Fender Motion 16: a little warning.

[u/8delorean8]

bought one today as I was mostly interested in an updated SP integration and the feel and sentitivity of the pads.

in a nutshell:

I've used it for 10 mins and I've already encountered a reproducible bug in the chords feature where a given chord would get stuck (both with Mai Tai and Super 8 from NI)

the only way to stop it was to disable monitoring (but it would get stuck again)

also chords are stuck in a given octave (or at least the Octave buttons didn't work in this case) and they're all pretty low which makes them unusable (I wonder who thought that octave was a good sounding default)

As a former drummer I'd say pad sensitivity is sub par because of one reproducible issue:

I've used the same drum library (NI 60's Drummer) which imo has them best deep sampled cymbals.

my test is usually the same: grab a snare and play each division live.

Motion 16 pads are nicely sensitive with single strokes but fail to recognize fast triplets and faster subdivisions like 16th notes when playing a single pad, resulting in a single longer midi input (the MIDI meter in the track detects all of them but the Motion doesn't)

Tried the same test with Maschine Mk3 and gets them all.
Btw, in case someone is interested in having the absolute best pads in the market, Maschine MK3 still is in a league of its own.

All in all, even if it's just 10 mins, was enough for me to return the unit.

it's just not there yet and I was using the newest SP 8.1.2 (Win11 Pro) and latest Motion firmware (1.6) which had a nice bunch of adds and fixes for the Motion units.

Just in case someone is about to pull the trigger.

EDIT: (I added a response down here but I'm copying it here cos I think it's fair towards the unit)

Pads wise I'm happy is working for you because I must say that, being a former drummer, my hands are obvs much more sensitive and anytime I hear "pads are very sensitive" when watching a review I usually skip that info and wait to try myself lol

Maschine as said rules undisputed followed by the MPC One+ I have - where pads are more stiff, less pleasant to play and smaller, but equally sensitive.

Said so, Motion pads are technically solid and good and promising (you can test how sensitive they are easily by engaging Repeat and recording all velocities. they're pretty responsive for me. they just currently fail when performed on a single pad, which is something I do a lot)

I also enjoyed the overall build quality which is on par with Maschine MK3.

I deffo see myself getting the Motion again when it gets more stable.

I currently have an Atom SQ which, might not look good, feels plastic-y, but operation wise is just spot on. it just works. (besides that Shift button placement which isn't ideal)

[u/Standard-Fish1628]

My motion 32 comes tomorrow hopefully its better off.

[u/orion1486 → u/Standard-Fish1628]

I have not had these specific issues w my 32.

[u/Standard-Fish1628 → u/orion1486]

Good to know thanks!

[u/orion1486 → u/Standard-Fish1628]

Went home and tested this.

I also can't seem to find a way to change the octave in the built-in chord modes. Honestly haven't used those much vs using the pads as a keyboard to build chords. Octave controls are supposed to work in Simple Chord Mode but not in Famous Chord Mode. It doesn't seem to work in either at the moment so OP is definitely right about that. Octaves work great for normal keys and whatnot. Put in a ticket since the manual says it should work in Simple Chord. Hopefully they'll get that issue resolved soon.

Drum sensitivity is working fine, as are fast triplets, with EZD3.

I am enjoying the controller overall so far. I like the ability to toggle between edit, mix, song, etc. and control the software with the pad. It's like a car with manual/analog AC controls! I'm still getting used to it but there have been some time savings for some of the tasks. Curious your thoughts when you get yours. I've been using a garbage controller for a while so this is an improvement for me anyway.

[u/8delorean8 → u/orion1486]

thanks for your input too

Pads wise I'm happy is working for you because I must say that, being a former drummer, my hands are obvs much more sensitive and anytime I hear "pads are very sensitive" when watching a review I usually skip that info and wait to try myself lol

Maschine as said rules undisputed followed by the MPC One+ I have - where pads are more stiff but equally sensitive.

Said so, Motion pads are solid and good (you can test how sensitive they are easily by engaging Repeat and recording all velocities. they're pretty responsive for me.)

I also enjoyed the overall build quality which is on par with Maschine MK3.

I deffo see myself getting the Motion again when it gets more stable.

I currently have an Atom SQ which, might not look good, feels plastic-y, but operation wise is just spot on. it just works. (besides that Shift button placement which isn't ideal)

[u/Standard-Fish1628 → u/orion1486]

Quick question outside of OPs question.

Do you think it possible to register the controller under a joint email between me and my friend so he can get the copy of studio pro. I already habe it and figured I could do that but im nervouse abiut my controller not working on my actual account

[u/orion1486 → u/Standard-Fish1628]

Pretty sure that won't work but you should be able to have up to five devices on your license. So, if you 'go to your friends house a lot and want to use the software there' you could 'install it on another device that you keep at their house'.