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PaulyPaul « Great pads but not a MPC »
Published on 10/15/12 at 21:01It seems like when it comes to AKAI you can always expect to get a great quality drum machine or pads. The AKAI MPD 18 will work with your Mac and Windows systems via USB. You computer does need to have at least 2GB for maximum performance. There are 16 velocity and pressure sensitive MPC style pads. It does not take any external power supply because all of the power is provided via USB. Note, if you are a MPC lover and user then you won’t feel the same satisfaction using the MPD (off course). To me the only similarities are that it looks like the MPC and the Pads are similar but besides that nothing is even close between the two. I have been using this model for a while and I have always owned an MPC in the past. There is no sequencer, the only thing you are really getting is drum pads.
Setting the AKAI MPD 18 up is really easy. There are no hard instructions to follow it is pretty much plug and play as long as your system meets all of the requirements. The MPD 18 is very portable which is a plus, you can pack it up and put it in your bag to take with your laptop setup and have your drum pads anywhere you go.
The issue with AKAI MPD 18 to me is that you can go out and purchase a MIDI controller keyboard that has drum pads already on it. So you are really only purchasing 16 MPC “like” pads and that’s all you are really getting. You would be much better off if you can just save up some money for the MPC 1000 then you will have the pads and sequencing or if you just want pads just get a keyboard controller with drum pads on it. It makes a lot more sense, but if you are sold on the AKAI MPD 18 then buy it because it is a great quality product. But after a while it got kind of pointless for me to keep it around.
Setting the AKAI MPD 18 up is really easy. There are no hard instructions to follow it is pretty much plug and play as long as your system meets all of the requirements. The MPD 18 is very portable which is a plus, you can pack it up and put it in your bag to take with your laptop setup and have your drum pads anywhere you go.
The issue with AKAI MPD 18 to me is that you can go out and purchase a MIDI controller keyboard that has drum pads already on it. So you are really only purchasing 16 MPC “like” pads and that’s all you are really getting. You would be much better off if you can just save up some money for the MPC 1000 then you will have the pads and sequencing or if you just want pads just get a keyboard controller with drum pads on it. It makes a lot more sense, but if you are sold on the AKAI MPD 18 then buy it because it is a great quality product. But after a while it got kind of pointless for me to keep it around.