos can be translated by the community. But I also do paid translations. Since I have a lot of videos I have to be selective with where I spend the money. I will try and put more and more vids out with japanese subtitles!
Hey this is a great guide but i'm having problems getting mine to work. The controller editor responds to pad input but in AD2 it doesn't, even though i have selected maschine mikro mk3. The audio output is fine when i demo the drums but i can't seem to trigger them via the pads/learn function isn't working.
You probably first want to open up another program like your DAW and see if you can hit a couple of pads and then see if you can record some midi data that way. If so, the device does send out midi data and the problem has to be configuration inside Addictive Drums. I found that with my big maschine mk3 there are always two options. Both called maschine mk3 and then one is Maschine mk3 virtual or something and that's the one that works where the other one does not. So it might be something like that.
Oh and making sure the device is fully plugged in and working in midi mode before booting up the software is also something that fixed these types of issues for me very often.
Oh in my case it works better with my drum software when disabled. I don't ever need poly pressure when drumming, just like you never need it on a drum kit.
Everytime I map crash or ride cymbals the notes when pressed seem to choke and I get very short hit with no decay. What could be the problem? I’m using maschine mikro with AD2
If you turn it off I usually assign one of those buttons as a choke. So not the pads but the buttons around the pads. In midi mode those are just midi notes as well so you can use them for functionality like that!
Hey there! Thanks for the awesome video and the preset, that really helped me a lot! Just one quick question: how exactly were you able to design both of the screens? To be exact: it should show the same as in your video :-D
If it turn pad pages and knob pages off, the left screen will display the name of the preset. So I named that questforgroove.com And the right one just displays the pads and you can give each pad a name!
Hey man thanks for your awesome videos :) Regarding the maschine software, I understand it is off limits because it is not possible to tweak the layout to fit your recommended one?
Hey Kevin, no that is a misunderstanding. It's because it's a hassle to use Maschine software with a drumkit like Addictive drums. It is possible as outlined in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1AQMPAXj9f8.html but it's just a lot of work and not really convenient if you just want to play some drums. Midi mode is better for that.
@@TheQuestforGroove oh i understand, did not know thats was possible, I just bought mikro mk3 and wanted to use it inside cubase with the maschine 2 software drum kits , what I am figuring out is how to map thebpads to your suggested layout because the default one is different, hopefully the link you just shared may give me a hint, thank you very much Rob!
Thank you very much for the tutorial. I have an Mk3 and Superior Drummer 3 and was able to set it up in midi mode and follow your process super quick. However I ran into one issue that I hope someone else might be able to help me with. Like another person commented - I have setup Maschine with your pad layout but have not been able to show the pads in the right hand side window. What I see on the left hand screen is (at the top) is 'Template' and in the main left screen I see the name of my current selected template. On the right screen I see a list of my templates that I can chose from (I use multiple templates). For the life of me... anyone have any ideas?
Awesome! And I suppose the only things altered are in the controller software and in Addictive Drums and everything will remain untouched when using the Maschine in the Maschine software? Just asking since my Maschine arrived today and I will jump start tomorrow when i come back home from work :-)
Hi, thanks for sharing this video!! I have used this video to create a template using toontrack Superior drummer 3 and saved it as a SD3 template, and i can load this template whenever i need it? Have a question though? Is it possible to use this template and it's pad set up as a default template for all my other drum software, like Groove Agent, Steven Slate drums, Pro Drummer, etc etc? Or will i have to literally reassign all those softwares to this template? Thank you!
I think because the standard mapping is different, you do have to reassign for each piece of software. That's because they all use different standard mappings. You only have to do it once for each of them though :-)
Hi Robert, I'm trying to figure out how to turn on Pad colors, I followed your set-up but no colors on pads, HHHmmm, would love your thoughts. Thanks Cheers!
Hi Rob, Thank you so much for this. when mapping out my pad I et no sound from the Toms or Ride. do you know if those are not included in the demo version? i was able to map every other instrument but those. this is all I am missing to follow from the website all your lessons. thank you !!!
