Akai MPD 24

The akai mpd 24 is a great machine ,its a perfect subsitute for its older cousins the mpc series which are used by the likes of hip hop pioneering producer dr dre.
This machine has no internal memory as a mpc but once hooked up to your pc or laptop it effectively becomes one with ease .
The pads are from the mpc 2500 series and i recommend working it with FL studio or reason programs ,this midi pad controller gives you the ability to give your drums a more human feel and to trigger samples on the fly .
The LCD display is bright easy to read and the main global knob allows you to flick through presets and adjust note qualities
Theres so much to this machine and i recommend anyone considering to get the rival korg kontrol to go for this as its trigger sensitive pads allow for perfect beat composition.
Any one considering to get a pad controller i recommend this as your first option.

Setting this machine up couldnt be easier ,and as i personally have a great love for what this can do so i will explain the setting up process in a little more detail for those who will use it in FL Studio.

Once connected to your pc through the supplied usb cable ,open FL studio goto to your midi options and enable the device,set the preset to mpc 2500 from the global control of the mpd 24, then open the FPC fruity loops virtual instrument and drum away or map your own samples to it, its simple as that ,in the new version for FL studio the transport buttons work and for reason you only have to download the reason update to have the transport buttons working.

Many people say this device does not work with windows vista,
i am actually running it on vista ultimate and have had no problems,
i didnt even need to install the drivers supplied on the akai cd!

General specifications :
Mpc series style drum pad controller
Usb or midi connection
16 velocity & pressure sensitive pads
4 selectable pad banks for a total of 64 pads
6 assignable faders for transmitting midi control change data
8 assignable 360 degree knobs
5 dedicated transport controls (play stop rewind fast fwd & record)
Detailed bright lcd display
Usb output
Midi output
Included editor librarian software (mac and pc)
Includes a customised version of fxpansion's bfd lite