Donner MIDI Pad Beat Maker Machine Professional, Drum Machine with 16 Beat Pads, 2 Assignable Fader & Knobs and Music Production Software, USB MIDI Controller with 40 Free Courses, STARRYPAD

Bought couple years ago to use with midi mixer software as a Stream Deck type thing. Worked really good for controlling my PC. Now Using it for testing midi hardware modules. Works with FL Studio and Ableton. Not a fan of the way the buttons feel but overall this little unit works amazingly. I would definitely replace with the same one if needed

If you're an AKAI loyalist you're missing out on this dope little controller. Here's the run-down. First, a little background. I've been making music since ACID 2.0. If you don't know what that is that's about 30 years. I've had every single piece of equipment to make waves from MPCs, Roland 840, E-Mu units, and on and on. A lot of the units I've had have pads built into them, obviously. AKAI is always heralded as having the best pads. Well, I have news for you, they don't. I've been comparing DONNER products right along side AKAI products for the past year and I have to say DONNER products have more responsive pads which are more supple (absorbing more impact). They reduce double-trigger events to almost zero compared to AKAI's notorious "stiff pad that you have to break in." Why was that ever a virtue? I don't think it was. If you're trying to get something connected quick and on the go to get creative stuff out fast, you don't want to have to be HEARING OR EDITING OUT double triggers. AKAI MPD18 & LPD8 - Compared to the DONNER products like STARRYPAD and DMK25PRO the pads are straight garbage. They are hard, double-triggering nightmares. People say you have to always adjust your velocity sensitivity and blah, blah, blah. Sure, that is true...if you want to take extra steps to get the same result as a product that's about the third of the price, go right ahead and adjust all the velocity sensitivities individually and then spend a year breaking your pads in. I'll just say it: If you value your creative time and don't want to take extra steps to get nice, soft, sensitive pads that don't double-trigger, AND spend less money, buy this product. It's natively mapable in most mobile apps including KOALA and feels more like the classic MPC models some of us old heads came to love, like the 2000 & 2500XL series which had beautiful, impact-absorbing pads that literally never double-triggered. Buying the STARRYPAD is a no-brainer and if I was AKAI I'd start looking really hard at what this company is doing differently with regard to their control pads. Just saying.

Update: Donner reached out after my first review and provided a replacement unit, and it works so much better. The sensitivity of the pads is excellent. It works will be Ableton Live 11 and 12. Great customer service as well! The unit has nice features, a useful editor, easily connected to Ableton Live, and feels solid, but all of that doesn't matter if it doesn't perform well at it's most basic function. The pads are just not sensitive enough except for the most entry level finger drumming. The required force is too high. I had to strike each pad very hard and it removed any sort of enjoyment or expressiveness while playing. Rolls or ghost notes were impossible. I could do a basic 4 beat pattern but that's it, and had to keep it set to "full level" the entire time. I tried changing the settings (it lets your adjust the velocity curve in the editor) but it didn't help. I returned it.

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Satisfied with the purchase