I think the demo of addictive drums 2 only has kick snare hihat and maybe one other thing. But its not complete. Basically the demo version is only for seeing if the software works. After that a purchase is required. One tip I can give you is that xln audio regularly does sales with 40-50% discounts. So if you subscribe to their newsletter an are willing to wait 1 to 3 months (maybe use stock drums sounds from your daw or something) you can get the starter kit with 3 drumkits for like half the price. I always recommend getting fairfax 1, black oyster and funk kits.
Hi, thanks for the demo ! Few questions: - I can see you assign a note per pad, but are all octaves editable, and do we have access to several bank ? - are the template files editable in a text editor ? - are the templates actually saved to mashine in several slot, or only one teplate is on the hardware ? - does the chords and scale button still works as expected (allowing pads to out chords and scales) ? Thx ! :)
Hey glad to help you out - with pad pages and knob pages 'on' you have access to several banks. I tell people to turn it off to avoid confusion because folks would get the wrong sound not realizing they selected another bank. - no text editor editing as far as I know - I think maschine saves the latest preset. Saving multiple setups should be done in controlle er editor. - no chords and scales in midi mode. All those buttons turn into assignable midi notes. Hope this helped!
@@TheQuestforGroove This helps a lot many thanks for your expertise ! Text editing : this would have been very intersting to generate (with a script) presets based on scale for eg, without having to go to all the dropdown menu for all pads and octave.
Love this tutorial! Maybe a crazy question, but how can you run Maschine in midi mode and use Maschine's midi out? I'm working on going dawless and trying to find the best way to trigger my Koala Sampler on my iPad. I just got an MPD218 and I'm not feeling it, but I can connect it to my iPad and set up midi just fine. My plan was to run Maschine from my laptop and use the midi out of the Maschine and into my audio interface that is connected to my iPad. I can do this when running Maschine software, but not in midi mode. Any ideas?
I messed around with it for half an hour but could not get it to work either. I don't have the best setup for it here but still... weird. Maybe its a maschine software exclusive. Very annoying. I already know that the device does not work when not connected to USB so there is no way to use it 'standalone' with a synth which is also a stupid limitation. :-(
@@TheQuestforGroove thanks so much for taking the time to investigate! It helped me decide to take it off my desk, and just use the MPD218. That thing double triggers like crazy though! I may just use the iPad Magic Keyboard for finger drumming 😜. I've been on a week long journey away from the Maschine (and not buying the Maschine+) to just iOS production. Hence wanting to use Maschine as a midi control. Made a video chronicling my journey and what I have ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--5ECl4N7dcI.html check it out if you can! Thanks for your videos 👍!
Thanks a lot for the information! I have a question. If load up AD2 in Logic Pro X and hook it up with Maschine MK3, can I use functions like patterns without Maschine Software? Maybe by assigning the small blocks on left side of MK3 to different tracks on Logic Pro X?
In midi mode the maschine mk3 doesnt do anything by itself in terms of patterns or note repeat or anything. But... every knkb and fader can be assigned to any midi note or midi cc, so if logic supports some sort of feature where you trigger tracks based on midi cc message, you should be able to do this with maschine in midi mode.
Hi Robert, great tutorials. Thanks for these. I have just setup Maschine with your pad layout but have not been able to show the pads in the right hand side window on hardware. Can you help with that. Thanks again.
Hmmm, i thought those were standard but maybe I actually set that up in the past and forgot about it. I'll check when I get home, but i think it might be one of those buttons in the upper left corner that zaps through the screens.
@@TheQuestforGroove I see controller information that changes every time I touch a different midi controller on Maschine. Example - Control: knob 5 (cc74) event : CH. 1 - CTRL Ch 74
In controller editor, have you turned on "show all labels" ? And what you can also do in controller editor, templates 》edit 》 new That should open a fresh screen. Then turn pad pages knob pages off And then you have to give every knob you touch a name. Their standard name is for example cc74 but you can change that name in controller editor.
In my free beginner course there's a written out guide for the Mikro. You do need to sign up for the course but it is 100% free: questforgroove.com/course/beginnercourse/device-specific-setup-guides/maschine-mikro-mk3/
@@TheQuestforGroove thank you for replying... Man .. the real issue I'm having is that most vst's use midi learn function which is pretty straight forward assigning pads that way... But I have some kontakt libraries that I want to trigger and kontakt doesn't use midi learn .. to midi map on it is so complex and hard and I have the atom but since you can't edit the pad note... Basically useless for that purpose... At least with a machine that has the ability to change pad note. Instead of going through kontakt to midi map I want to change the note of the pad to align with the sound I want to trigger...
