Akai Professional LPD8 Reviews

4.6/5.0 based on 7 customer reviews

Sweetwater Advice

Carson McClain

The Akai LPD8 is perfect for the traveling DJ or performing electronic musician. It's inexpensive, has great build quality, and fits in a backpack.

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Customer Reviews

Bradley Olinger
from United States
April 4, 2012Music Background:
Home Producer and Musician

Love it....hooked on Akai.

I have actually had one of these for a couple of years, and these are the best feeling pads I have ever tried. The knobs, though not necessary, are excellent. The only downside is that, to do any real recording, you need two of these. Not Akai's fault, since they can only do so much, so I am picking up a second one soon. Until you have the funds for one of the new MPC devices, I would recommend a couple of these over the MPD16 anytime. I only wish Akai made a portable controller similar to the nanoKontrol to go with it.

Michael Edmund
from Trinidad & Tobago West Indies.
March 1, 2012Music Background:
I'm a Recording & Sound Engineer for the pass 7 years.

Great piece of Instrument.

My guy's in the studio thinks it can only get better when you deals with Sweetwater for music equipment, and as the CEO of a studio I'm happy to share this with the public

Jason Jones
from Odum,Ga USA
June 9, 2011Music Background:
Singer/Song Writter/Vocal Coach

Like a Rock!

This thing is the most solid pad controller for its size ive ever used and I've used alot of them over the years. The pads have great response and the roto knobs are tight and solid giving you good control over your envelopes/filters ect. The Software the comes with the controllers its Awesome! It can edit muti patch modes with different settings for each pad and knob and you can easy scroll through your preset sellection on the fly with your 2 program buttons on the far right bottom on the device. Get this thing, I use it for live show in corilation with an M-audio Oxy 25 and fast trax Pro and a Lap top running Reason five...Its a great rig and I can do so much with it with it that ppl ask....What are all the guys making all those other sounds standing??? CAll your SWEETWATER REP. right now and pick up the LPD8 up TODAY!

Randy
from Arkansas USA
February 14, 2010Music Background:
Engineer, Musician, Producer

Perfect Portable Pads

This is a great addition to Propellerheads Reason 4 - even on a desktop. I use a keyboard controller as well, but this fits perfectly in front of it to allow much easier access to the pads than those at the top of most keyboard controllers. It sits lower than the keys on most controllers so it is out of the way when not in use. The knobs can be assigned to control software parameters, but the pads are the best part in my opinion. The pads have four banks available and are stiff, but touch sensitive. The included editing software is easy to use as well.

from
October 25, 2012

love it

Its great its small enough so I can bring it to class and work on things. It has nice sensitive pads.

Chris Klaren
from Prescott, AZ. USA
April 5, 2012Music Background:
Student, DJ, aspiring music producer

LPD8

Works great with Ableton. Love using the banks to automate tracks on the fly.

Also, fantastic for djing. Personally, I midi map the buttons to turn on/off the tracks'(1-8) effects. The knobs are mapped to control the strength or wetness of the effects. The LPD8 allows you to map four banks of controls, which is like having 16 programmable VELOCITY SENSITIVE buttons and 16 knobs..but with convenient portability.

More on the velocity sensitive pads...they make the product. Yeah, it's already great for controlling effects, but I would also recommend using it when traveling. Came up with a good beat? Wanna work on a hip-hop track? Pull it out and jam away.

Good DJ tool, production tool, and portable device.

J Hagenbuckle
from Massachusettes (USA)
September 20, 2011Music Background:
Self taught musician, engineer, composer and sound designer

LPD8 A Nice Touch

Took it on the road for a theater sound design/original music job. Used it for Persian music percussion tracks with DP6 and StormDrum2 on my Mac laptop. Easy to set up, program and use, nice weight, pad feel, no problems. Used it in the theater and at the hotel in combo with the LPK25.