Akai Professional MPD218 - USB MIDI Controller with 16 MPC Drum Pads, 6 Assignable Knobs, Note Repeat and Full Level Buttons and Production Software

I'll start off by saying that I'm a performing musician (woodwind and brass instruments) as well as a composer and arranger who works with music notation software. I bought this hoping it would help me in writing percussion parts. I have returned it. Having said that, however, I am very impressed with what it can do and recommend it for people who work mainly with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software. As a MIDI controller it has amazing capabilities and can work to control other MIDI devices such as synthesizers, modules, lighting and much much more. All of which make it a great tool for performers who work mainly in the rock/pop/rap/hip-hop/ska fields. It's compact, it responds nicely. The sensitivity of the pads can be adjusted only on a global scale, so either all the pads are very sensitive or not very sensitive according to how it's adjusted. I didn't use it enough to see how accurate the reviews which mention accidental double-strikes or accidentally triggering pads which aren't the ones being struck are, but I can imagine that if the sensitivity is set so that very little pressure is needed it would be possible to get responses from pads which aren't the ones being struck. The user should (as with all musical gear) spend a lot of time practicing with this device before trying to perform live with it. The price is a lot lower than many other drum pads so this is ideal for people just beginning to investigate the use of this sort of device. The sounds which come with it and the software that can be installed with it will be great for some but they left me less than impressed. But that didn't bother me and shouldn't bother anybody else because most people who will be using this will have their own preferred sound libraries to be working with. What this is NOT -- this is NOT a replacement for an electronic drum set. This is NOT an inexpensive device for learning to play the drums. What this IS -- it is a MIDI controller with which a person can create beats, with which a person can control other devices.

God this thing is so confusing and the program that it comes with isn't any easier. It ain't beginner friendly unless you got alot of time on your hands not suitable for fast sample style beats. Great machine non the less for the experience professional.

I have upgraded from the MPK Mini mk3. Wow... what an evolution. I'm using them in conjunction now

This is a solid and useful piece of gear. Feet have a nice grip. Knobs and pads feel good. Size is perfect. My only real complaint is with the programability. The program editor and innate design holds back a lot of customization. I was using a NI Maschine and that could be setup to do just about anything, regardless if the controls are for buttons, pads, or knobs. AKAI's customization is very limited in its scope. For example, I would love to be able to have half the pads trigger keys and others control MIDI CC, but you can only choose one or the other. The worst, thing, I think, is the fact that the LPD8 can only store 4 presets. Really? I also have the AKAI MPK Mini Play Mk3 (which I love to death) and that can store 8 presets, one for each pad! Come on...the LPD8 has the same number of pads and so it COULD trigger 8 unique presets like the MPK Mini Play, if the software allowed it. Speaking of software, contrary to other reviews, I have had no issues using the LPD8 or the Program Editor app with my Mac mini, running Sonoma 14.2. Just make sure you're using the Program Editor for the mk2 version of the controller, if you bought the new model. On a side note, I bought my LPD8 from Amazon Warehouse. No obvious signs of previous use, so it was essentially brand new. However, it didn't come with the original box, or any box, if I remember correctly. Just the tray that the LPD8 sits in, along with the USB cable and paper literature. All this wrapped in plastic. No issues, though, since this was part of a larger box with other items. Overall, I am happy. I can work around my gripes. The ability to assign custom colors to the pads is pretty nice.