Yeah that sucks. In most DAW you can use a midi note remapper. Lots of work. Basically transposing a C to a Eb and then for all the notes you need. I was looking into that but got a bit dizzy from all the numbers :-) Controllers that can change notes with no hassle and (sometimes) have good pads that I know of for sure: - Maschine mk3 big - Akai mpd218, 226, 232 - Korg pad kontrol So far the big maschine is the only reliable controller that does all of this. If you find a good white pad kontrol you might be happy as well and if you find a good mpd218 obviously too. But those are harder to find.
I'm looking for a similar video to set up a Mikro mk3. Is there one out there? I can't find it. I just want to use the Mikro mk3 as a midi controller in Logic to trigger Slate Drums or Toontrack sounds. I don't need it for anything else. I don;t need any of the sounds or performance stuff. I just want to use it as a midi controller. I can't get that working for some reason. It "just works" with my MPD218, but the Mikro isn't working for me yet.
You probably just want to enroll in my free beginner course on questforgroove.com There I have device specific setup guides, also for the mikro mk3. First log in and then go to: questforgroove.com/course/beginnercourse/device-specific-setup-guides/maschine-mikro-mk3/ and for more info on SSD check out this lesson after loggin in as well: questforgroove.com/course/beginnercourse/exceptional-situations/other-drum-software-besides-ad2/
Maybe just making drum maps in logic for all your instruments is a goof idea?? >> logicpro.skydocu.com/en/work-in-the-environment/environment-objects-reference/mapped-instrument-objects/mapped-instrument-window/
Great video. I am doing everything exactly the same and I cannot get MK3 to work. I'm even using AD2 in stand alone mode, same as you. I went onto the NI User group on fb and others are having the same issue. Do you know any troubleshooting to issue that can be fixed? Thanks
It take me about two days to figure it out how the controller works. Btw I'm working with IT staff so troubleshooting is a part of my job. Where have you stucked?
Hey james! As Vitriol is also saying: where do you get stuck? For example can you turn the maschine in midi mode? When midi mode is on, can you make something light up in addictive drums? So no sound necessarily but just so you see that the midi messages are being received? The most important thing to do when using addictive drums standalone is to enable the maschine in the settings of addictive drums. Is the maschine visible there? I'm sorry you're stuck, let's see if we can help!
Thanks for the replies. I get Maschine in midi mode and in Protools at the top on the instrument track it is seeing Maschine but Maschine is not triggering anything in AD. My little Akai keyboard is. Not sure about Maschine showing up in AD, maybe I’m missing a part.
If you use windows it might also just be a driver issue. protected-cdn-ec.native-instruments.com/um/maschine2/Maschine_MK3_501_PC.zip?CwyZzeKNH3aOfH9ffCam4P7DhfsUiV8ahPE8iqL9I2oLR02YsFyWrd8UERSe05iRhzZf_POY3rLroHiN2jOaiASFv_eI68Md_e7rgf9MznWR4i6dCZXH3ZsWMdy0KaabbZXC That's the maschine mk3 windows driver which might have to be reinstalled. In protools the maschine should be recognized as a midi input device. You should see it in a list somewhere. If it's nowhere to be seen and your keyboard is, that means the whole device is just not recognized as a midi standalone input device by the operating system.
@@jameslugo Have you tried to change midi mapping in AD? There is a midi learn button there. It will show you if midi messages reaching AD or not. If not try to disable any filtering of midi inputs or channels on the track with AD. I'm not a Protools user so I can't be more specific on that. Btw do you use Maschine software inside ProTools as a plug-in? Try to use AD VST only.
Yeah you can assign that one knob to do it actually! I think you can also use that touch slider for another cc controller. And you could also set each of the buttons on the left side of the pads for example to a fixed cc value. That way you can open or close your hihat in 5 increments by just pressing the right button.
Hi Robert, thanks for taking the time to explain this. I was just wondering (for the Mikro MK3), is there an option to allow two fingers to be on one pad simultaneously (and have the hit registered)? Right now I often have some notes muted when I do a drum roll (of sorts;) because one finger hasn't lifted from the pad when my other fingers lands on it, if you get what I mean. You mentioned 'polypressure' in your video, but I think that serves a different purpose.
