A couple of weeks ago Presonus announced a new controller called ATOM SQ, and I was intrigued by its offset dual row design. Most multifunction grid pad controllers let you play piano keyboard style layouts, but I always find the location of the “black keys” confusing when they’re directly above some of the pads as opposed to between them, like black keys on a piano.

ATOM SQ also integrates nicely with Ableton Live as well as with Presonus’s own DAW, Studio One.

Having two full rows of these opens up quite a few possibilities, as I explore in this video:

TIMELINE:

0:00 Intro

0:20 The offset pads

1:00 Overview

5:20 Connectivity

6:10 Arpeggiator

8:05 MIDI features

10:55 Ableton Live

12:05 Session control

13:15 Overall control

14:00 Device control

15:35 Custom control

16:00 Studio One

17:00 Device control

18:35 Sequencer

19:55 Pros & cons