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Akai Professional

Akai Professional MPD218 USB MIDI Pad Controller

Based on 5,871 reviews
Condition: New
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$119.00

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Arrives Wednesday, Nov 4
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At a glance

Condition
New
Size
Standard
Style
MPD218
Dimensions
8"D x 18"W x 2"H
Weight
2 lb
Color
Red LED Pads
Material
Plastic
In the box
MPD218^USB Cable^Software Download Cards^User Guide^Safety & Warranty Manual
Warranty
1 year manufacturer.
Works with
Akai Professional’s MPD218 is a MIDI-over-USB pad controller perfect for producers, programmers, musicians and DJs alike.

Features 7

  • Beat Production, Anywhere - Ultra-portable, feature-packed and USB powered pad controller with 16 thick fat MPC pads for triggering drums, melodic samples, effects and more
  • Expandable Banks - Easily accessible dedicated controls for three pad banks provides a total of 48 assignable pads
  • Assignable Control - 18 fully assignable 360-Degree potentiometers accessible via three banks for controlling DAW, virtual effect and virtual instrument parameters
  • Feature Packed - MPC note repeat and full level controls for immersive expressive performances

Description

Beat Production - Anywhere Akai Professional’s MPD218 is a MIDI-over-USB pad controller perfect for producers, programmers, musicians and DJs alike. Its intuitive blend of MPC controls and technologies mesh with seamless USB connectivity to bring the feel of classic beat making into the world of computer music production. At the heart of MPD218 are 16 ultra-sensitive, hyper-playable Thick Fat MPC pads, ideal for triggering drums, one-shots, melodic samples, basslines and more; with 3 pad banks available and a pressure- and velocity-sensitive specification, expand MPD218’s performance capability to 48 fully-assignable, ultra-reactive triggers that capture every subtlety and nuance of your performance.

Specs 34

Brand Akai Professional
Number of Keys 16
Connectivity Technology USB
Special Feature Backlit Drum Pad, Compact, Portable, Programmable, Touch Sensitive Pad
Model Name MPD218
Additional Features Backlit Drum Pad, Compact, Portable, Programmable, Touch Sensitive Pad
Instrument Key Any
Supported Software Ableton Live

Frequently asked questions

If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is: Wednesday, Nov 4

Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.