EDIT 7/14/2019: *There is 3/8" black cloth "pickup coil tape" on Stewmac.com. I use this for guitar work, so I had some on hand, but it just so happens it's the perfect width for this job. I also recommend the Double Stick tape, also available on Stewmac, and using this on the bottom of the black cloth tape. This ensures good adhesion to your rubber MPC pads. The black cloth tape seems to be more consistent than traditional electrical tape, and is easier to work with. Simply cut it into one inch strips and layer them together as needed, with double stick tape on the bottom. *I'm using 2 strips for most pads. Add more and see if you like the feel or not. Adjust accordingly. *I've found that setting these up is a balancing act. Every single screw makes a difference: installed/not installed, and how tightly installed, both on the circuit board itself and the red shell/cover that fits over the device. As for the tape: more tape can actually reduce the velocity range/sensitivity, which can be a good thing. Hyper-active pads that are triggering with too much velocity compared to the others may benefit from extra tape, not less. Balancing act. *Currently I'm using no screws on the circuit board at all. On the hard red plastic cover, I'm using only the 4 outside screws, and have them slightly backed off, about 1/4 turn. This seems to be enough to hold everything in place, and gives great sensitivity response with the least amount of accidental triggering. *I still get double triggering if I use the "Full Level" button, and I still get some accidental triggering of other pads, though they're usually at such a low velocity you can't hear it. My main problem was the Snare triggering the Closed Hi Hat pad(s), so when I'd do Snare and Open Hi Hat together, often the Open Hi Hat would be completely cancelled out by the Closed Hi Hat pad triggering. Setting up the pad as I've explained here fixed that. It may be that a lot of these pads are defective. But defective doesn't mean "not salvageable." It's a ton of work, and a major pain, yes -- but salvageable, and beyond that, transformable into a great pad controller. Now, back to my original review: I carefully disassembled the MPD218 and cut electrical tape to fit over the pads. This is a well-known trick online, and the simple idea is this: it reduces the force you need to strike the pads with in order to trigger them, and especially to trigger them fully. As others have mentioned, the other setup option is to very slightly back off on the screws that hold the circuit board down. You can even leave only the 4 outer screws attached and remove the 4 inner screws. Or remove all the screws on the circuit board completely. I've had the best luck so far by removing all of them completely, and only using the 4 outer screws on the hard red plastic back cover. Tape method: Step 1: Remove the screws holding the cover on. You're gonna want a magnetic holder or well-sealed plastic bag to keep the screws in as you remove them...trust me. Now take the cover off. Step 2: Now remove the smaller screws that are holding the circuit board in place. Then carefully lift the circuit board and place it out of harm's way. You'll see a thin plastic sheet underneath with squares on it. Remove the conductive plastic sheet once you get to it. Remember: it needs to go back on the right way, i.e. the conductive side facing the circuit board, or else it won't work when you plug it back in. Shiny side = insulated side. That goes down on top of the rubber pad. Make sure the conductive Matte finish side is facing up when you're all done. Step 3: Now you can easily remove the pads. It's literally just a floppy mass of rubber, all one piece, that you can just lift out. Take it out, and get some electrical tape and some scissors or an Xacto knife ready. Step 4: Cut the tape, similar to how I did it in the picture. On the MPD218, the LEDs are dead center. So if you cover them with tape, the LEDs will be obscured and your pads won't light up. You can customize it however you want. I'm using two layers of tape. You may like more. You may like less. Step 5: Reassemble. And you're done! Good job. Now test your MPD218 for responsiveness. Now I'm enjoying my newly set up MPD218 much more than before. Very, very light touches also seemed to trigger nothing before, whereas now they trigger exactly what I want: very light, soft sounds. Just be careful with the screws and the circuit board when dismantling and reassembling this thing, and you'll be fine. It's a very easy fix. Just a bit time consuming when it comes to dialing it in perfectly. Overall I'm very happy with this unit. It looks good, was very easy to work on, and with a couple tweaks, it's performing extremely well. It needs to be set up properly just like any other instrument. Which is always a pain. But it's to be expected. The only major issue is the "Full Level" button, which I simply don't use. Akai really needs to address whatever is going on with that.

I use it to trigger MIDI drums but also as a keyboard. The layout inspires me to find patterns of notes that would not come naturally on a MIDI keyboard. I use it for synths, samplers, even microtonal stuff, using Microtone 5000 and Simple Microtoanal Sampler. With samples I don't use 4, 8, or 16 beat breaks, I sample individual hits (like of kitchen things) and make my own loops in an audio editing program (I use SoundForge but can be done in most DAWs) Though this AKAI works well with the included 16 samples in the (non-microtonal) "Pretty Good Sampler" (all of these are free) ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: if you're only using it for MIDI imputs, not to control your DAW's transport (start/stop/record/next track, etc), do NOT turn on Mackie Control in your DAW. You'll end up with this doing all sorts of things you want....opening files when you hit a note, and especially maddening, turning on automation, recording everything you do, then forcing your choices when you play back. I did not have to map this at all to use with common drum VSTs. Love it.

It’s everything I hope it will be although the screen is very very small but at the same time the screen being small isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it works with the MPC sequencer so you kinda do things off a muscle memory honestly but it is very nice it’s very sturdy and I love it. I think you really get a good bang for your Buck with this.

