Agree with others that the Push is good; I have a Push 2 that I love. It's great for chords and melodies because the layout is massive (8x8). However, it's somewhat expensive (the 2, anyway) and the pads themselves could be better in terms of expressiveness/sensitivity. Also, it's only worth getting a Push if you have Ableton; as a controller for Ableton it really shines.
If you want really expressive pads, which foster dynamics and also allow you to do things like finger drumming (I really recommend questforgroove.com if that sounds interesting to you), the best pad controllers are the ones in the Maschine line-up, by Native Instruments. I have an MK3 but the more basic versions are also apparently very good. The layout is much smaller (4x4) but the pads are massive and super sensitive, they are a joy to play.
A lot of people also use Launch pads by Novation, I don't know much about them, but they are quite popular and they are, I believe, on the cheaper side. https://novationmusic.com/en/launch
Rumour has it that a Push 3 is not too far away, so keep that in mind when considering the Push lineup from Ableton.
> Also, it's only worth getting a Push if you have Ableton; as a controller for Ableton it really shines.
Quick addendum here: I've got a Push 1 that I cribbed for $150 on Ebay a few years ago (a steal at the time!) and absolutely loved my time with it/Ableton Live. When I switched my machines over to Linux though, Ableton didn't follow, so instead I picked up Bitwig and tried using that as a drop-in replacement.
Now, Bitwig is a pretty dang good DAW (I could write an entire essay's worth on why I love it), but what really knocked my socks off was DrivenByMoss' extentions[0]: this guy wrote an impressively expansive Bitwig plugin that lets you use the Push as something other than a generic MIDI controller. What's more is that I think I actually prefer the DrivenByMoss workflow to Ableton's. Partially because of Bitwig's modularity and partially because of the degree of control on display, you can do some outright stupid stuff with Bitwig+Push that isn't really possible on Live. It really is some of the most fun I've ever had making music.
Very cool! I didn’t know about that. I have been hearing a lot of positive stuff about Bitwig in the electronic music community. Personally I have invested too much time (and money) to switch from Ableton, but if I were starting now, I’d definitely consider it.
Ableton Push is absolutely fantastic - the original v1 device is pretty inexpensive as a used purchase, and it's still masses of fun. Very well built as well
Seconding this - the push was amazing for me without a big music background, as chord exploration became shape based, instead of needing piano knowledge.
Actually, just the NORNS itself is going to get you booted up with some ridiculously fantastic music theory, especially if you're the kind that reads the source ..
It requires Ableton (there might be unofficial integrations with other DAWs). I have an Akai Force which is completely standalone, not even a computer needed. But I'd honestly recommend Ableton+Push unless someone really needs it to be standalone.
