Description
Product Description
Music creation made fun, fast, and easy; ATOM SQ is all about creating a groove while in the groove. Just set up a couple of loop points and bang out your beats and melodies on the fly, without getting bogged down in kludgy menu dives, setup, or configuration. A staggered 16-pad layout ensures that both keyboard players and drum programmers will be right at home, and the pads’ pressure sensitivity allows for truly expressive performances. Make ATOM SQ your own—the eight assignable rotary encoders can be mapped to control nearly whatever you like, and RGB LEDs in the pads make for gorgeous, intuitive color-coordination of your samples and loops. Studio One Artist and Ableton Live Lite are included, so you’ll be making beats on day one—and its bus-powered, portable design means you can create nearly anywhere. Keyboards and mice are for spreadsheets and flowcharts. Get an ATOM SQ and sculpt your music by hand.
From the Manufacturer
Quick, easy, and fun hands-on beat and melody creation; staggered pad layout is familiar and intuitive to both keyboard players and step sequencer fans; touch strip can be assigned to control nearly any parameter from filter cutoff to pan; pressure-sensitive pads support polyphonic aftertouch; context-sensitive LCD screen provides easy feedback for common functions; eight assignable rotary encoders let you control anything from tuning to filter cutoff; navigation and transport controls; onboard arpeggiator; Constrain to Scale feature ensures no more wrong notes; includes Ableton Live Lite, Studio One Artist, two loop packs and custom kits for Impact XT.
From the manufacturer
ATOM SQ
Get to steppin’
Modern musicians, performers, and producers need to move quickly from programming drums and samples to playing synth lines and back again. ATOM SQ was designed as a versatile and expressive MIDI pad controller for contemporary music production. Its unique design is optimized for both classic TR-style 16-step beat sequencing and drum pattern editing in Studio One or playing instruments and launching clips in Ableton Live—yet its staggered and RGB-lit 32-pad configuration is instantly familiar to anyone who’s played a controller keyboard. Advanced features let you change the keyboard scale, and a built-in arpeggiator and user-configurable touch strip make the ATOM SQ the most expressive controller you’ll ever use. In fact, it’s the best PreSonus Studio One MIDI controller available.
Features
|
|
|
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
Control for the best step sequencer at your fingertipsDeep integration with Studio One’s Pattern Editor allows for evolving step sequences that will bring your productions to life. Insert a pattern, change its length, add new variations, and change scales—right from the ATOM SQ. Need to make changes on the fly? ATOM SQ lets you open the Studio One Pattern Editor, select and edit steps individually, and even copy, paste, duplicate, and delete events, all using tactile controls. You’ll build compositions faster than ever before using the built-in step sequencer in Studio One and ATOM SQ. It’s fast and easy for anyone who knows how to program a drum machine. And you’ll find experimenting to yield particularly rewarding results, because ATOM SQ can constrain your performance to the scale of your choice. No more wrong notes! |
A complete production toolkitIncluded with ATOM SQ, Studio One Artist music production software enables you to compose, record, and produce without getting distracted by the tools or hemmed in with track limitations. Easy to learn and intuitive to use, Studio One’s unique drag and drop workflow and powerful tools will let you produce faster than ever before. Also included are two carefully-curated loop libraries with custom Impact XT kits. New to version 5: Studio One Artist now lets you use your favorite third-party VST and AU plug-in effects and virtual instruments. You also now have complete support for Studio One Remote to use as a second screen or as remote Studio One control on your iPad or Android tablet. And with ATOM SQ, you have the most flexible PreSonus Studio One MIDI controller available. |
Navigation and transport controlATOM SQ is more than an expressive pad controller—it also lets you navigate many aspects of Studio One without a mouse and keyboard. You’ve got transport controls for stop, play, record, and a dedicated Click Track toggle. You can even zoom in and out of your timeline and navigate among your tracks, all without skipping a beat. |
Wherever sound takes you…With its unique staggered-pad layout, contextual screen design, and customization tools, ATOM SQ lets you stay in the moment of creation. Its small-footprint, USB bus-powered design means you can slip it right into your bag and produce anywhere you and your laptop might happen to go, and the complete suite of integrated software lets you start creating right out of the box. Whether you’re in the studio, on stage, or on the road, ATOM SQ gives you the freedom to create, wherever sound takes you. |
Ableton Live integration and more
ATOM SQ is also a unique Ableton Live controller, designed for production and live performance. You can launch clips and scenes during a performance, select devices and edit parameters, navigate tracks and scenes, control each track’s volume, panning, and send levels—plus do all your drum programming in Ableton from the ATOM SQ! Ableton Live Lite is included, so you can get to creating right away. It comes with all of Live’s essential workflows, instruments and effects—everything you need to record songs, create hands-on with your controller, take music made in your apps further and so much more.