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Top Amazon Reviews

In the right hands, this is a great MIDI controler!
Style: MPD218
I'll start off by saying that I'm a performing musician (woodwind and brass instruments) as well as a composer and arranger who works with music notation software. I bought this hoping it would help me in writing percussion parts. I have returned it. Having said that, however, I am very impressed with what it can do and recommend it for people who work mainly with Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software. As a MIDI controller it has amazing capabilities and can work to control other MIDI devices such as synthesizers, modules, lighting and much much more. All of which make it a great tool for performers who work mainly in the rock/pop/rap/hip-hop/ska fields. It's compact, it responds nicely. The sensitivity of the pads can be adjusted only on a global scale, so either all the pads are very sensitive or not very sensitive according to how it's adjusted. I didn't use it enough to see how accurate the reviews which mention accidental double-strikes or accidentally triggering pads which aren't the ones being struck are, but I can imagine that if the sensitivity is set so that very little pressure is needed it would be possible to get responses from pads which aren't the ones being struck. The user should (as with all musical gear) spend a lot of time practicing with this device before trying to perform live with it. The price is a lot lower than many other drum pads so this is ideal for people just beginning to investigate the use of this sort of device. The sounds which come with it and the software that can be installed with it will be great for some but they left me less than impressed. But that didn't bother me and shouldn't bother anybody else because most people who will be using this will have their own preferred sound libraries to be working with. What this is NOT -- this is NOT a replacement for an electronic drum set. This is NOT an inexpensive device for learning to play the drums. What this IS -- it is a MIDI controller with which a person can create beats, with which a person can control other devices. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2024 by dhbailey
Electrical Tape is Your Friend Electrical Tape is Your Friend
Style: MPD218
Review Image by Matt
EDIT 7/14/2019: *There is 3/8" black cloth "pickup coil tape" on Stewmac.com. I use this for guitar work, so I had some on hand, but it just so happens it's the perfect width for this job. I also recommend the Double Stick tape, also available on Stewmac, and using this on the bottom of the black cloth tape. This ensures good adhesion to your rubber MPC pads. The black cloth tape seems to be more consistent than traditional electrical tape, and is easier to work with. Simply cut it into one inch strips and layer them together as needed, with double stick tape on the bottom. *I'm using 2 strips for most pads. Add more and see if you like the feel or not. Adjust accordingly. *I've found that setting these up is a balancing act. Every single screw makes a difference: installed/not installed, and how tightly installed, both on the circuit board itself and the red shell/cover that fits over the device. As for the tape: more tape can actually reduce the velocity range/sensitivity, which can be a good thing. Hyper-active pads that are triggering with too much velocity compared to the others may benefit from extra tape, not less. Balancing act. *Currently I'm using no screws on the circuit board at all. On the hard red plastic cover, I'm using only the 4 outside screws, and have them slightly backed off, about 1/4 turn. This seems to be enough to hold everything in place, and gives great sensitivity response with the least amount of accidental triggering. *I still get double triggering if I use the "Full Level" button, and I still get some accidental triggering of other pads, though they're usually at such a low velocity you can't hear it. My main problem was the Snare triggering the Closed Hi Hat pad(s), so when I'd do Snare and Open Hi Hat together, often the Open Hi Hat would be completely cancelled out by the Closed Hi Hat pad triggering. Setting up the pad as I've explained here fixed that. It may be that a lot of these pads are defective. But defective doesn't mean "not salvageable." It's a ton of work, and a major pain, yes -- but salvageable, and beyond that, transformable into a great pad controller. Now, back to my original review: I carefully disassembled the MPD218 and cut electrical tape to fit over the pads. This is a well-known trick online, and the simple idea is this: it reduces the force you need to strike the pads with in order to trigger them, and especially to trigger them fully. As others have mentioned, the other setup option is to very slightly back off on the screws that hold the circuit board down. You can even leave only the 4 outer screws attached and remove the 4 inner screws. Or remove all the screws on the circuit board completely. I've had the best luck so far by removing all of them completely, and only using the 4 outer screws on the hard red plastic back cover. Tape method: Step 1: Remove the screws holding the cover on. You're gonna want a magnetic holder or well-sealed plastic bag to keep the screws in as you remove them...trust me. Now take the cover off. Step 2: Now remove the smaller screws that are holding the circuit board in place. Then carefully lift the circuit board and place it out of harm's way. You'll see a thin plastic sheet underneath with squares on it. Remove the conductive plastic sheet once you get to it. Remember: it needs to go back on the right way, i.e. the conductive side facing the circuit board, or else it won't work when you plug it back in. Shiny side = insulated side. That goes down on top of the rubber pad. Make sure the conductive Matte finish side is facing up when you're all done. Step 3: Now you can easily remove the pads. It's literally just a floppy mass of rubber, all one piece, that you can just lift out. Take it out, and get some electrical tape and some scissors or an Xacto knife ready. Step 4: Cut the tape, similar to how I did it in the picture. On the MPD218, the LEDs are dead center. So if you cover them with tape, the LEDs