Hey, I don't think this is possible with just settings on the device. You probably need to improve your hand technique in order to really make this work and sound smoothly. I think things might get a little better of you make sure aftertouch is turned off completely for each pad. You can do this in controller editor. For the rest you will need to work on this thing where you focus on lifting the non dominant hand when the dominant hand goes down. It's the best way to build speed and I did a video about this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W7m3d5RNEtA.html If you do this, the problem will be a lot less. I can play very fast notes on one pad by using this trick!
@@TheQuestforGroove Fair enough, practise makes perfect I guess. I noticed that putting my fingers straighter on the pads instead of angled it was already better. Thanks for your response!
You mean how to set it up for finger drumming with a pad controller? I would include a written tutorial (with some screenshots) in my beginner course if I can find a way to make it work.
I'm sure the answer is out there, but I've been reading all night and haven't found it lol. Does this all pretty much apply to the Mikro MK3 as well? I'm thinking about grabbing one, but can't find a definitive answer to whether I can use it as a normal finger drumming pad with Superior, EZdrummer etc.. I was ready to purchase the Mikro, but then read somewhere that it's apparently confined to the Native Instruments ecosystem, which is a huge deal breaker for me. That's a massive limitation, I'm just wondering if there's any truth to what I read?
Let me clear this up: yes! You can use the mikro in the same way as this video describes. The thing is, it used to be different. So in the first year of its release the mikro did not have controller editor support but now it does :-) Its a great value for money device now. Most people who buy it are very happy and the few times someone got a 'broken one , a replacement unit would always fix it. So... yeah can still recommend this as a great buy. The only other unit to look into would be Nektar Aura which is also a good device but because its very customizable its more likely to mess it up than to make it sound good :-) I will do a guide about that next week. For $250 the mikro is the only device in its class though.
I recommend the micro to most people who mainly want to play and drum on the pads. The difference with the big mk3 is small and its a lot cheaper. Only reason to get the big mk3 at this point is workflow with two screens. Otherwise get the micro!
Partially. The midi learn will work. But right now controller editor does not work. Apparently NI will release new firmware that will be compatible with controller editor so I've heard. So maybe In the near future all of this will be possible with the mikro!
hey, i realise this might be late but i was wondering, if you use maschine as midi controller can you still use its basic functions such as the chords and step sequencer?
No when set in midi mode it just sends out midi notes and CC signals. You might be able to program something in the software and then trigger it via midi with one of the knobs or buttons. But the functionality is not there anymore. That's Maschine software.
@@TheQuestforGroove and one more question if you dont mind, if you have a note on toggle-mode in pad page 1 and turn it on then switch to pad page 2 will the toggle from page 1 keep activated? (in midi mode)
@@TheQuestforGroove found the answer on another channel already but htanks for getting back to me, and it does keep track so i decided to get one myself and loving it so far!
Leave all your questions and cpomments below. I'm here to help! Free courses on questforgroove.com and I also have a PATREON ★❤♫ www.patreon.com/thequestforgroove with awesome rewards!
Well, not 100% that, but my beginner course on questforgroove.com explains the concepts behind setting up your pad controller, including the mpd218. With logic you might want to open up the mpd218 editor and change every pad note to the right note that corresponds with the sounds in the drum machine. With addictive drums 2 things are much more simple actually.
I can make all the changes in the Controller Editor Software and the change appear on my mk3. But the pads don't register in the software when I touch them.
In addictive drums standalone there are audio settings. Access them by pressing the button on the left top somewhere. You need to enable the maschine over there before the pads will register.
Not really, I personally like the workflow more and find it easier to get the sounds I want with Addictive Drums but other people might disagree. The only thing (at least with EZ drummer 2) is that Addictive drums has a better midi learn mode to quickly assign sounds to pads. With EZ drummer this was always more complicated. Don't know about version 3 though.
@@TheQuestforGroove I put it in place for my drum vst but ... 😂 I still don’t know how to change the pads placement using a kit of maschine 2 For example invert the kick on pad 1 with the snare on pas 3 😭
I see... well to tell you the truth, I never use the maschine that way so I'm a little embarrassed but I have no idea how to do that either :-) seems to me that its pretty standard behavior though, so there should be a beginner guide out there somewhere.
