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.

Definitely enjoying every moment playing and learning its various functions. Had some difficulty with software. An licensing issue. Other than that, it's worth it!!!

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.

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.

So Upset. Will send back to the North Pole UNDER THE BRIDGE!!!!! Even Chat GPT and Microsoft Co Polite cant make this work... NO words But and Big F U. This will not work w an I Pad Pro

Excellent midi controller, very good quality.

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.

I got this as a gift for a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master. He had been wanting a soundboard for his sound effects and music, but they were typically very expensive. This was an affordable option I found and he has been really happy with it. He was able to set it up with software on his laptop, so he can take it over to his friends' houses and have a more comprehensive experience in their play sessions. The soundboard is responsive so that he can quickly insert the sounds he needs, and there are plenty of large buttons so he can tie different effects to different buttons and have plenty ready to go at one press. You are also able to fade sounds so he can transition music between scenes. Overall quite happy with the purchase.

Trop cool merci Donner

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

Good mixer. User friendly

Satisfied with the purchase

Solid controller. Pads are as good as my MPC. The sliders and pots are a bit flimsy but overall a good controller. I had a good experience with their support team as well.