Akai Professional LPD8 Wireless Pad Controller Reviews

well constructed, also having a full size usb port,adding to the strong construction

We use it to control Prime. It is small, which is what we needed and it has two banks for more controls. If you want something simple and easy to use, this is what you need.

I saw this go on sale… and it was a no-brainer, I couldn't pass this deal up. I had been wanting a drum pad for some time and felt like this was the time to get it. Once I got it in my hands, that feeling was confirmed. As usual, dealing with Sweetwater was a great experience and within days I was finger-drumming away. For the price point it has a very natural feel on the pads and the knobs. Like other Akai products, it feels sturdy and well constructed. Possibly the best part of this deal was the included software. Reason Lite is a stripped down version of the popular Reason 10 DAW and it still has plenty of features and instruments to create anything you can put your mind to right out of the box. If you can get this on sale like I did, you will definitely not regret it. Even at full price it is a tremendous value. I highly recommend this product.

This little device has exceeded my expectations. I bought it to replace the drum pads on my first generation axiom 49 controller I bought back around 2008. It has world class drum pads that expect from Akai and then it also bundled with Reason 10 Lite. One of the first softwares I used back in 2003 was Reason but never used it since. So with that software alone is enough to purchase this controller, but wait there's more. I like to use my phone to just catch ideas that come to me when they are fresh no matter when or where I may be. I like to use FL studio mobile on my Android device to record multiple audio tracks I hum and beatbox. This controller Bluetooth connection works with my phone and the FL software to help with sketching out the raw ideas and making some refinements prior to sending the flm files to my computer to really hash out the project. If you want a great mobile solution to even be completely wireless you could use this controller with a phone or tablet and creater or perform anywhere at anytime.

Akai for me has the best pads on the market. That"s what I"m mainly using this for (triggering sounds through mainstage) the knobs also feel sturdy. I think Akai is the way to for all midi controller needs

I love using this controller. However, it was difficult getting it set up, it comes with little information about how to set up and to work with a DAW. This is at no fault to Sweetwater, it is just to someone who is new to the "MIDI World" it was rather difficult.

It"s a wireless midi controller with extremely responsive drum pads, what more could you possibly want? Pairing is easy if you know how to read. Anyone saying it"s complicated can"t read the directions correctly. No pad 4 isn"t actually named Pad 8, it has the freaking bluetooth button on the correct pad to pair.

If you"re reading this and don"t know how to paid, it"s so easy. Hold select + drum pad with the bluetooth sign above it.

My only gripe is that there"s no way to tell how much battery is left on this thing. So it could die at any moment? Living life on the edge.

All the naysayers... give it a chance. Seriously.

Nice controller. Build solid, pads are quite responsive with back lights. Includes software. Can't beat the price!

It's very good, solid construction, the pads are a bit not so sensitive (e.g. you have to really hit them to mark maximum midi speed), but overall it's really good.

However: The Bluetooth controller won't register as midi for Windows (Win10 Home). I was unable to use this to operate EzDrummer2 standalone unless I connected via USB cable.

So I"ve been looking for a new pad controller and when I saw the price, I couldn"t help but order it and try it out! I love the fact that it comes with Reason 10 Lite which is… value by itself. This may be the biggest perk! With that being said, I inboxed it and installed the 3 AA batteries to pair it to my iPhone 7 Plus. After reading the "pairing instructions" which are misprinted in the setup manual stating to". It states to "Press and hold the select button while pushing pad 8 until the pad flashes..." This is slightly confusing if you"re not looking at the pad labeled "Pad 4," then you"re pushing the wrong pad. I"m not sure why Akai labled the pads from the bottom left with Pad 1-4 and Pads 5-8 are locates above pads 1-4. With all of that being said, I"ve only successfully paired my "Wireless" LPD8 1 time in the week that I"ve had it. It can get super frustrating and I"m still trying to figure out this bug. I know I"m not the only one who"s had this issue either. Maybe this is one of the main reasons for the… price drop?

However, the team at Sweetwater are second to none and have a great team of experienced pros to help with issues like this!

the controller has been fine while connected via USB.
However, the whole reason I purchased this was for the wireless functionality.
Well, the bluetooth pairs perfectly with Windows 10.
unfortunately no support for midi over bluetooth.
to be fair, it was in the specs, had I looked harder...

It took me three days to figure out how to pair the LPD8 to my Macbook Pro. Wouldn't pair with my Android phone at all. Eventually it just started working and I totally dig it now, but prepare yourself for a frustrating time getting it to work out of the box. I ended up resetting SMC and HVRAM and the Bluetooth unit, unpairing all of my BT devices...eventually it just showed up inexplicably like it was supposed to out of the box. HINT: there is a misprint in the instruction manual, which says to press 'Select' plus Pad 8 in order to pair. It's actually Pad 4, not 8. Literature online seems to indicate that it works more seamlessly with PCs devices.

The Akai LPD8 Editor software does not seem to function on MacOS or Windows 10 in 2018, hope you like having all the pads set to C-2 and the CC"s set 1-8 because you can"t change them unless you have an old computer lying around.