No not at all. It depends on what workflow you enjoy using. The easiest workflow for finger drumming with realistic sounding acoustic drumkits is to set maschine in midi mode and then fire up addictive drums 2. So that's why this tutorial exists. I personally do not use maschine software but I think the pads of the maschine are amongst one of the best. :-)
@@TheQuestforGroove Can you not use AD2 as a plugin inside of Maschine software? Does it somehow affect playability or pad sensitivity? (Just wondering as a Push 2 user considering a switch)
@@abuwabu yes you can actually. I dont like working with maschine as I'm used to my own daw hut if you want theres a way to get addictive drums to work within maschine. You have to load the plugin onto one pad and then route the other pads to that pad. It's a bit complicated actually. Should do a video about it :-)
@@TheQuestforGroove If you’re in Maschine with some drum software loaded on a “sound” within a group, you can just select “keys” mode to play all the pads, right?
I don't understand what some of your AD2 choices are... For example: What are "Low Tom", "Mid Tom", or "High Tom"? These options aren't being presented to me in addictive drums.
Please check out this lesson I made for my free finger drumming beginner course. I made it accessible without login so you can quickly check it out >> questforgroove.com/course/beginnercourse/basic-setup/pad-layout/
@@TheQuestforGroove super AWESOME, Thank you! Out of curiosity, because I'd love to implement ALL of your settings as a foundational "base point" and I would ABSOLUTELY set up all of the knobs scenes, and everything myself... and I'm sure others would too. But 1) it is too hard to see the screen & 2) it'd probably require unnecessary work for you. So, what I'm wondering is whether you would share files to your community for your Machine MK3 profile and other devices for other people? This way, we can read what's on the screens and map them ourselves from AD2 or other software people may use? I'm so grateful for your lessons so far. Last night I learned how to map CCs thanks to you, and I now see how useful it will be for many things in the future.
@@TheQuestforGroove Dude, that's so funny! I just checked youtube comments in case you responded, but I was just sitting down to find the video about the metronome app so that I can see how it works, so I can buy it next week. Thank you for EVERYTHING that you do for us! I wish you a successful 2023!!!
Also, if you got a brand new maschine, fresh out of the box, you will need to download and run maschine software once to activate the device and possibly update firmware. Before that it's a "brick" that doesn't seem to be able to do anything. After that, shift + channel should work. All for the big maschine mk3. For the mikro mk3 its shift + maschine logo and for older machines (mk1, mk2, studio) it might be another combination of buttons. Gotta look that up for you in case you dont own a mk3 device
@@TheQuestforGroove It's the MK3. When I hit Shift + Channel/MIDI, it just sits there. Nothing changes. The pads don't light up, the menus don't change. Nada.
Sure I can! It's all about the sound and the type of playing. Maschine software seems to be tailored towards loop and sample based content. If you want a realistic sounding drumkit, a program like Addictive drums does a way better and more realistic job. So, for a more acoustic 'real' sound, this is an easier way to go!
The Quest for Groove Thank you for your quick answer. Much appreciated. I'll give this method a try then and see how it goes for practicing. Ultimately though, I will want to be playing in Maschine or Ableton for making beats and combining melodies etc... So you've tried and have you not been able to get a very realistic drum kit sound out of Maschine software?
That's correct. It might he possible but for example the realistic software instruments do things like playing a different sample for different velocities. Not just making the same sample softer. So a soft hit is actually a soft hit as played by a drummer. Another thing is round robin. Which means that they also have multiple samples for the same velocity. So if I hit a snare 3 times in addictive drums with the same velocity, the hits will not all be using the exact same sample which also greatly improves realism.
No in midi mode the maschine software doesn't work. What basically happens is if you have the device in midi mode and you start machine software the device will automatically switch to normal maschine mode.
I must say with the latest firmware update the Maschine mikro mk3 is my top recommendation for finger drumming. The pads are great and you can configure all the midi stuff nicely. The only problem is that you do need to install and run maschine software at least once in order for the device to start working. So that's a problem buying these things second hand. No software license = bricked device.
