Juggling parts and samples.

Idea: One of the 16 parts/zones can be used to trigger the pad samples (regardless of the pad mode). This is a setting per studio set (Pad Part Select) which is by default turned off. It would allow you to select the part for the pad samples, trigger them, and then select the part for the actual sound.

It will probably not work well. One reason is that the pad samples become velocity sensitive when mapped to a part (which is usually not desirable for samples that are played as intro to a song). IIRC, it will also gate the sample, meaning that the keys need to remain depressed until the end of the sample.

Thanks @xp30 that actually seems worth exploring. First case in mind is a sample before the tune, so not much interleaving.

I also frequently need to switch between pad modes when playing live.
It takes several button presses if you follow the normal instructions in the Reference Guide:

• Press the PAD UTILITY button
• Press the PAD MODE button
• Press the actual PAD whose mode you want to use (1-8 or 16)

3 button presses where you also need to move your hand from the pad region to the screen and back

But there is a quicker way:

• Press and HOLD the PAD UTILITY button
• Press the actual PAD whose mode you want to use (1-8, or 16)

2 button presses and no hand moving between the pad region and the screen region. Way faster.

Obviously, you need to memorize the PAD modes and their corresponding pad but that becomes part of the muscle memory.

If you have a separate MIDI controller connected (keyboard or pad controller), you can just sent the corresponding MIDI note on the MIDI channel set by PAD PART SELECT (by default set to 16) by playing a key on that controller. Depending on the type of controller, you can sent a note with fixed velocity using a button or dynamic velocity using a key.
In this case it doesn't even matter which PAD mode is selected and allows you to use another PAD mode than mode 1 (samples) and still being able to trigger samples at the same time.

Also have a look at KEYBOARD SWITCH GROUPS as this gives you an easy and fast way to activate/deactivate several zones at once. For live performance this is a very handy feature.

Thanks Mercurion, sounds very promising! :)