I fell for the new toy. As with so many of the modern software makers out there, Akai has the same attitude about their offering - "This is a stick-up! Test our crap for us for free, and give us your money too." It is put upon the paying customer to figure out all the problems with the buggy, bat-crazy, upside-down, incomprehensible install job, that is thrust upon the digital musicians of this world. In my not so humble opinion, ridiculous FOOLS wrote this code. THE JUNK: The midi button controls don't align 1 through whatever pads to software. They light up randomly in the software. The software assigning is deep, but it never saves a state of settings without some issue. The pots on this are stiff, it would work for some things but mostly not. It gives an artificial sense of solid construction. Switching the banks on the controller does not switch them in the DAW or MPC software. The one time (yup - one) this thing read my Vst folder without crashing, it named them all wrong. suddenly drums were cross named with other instruments. Every other time I tried to add Vst folders - the MPC crashed - even after hours of FAQ and videos and reading install notes and so on, hours of changes all lost and hopeless. A warning would pop up with every restart stating that my audio card had changed - every time - and would I like to adjust my preferences. GAH! I only have ONE installed audio adapter and it was already selected, over, and over, and over. There was a distinct delay beyond normal response times from the tap of a pad to the MPC seeing it, and most of the time the pad tapped would not be the pad used in the MPC software. GAH! No damit the bass drum! not the crash-GAH! In the online forum (which in this case means: for them idiots we sold this to) what worked for one person did not work for me. AND LASTLY THE BIGGY STUPID INTERFACE MASHUP: I should not have to adjust MY ENTIRE OS DESKTOP INTERFACE TO MAKE THIS CARP WORK. Wide screen, text enlargement and drag and drop have been around for over 20 years, Akai must have missed the last two decades of advancements. WHAT THE?: People just keep on buying this garbage and calling it platinum. Why? I was mislead. Why do we keep testing their junk and solving their problems for them after having paid for a working product? Are we all that desperate for a tappy thingy? EULA JUNK: KIDDIES WILL BE BORED: EULA anyone? Thanks to the supreme court of this great nation, These cretins can now require us to give away our rights as of the moment we use the software (if that's what you want to call this riddled-pockmarked and weeping-pile of broken code.) And so they can give out whatever they want, lie about it, and not have to face any repercussions. For every one who finds out the hard way - ten new people fall for this package in the hopes of a great deal and a way into a simple control interface. Seemingly Akai can't manage a working product never mind one simple to use. THERE IS GOOD AND THEN THERE IS ACTUAL GOODNESS: It isn't good- none of this product is good. Good, as a general rule - works. Good, gets us motivated and firing on all cylinders. GOOD gets a bad man good, and a good woman bad. Good is not what this product is and if they come at me with fire and brimstone, I will shrug it off because: 1) I'm an Athiest, and so therefore 2) once someone makes a claim of something that cannot be supported by facts it is THEIR problem to PROVE the claim has merit. Oh... that's what I am doing with this rant. THE TOUGH QUESTIONS MUST BE ASKED: Is it that they have no respect for their customers? Oh my friends - I think it is worse than that. I think they have a true disdain for their customers. EVIDENCE FOR MY STANCE IS IN THE FORUM AND THE FAQ AND THE EULA. OOPS: This software is Akai's promise of entry level excellence with the actual delivery of, UH-OOPS- Ah shucks was that us? If you look at their add campaign, It's like a bad episode of Mad Men. They are quite serious about this terrible solution they have strung together, with the intent, and the ethics of the "New Trumpians." (My phrase - mine) THE UNREAL: this stuff has been on the market for years and it is still useless for any serious creation - buttons and all. I had no idea it was this bad until I purchased it. I thought, briefly, at a minimum, that crashing software at this level would be unheard of. Perhaps they should employ better coders - not crazies with a new plan of vendetta against the world because Steve Jobs died, and Kurzweil never made a great keyboard. SO GOOD THEY DID IT AGAIN: Weather it be MPC essentials or MPC 2.0, BROKEN IS BROKEN. Reasoning would find a normal business meeting that concludes: if it doesn't play well with newer systems, heck - with any system, without crazy high=jinx don't sell it to the group of people being relied on to better the bottom line. BIGGEST PROBLEM: if I have to set up anything for hours just to get it to work (it never did wholly work), I lose money, intensity, and creativity. Is Akai going to pay me back for those losses? They don't have to according to their EULA. It is my fault for choosing their gear; for trusting them. Oh and how about the time it took for me to find all of this out on my own? Do I get my time or money back? Nope. How about for reviewing this for free, to keep you all from getting your time, and money stolen? Nope that was my choice so they are covered there too. I don't get paid to be a watch dog. THE FINAL WORD: The problem with abusing trust, is when people like me choose not to forget. Haven't you heard? Memories are better than ever thanks to all of the research being done, smoke or no smoke. Records online never go away either - well they do, but I will keep putting them back. The notion of never, suddenly outlives the expected financial life span of a corporation. Well except too big to fail banks, and apparently car companies; oh yeah, and housing sales and ... well that's another set of rants. Thanks for reading and please do not buy this product. There is other gear that will get an entry level digital musician where they want to go.