However, wherever.
ATOM SQ is highly configurable. You can freely remap instrument parameters to different hardware controls, so your rotary encoders can control everything from filter cutoff to drum tuning, for the ultimate drum programming experience. You can colorize the RGB LEDs as you please to color-code your loops and samples. ATOM SQ’s LCD screen is used to display context-sensitive information, and uses a dynamic button system that changes functions depending on the task at hand. Need to add more swing to your arpeggiator or change the CC assignment of a controller? The LCD screen details functions you need, right when you need them for the job at hand.
Bradly Davis –
Nice sounds.I’m still learning the Atom but it’s going to help me build my songs.
Ray C. –
Not the easiest to learn….I’ll keep it short and sweet. I have been creating and playing music for almost 30 years as a hobby, so I’m pretty knowledgeable. All self taught, and above your average folk.This is a great piece of equipment; beats all the other options out there. I’ve done my research as well as tested a few others. The pads on here are by far the best, especially at this price range.Any review complaining about pads or anything else about this machine is pure incompetence and user error. The only thing bad about this machine is the time is takes to learn how to master ALL of its functions. If you have the time and motivation, then this is it.There is nothing wrong with these pads or machine. The pressure sensitive is great. Anyone who has an issue would know to add a “max velocity” midi effect in their DAW and problem solved. I myself do that personally as I want my drums kicking. Any house / EDM stuff you want to create, you should turn that off as for some intros, you want that pressure pad / build up.The biggest issue I have is THE LEARNING CURVE. I still don’t know half of this thing. There is a manual that’s easily accessible, but still, it’s not that straight forward at times.Like I said, I’m above average by far, so some experts might look at me and say user error, and that’s fine. For your average to above average user, it’s a bit complicated to get started. Like I said the user manual lays everything out.I use Ableton, so for that, it’s pretty simple. Plus and play. For a plug in like Get Good Drums, it wasn’t so easy. You need to map everything in GGD / Kontackt before the unit will know what’s going on.I’m assuming if you plan on using Studio One, it’ll be easy easier as this goes hand in hand, and was built for the integration.All in all, I’d like to give this 4 stars, but to get going was really frustrating, so as of now I’m sticking with the mid 3.Like I said, for this money, and what this can do, it is the best choice out there.
Sears Poncho –
Presonus has their act togetherGreat product. Integrated with Studio One, easy to use. I like the simple transport controls. Does one actually need this? It depends. I think it’s going to spark creativity in the right hands. Well built, great job Presonus.
Mr. Smith –
It has flaws – way too many for the price pointI really was hopeful that this would work as well as I had in seen online reviews. I had already had issues with another piece of PreSonus equipment that was full of issues. I was not so lucky, and this was the 2nd time I have had to return a piece of equipment by this company. I had this one less than a week before it started acting up and used in no more than an hour of two. The first big challenge I had with it was just getting it to work as it should…. It was a lot of research on the process and two parts needed to be done that the company does not explain at all – I found the information on forms. But you have to set up the inputs properly – its not plug and play and to get the keyboard to activate you need to make sure that you have monitor on. Once I get that under control – I got to work with it on a couple of beats – on day three it would start triggering pads without me touching them and the only way to shut it down was to turn off the unit or turn off monitoring, but that would only last a few notes before triggering again. I considered getting another one and giving it a shot – but there are a few other options I can try. It’s a really pity because I love their DAW and was thinking that their instruments would be as great.
Eric Livers –
Good Product!! But for the money I spend on it, it should be handled rightI Love the product, but the mailwoman just threw it over my fence. No? Bringing it to the front door. But, over the fence. And I watch them do it!! Like wow!! REALLYLiterally
Lee (LASAXmusic) –
Initial review. Using this with Cubase 10 ArtistI just unboxed my new ATOM today after work, and it is currently downloading all of the optional\recommended content. I did the firmware update immediately, as strongly recommended. After installing the Windows driver, I powered up my Cubase. My primary intention at the time of purchase was simply to use this as a pad controller, primarily for use with drum sounds using Groove Agent 5. I haven’t dived into any advanced features of the ATOM itself, or played much with the included Studio One (though I did install it, and plan to test it more once I’ve downloaded all of the goodies). It does seem to function just fine as a simple MIDI pad controller. The 4×4 pads on the ATOM match perfectly with the 4×4 pads on the Groove Agent’s VST kits, and playing from the pads is much more fun than using the keyboard. I used a lot of old school drum machines in the past (Like the Alesis SR-16 & DR Rhythm DR770). What I wanted was the feel of using an old hardware drum machine when creating my beats. Thus far, it seems to be money well spent.I am curious to see (once the additional content is downloaded) if I can use that sound content within Cubase as VST sounds\instruments. If so, I will consider this the bargain buy of the decade for my music equipment collection.I was initially cautious about purchasing this product because I’ve been able to find virtually NO information online or reviews from customers using anything other than the Studio One software with the device. That worried me, as there is virtually no chance that I’d replace my Cubase with Studio One as my primary DAW. First & foremost, I was interested in using the hardware at a very basic level of functionality, primarily for Groove Agent. That seems to work for me without any problems at all.Stay tuned for a more in-depth review once I’ve gotten under the skin of this machine a bit more.
