Donner MIDI Pad Beat Maker Machine Professional, Drum Machine with 16 Beat Pads, 2 Assignable Fader & Knobs and Music Production Software, USB MIDI Controller with 40 Courses, STARRYPAD

If you're an AKAI loyalist you're missing out on this dope little controller. Here's the run-down. First, a little background. I've been making music since ACID 2.0. If you don't know what that is that's about 30 years. I've had every single piece of equipment to make waves from MPCs, Roland 840, E-Mu units, and on and on. A lot of the units I've had have pads built into them, obviously. AKAI is always heralded as having the best pads. Well, I have news for you, they don't. I've been comparing DONNER products right along side AKAI products for the past year and I have to say DONNER products have more responsive pads which are more supple (absorbing more impact). They reduce double-trigger events to almost zero compared to AKAI's notorious "stiff pad that you have to break in." Why was that ever a virtue? I don't think it was. If you're trying to get something connected quick and on the go to get creative stuff out fast, you don't want to have to be HEARING OR EDITING OUT double triggers. AKAI MPD18 & LPD8 - Compared to the DONNER products like STARRYPAD and DMK25PRO the pads are straight garbage. They are hard, double-triggering nightmares. People say you have to always adjust your velocity sensitivity and blah, blah, blah. Sure, that is true...if you want to take extra steps to get the same result as a product that's about the third of the price, go right ahead and adjust all the velocity sensitivities individually and then spend a year breaking your pads in. I'll just say it: If you value your creative time and don't want to take extra steps to get nice, soft, sensitive pads that don't double-trigger, AND spend less money, buy this product. It's natively mapable in most mobile apps including KOALA and feels more like the classic MPC models some of us old heads came to love, like the 2000 & 2500XL series which had beautiful, impact-absorbing pads that literally never double-triggered. Buying the STARRYPAD is a no-brainer and if I was AKAI I'd start looking really hard at what this company is doing differently with regard to their control pads. Just saying.

Update: Donner reached out after my first review and provided a replacement unit, and it works so much better. The sensitivity of the pads is excellent. It works will be Ableton Live 11 and 12. Great customer service as well! The unit has nice features, a useful editor, easily connected to Ableton Live, and feels solid, but all of that doesn't matter if it doesn't perform well at it's most basic function. The pads are just not sensitive enough except for the most entry level finger drumming. The required force is too high. I had to strike each pad very hard and it removed any sort of enjoyment or expressiveness while playing. Rolls or ghost notes were impossible. I could do a basic 4 beat pattern but that's it, and had to keep it set to "full level" the entire time. I tried changing the settings (it lets your adjust the velocity curve in the editor) but it didn't help. I returned it.

Exactly what I wanted and more! the button feel is firm and sturdy to the press with nice silicone feel. The whole piece of hardware is built really well and fits perfectly with my MacBook pro in both size and overall style/look

Followed all instructions and it's either sooo complicated or just doesn't work. You have to download apps that aren't friendly to use on both phone or laptap. Had 2 parents, college student and 18 yr old all spend hrs reading and configuring with no luck! Plus the first beat pad i ordered on cyber Monday on sale was "lost in mail". But they still sent me the product warranty I bought instead of refunding it! Instead of just sending me a replacement beats they just issued me a refund. I had to order a new one that was now $30 more 🙄. Would not honor the sale price! Contacted them complaining and have never heard anything back. We've watched many Donner you tube videos for set up that are not helpful. This was my son's main Christmas gift. Big FAIL! Do not buy!!

My 12 year old was ecstatic to get this for Christmas. Took me hours to try to find an app or software to be able to actually use it. I have a new HP laptop. It was extremely frustrating, and the directions given with the device didn’t help me one bit. We ended up having to get an app on the iphone called Band Lab. It is $15 a month, not what we had expected when we purchased this. I would have sent this back, as we didn’t want the added expense, but he has wanted it forever. The pad itself works great. He is enjoying it a lot. But just be aware that it isn’t a “one and done” purchase as we had expected.

This is good but this is not wireless and it’s not that high quality when it comes to features if you want a very good one that can get you through music Production do synido but it works.

The Donner Starrypad has a nice set of features for people looking for a good trigger pad but do not need a lot of extra sliders and knobs. The silicone rubber pads have a good feel with a little downward flex. The sliders have a nice solid glide with just the right amount of resistance and the knobs have continuous rotation in both directions. There are three memory bank locations for all pads, knobs and slider setups and they can be accessed from three bank buttons on the front panel. You need the Starrypad Editor software to edit the pads, knobs and sliders but it works well and makes setup easy. The owners manual has the official Donner site for obtaining the Starrypad editor. You cannot hear the sounds that you assign to the pads while in the software edit mode, but by using General Midi Note and Control Change Maps you should be able to setup the Starrypad quickly.

once I unboxed the device I connected it to the computer, and the computer set it up so it was recognized. When I opened my DAW Software, it recognized it, but I was having issues getting it to work. I got on Google and searched until I found the answer so Both my MIDI Keyboard, and the Starrypad would work at the same itme in my DAW. Now I just have to practice finger drumming to make beats. Thank you for a quality product!

Bought couple years ago to use with midi mixer software as a Stream Deck type thing. Worked really good for controlling my PC. Now Using it for testing midi hardware modules. Works with FL Studio and Ableton. Not a fan of the way the buttons feel but overall this little unit works amazingly. I would definitely replace with the same one if needed

Product is a described in item description.

Satisfied with the purchase

I does not work and I always give good reviews

Trop cool merci Donner