With no shortage of pad controllers to choose from, the producing artist’s’ needs extend beyond the raft of basic beat-bashers with a free lightshow. We take a look at one that promises more in PreSonus’ ATOM SQ.

In Summary

Offering hands-on step sequencing for drum parts, chromatic keypad for basses and melodies, as well as VI, DAW control and more, ATOM SQ provides a single hardware hub for producing artists with high expectations of what their controller should do.

Going Deeper

Where It All Began

When it comes to music production tools, it could be said that the modern producing artist is living through something of a golden age, enjoying tools with roots in both software and hardware instrument traditions. Tapping into a rich seam of classic hardware instrument design that drove the electronic music revolutions of the 1980’s and 1990’s, many virtual instruments owe much to the legendary machines and synths that went before them. Their simplicity in use was often matched with enormous sounds, before the virtual instrument stepped forward. These aim to expand old-school charm with huge libraries and exotic additions such as the ability to follow MIDI sequencing in the computer!

Drawing On VIs

While the power of the VI is there for all to see, users of earlier offerings had to contend with limited programming and playing possibilities. Using a computer can feel more like doing the accounts than making music but the humble MIDI keyboard controller has for decades offered a more musical interface, but these have taken time to improve beyond much more than a piano-shaped mouse. Drum pad controllers have more recently provided for beatmakers who had run out of spare C1 and D1 keys for their beleaguered keyboard controller… More recent products have set out to bring both elements into a more elegant solution that sits in one box.

PreSonus ATOM SQ

Hoping to distil the features of a handful of boxes into one integrated controller is PreSonus’ ATOM SQ. At first glance, its top panel uses the visual language from a variety of devices, taking in ‘808, synth, and DAW controller alike. This is deliberate as that’s exactly what can be achieved on this thing, with step sequencing and finger-drumming, as well as synth performance and DAW navigation and transport all on the menu.

ATOM SQ Features:

• Expressive MIDI pad controller for contemporary music production.

• Staggered configuration, 32 RGB-lit pads for drums and synth performance.

• TR-style, 16-step beat sequencing and drum-pattern editing in Studio One.

• Instrument performance and clips launch in Ableton Live.

• Configurable keyboard scale, built-in arpeggiator, and user-configurable touch strip.

• Studio One DAW control includes transport plus Click Track toggle. Zoom Timeline and navigate tracks.

• Natively compatible with Apple Silicon-based Mac computers, as well as iOS and iPadOS devices, including iPad Pro, iPad, iPad Air, iPad Mini, iPod Touch, and iPhone.

• Complete support for Studio One Remote for iPad or Android tablets as a second screen or remote Studio One controller.

One Controller, Many Hats

Studio controllers can land in many forms, with DAW operation and navigation, or musical performance both on the menu. This last subset of devices began with the ubiquitous keyboard controller for synth warriors and ‘serious’ key-dwellers alike. Since then it has again morphed into things with drum pads, or even gesture-like surfaces for totally haptic music making; any device that can lay claim to all of these has big boots to fill.

At first glance ATOM SQ’s many functions aren’t portrayed by its clean lines and comparatively few controls. However thanks to its clear display and soft-controls, navigating everything on offer is quick, and doesn’t take long to get used to. Taking in a range of uses and functions, ATOM SQ takes on several boxes in a refreshing rethink of what a studio controller should be. Perhaps most importantly, it offers a compact footprint for smaller studios plus the magic ingredient: fun!

A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.