will be obscured and your pads won't light up. You can customize it however you want. I'm using two layers of tape. You may like more. You may like less. Step 5: Reassemble. And you're done! Good job. Now test your MPD218 for responsiveness. Now I'm enjoying my newly set up MPD218 much more than before. Very, very light touches also seemed to trigger nothing before, whereas now they trigger exactly what I want: very light, soft sounds. Just be careful with the screws and the circuit board when dismantling and reassembling this thing, and you'll be fine. It's a very easy fix. Just a bit time consuming when it comes to dialing it in perfectly. Overall I'm very happy with this unit. It looks good, was very easy to work on, and with a couple tweaks, it's performing extremely well. It needs to be set up properly just like any other instrument. Which is always a pain. But it's to be expected. The only major issue is the "Full Level" button, which I simply don't use. Akai really needs to address whatever is going on with that. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2019 Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2019 by Matt
Love it
Style: MPD218
Great midi controller works with any DAW.
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2026 by Benjamin Moz
Amazing product! But...
Style: MPD218
I’ve been using this product for the past couple months and I’ve been loving it. I use it almost every single day for producing music, and it is a workhorse. I’ve used it for music production, finger drumming, and even live performances at my church. The 360 dials work great and give me a more tactile experience when automating filter sweeps and other effects. There is one caveat. The pad sensitivity is an issue that several other people have had, and I’ve dealt with it as well. Often times, the pads will register one “hit” as two. So when using on full velocity mode, there may be flams as you play. This bodes several issues. In finger drumming, when triggering samples, a double stroke can mess up the flow of the performance and create issues. When recording MIDI input, a double stroke means I have to search through the session to find the extra hit before I can quantize. In addition to double strokes when playing, sometimes other pads will actuate when not pressed. I may hit pad 1, and pad 9 may trigger as well. It also causes problems with finger drumming, as triggering a sample in the middle of the drum pattern ruins the flow of the session. If this was remedied, it would be a flawless product. Despite whatever issues I’ve had, I must say that I am in total love with this product! It’s portable, fun, and an efficient tool to get drum ideas into my Logic session! So much fun! Just wish the pad issues weren’t there... ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2019 by Notesaw
Works great! But an important note if you have issues....
Style: MPD218
I use it to trigger MIDI drums but also as a keyboard. The layout inspires me to find patterns of notes that would not come naturally on a MIDI keyboard. I use it for synths, samplers, even microtonal stuff, using Microtone 5000 and Simple Microtoanal Sampler. With samples I don't use 4, 8, or 16 beat breaks, I sample individual hits (like of kitchen things) and make my own loops in an audio editing program (I use SoundForge but can be done in most DAWs) Though this AKAI works well with the included 16 samples in the (non-microtonal) "Pretty Good Sampler" (all of these are free) ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: if you're only using it for MIDI imputs, not to control your DAW's transport (start/stop/record/next track, etc), do NOT turn on Mackie Control in your DAW. You'll end up with this doing all sorts of things you want....opening files when you hit a note, and especially maddening, turning on automation, recording everything you do, then forcing your choices when you play back. I did not have to map this at all to use with common drum VSTs. Love it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2025 by Master of Cats
Buena calidad vs precio
Style: MPD218
Excelente me funciona impecable
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2026 by Cris Chile
I really want to like this controller
Style: MPD218
But it's so friggin annoying! I don't want to drop another $50 just to make the pads work as expected. And it's not even guaranteed. The pads aren't very sensitive and double trigger pretty often - guess reviews were right and I should've listened. :| Pressure sensitivity is a gimmick, imo. If the sensitivity of the pads was good, I can see it being a benefit. But because you never know how hard you have to hit the pad, you never know what % of pressure you are applying to play a sound. So you end up with FULL always on to avoid half-@ssed notes. Having multiple banks is nice though! Easily switch between 3x16 banks of pads. Integration with Ableton is nice - drum rack works great. Knobs aren't automatically configured though and there really isn't an easy tutorial out there. You have to manually assign them, but to which plugin?! It can be a frustrating experience for a beginner. I'm going to keep messing around with it as I don't feel like spending more cash on another controller, but I get a feeling this thing is going to annoy me enough to eventually ditch it. Music creativity is likely to be better when you don't have to fight the controller. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on December 3, 2020 by Ilya K
great MIDI controller
Style: MPD218
I use this for EZDrummer 2 and it works great. Even with it made of plastic, it is very sturdy. I read some reviews of it saying that it would double trigger or trigger pads next to it. The only way I got it to do that was to turn on the full level button. With full level on, it will trigger other pads next to it and do double triggers. Off, it works just fine. the pads are very durable and can take a hit. I would recommend this for a beginner for how well it is made and how easy it was to set up. All I did was plug it in and it was ready to go. Another cool thing is that it is powered through the USB port so no external power is needed. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2022 by pete middletown
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