William H Weber –
YOO THIS IS DOPESo I’ve used the novation launch pad (never liked the smaller pads) and the quneo (CONFUSING AF to even get basic functionality out of, and the tiny 4 corner type pads really never did it for me…. I did a bunch of research, watching youtube reviews and combing through reviews. Originally I was stuck between the Maschine and the Ableton Push— but really all I need is some nice playable pads to trigger drum racks with and perhaps program the occassional midi pattern. Well I’ve only had this one day but I LOVE the feeling of playing on the pads, and I love how simple this is to integrate into my ableton workflow. Will I use the mappings for controlling volume and stuff? For sure not. Will I use the knobs to control instrument rack macro knobs? YOU BET. The knobs feel GREAT. They remind me of the Microkorg knobs, like there is the right amount of resistance so turning the knob feels very physical, without actually being difficult. Much prefer these to the Akai-MPK 49 knobs as well. TBH I’ve always bought midi gear in the past and just never end up using it because it doesn’t “feel right” but everything about this product feels right on a physical level, and integrates with ableton just how I need it to on a mental level. So ummmm yea if your needs are kinda similar to mine I wouldn’t think twice about buying this over the maschine or push.
MR –
Poor design overallFirst off, if you don’t use Studio One (presonus’ DAW) don’t even bother looking at this unit. While it claims to be “programmable’, it will give you extremely limited mapping to anything other than S1. Quality is poor, very poor. I’ve been through 3 of these in 3 months. The first had a hardware knob that didn’t work, the second wouldn’t connect due to a fault USB port, the third was OK for awhile and now has multiple pads getting stuck.While the concept is good, as it has a lot of possibilities to be used as a KB a controller a mixer and other things, the execution is pathetically poor, much like Presonus’ other products. Documentation is atrocious, and intuitive function is simply non-existent. This thing is hard to learn, hard to customize and even once you’ve done (or think) you’ve done all that, it’s just a cumbersome and quirky thing to try and be precise with. Nothing ever works quite as it’s supposed to. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that the “velocity sensitive” pads are absolutely good for nothing. Whether it’s drums, or keys, or any instrument, you always have to set the pads to full velocity to accomplish anything.There’s plenty of other MIDI controllers on the market, do yourself a favor and shop around – most are better than this one.
federico –
Great Hardware , bad software versionThe product has a supreme quality , it is very well finished and doesnt feel cheap at all, it is very sturdy. It includes Ableton live lite 10 , although at fist it can be very intimidating the way the Atom is used in Ableton , it pairs really well with it when playing live, not so much when arranging music. The volume control nobs I found the most usefull for controlling the volume of each channel , extremely usefull feature. The reason I dident give a 5 star review its because of the Studio One 4 version. It has no support for third party plugins , the DAW itself its magnificient , but I havent used it once , the fact that I cant use my plugin library with it makes it completely useless in my opinion. The Studio One version comes with 3 or 4 instruments and thats it , you are stuck with those unless you pay to upgrade the version. It is worth noting the Ableton version the Atom comes with , does support third party vsts. Allow third party plugins in Studio One 4 version and you get 5 stars
Tyrone Williams –
I Like The ATOM!The PreSonus ATOM is the first MIDI pad controller I’ve ever used and it took me a few YouTube tutorials and 3 days to get through the learning curve but once I did, I found the ATOM to be relatively EASY to use! With it, I can turn an idea to a full song QUICKLY and arrange and edit on the fly. I like that it’s fully integrated with Studio One 4. Just download the software and link up with the Universal Controller (found at the PreSonus website) and you’re done. The pads are multi-functional and assignable – I can create my own template. The touch response is great and the colors are bright. I find the functions quite user-friendly. From the unit I can open a track, assign an instrument, record it, loop it, set the tempo, duplicate or delete it, quantize it and more – all without touching the mouse! I really like that I can use my M-Audio Oxygen 25 keyboard with it too. It’s compatible! Once I learned the ATOM, it quickly became my new sidekick in the studio.This also comes with Studio One 4 Artist (which I use) and LOTS of high-quality kits and samples by MVP Loops.I highly recommend getting the ATOM/Studio One 4/Interface/Mic bundle.