In creating the MPC Touch, Akai Professional has once again established the iconic MPC series as the thought leader in music production technology.

Combining the might of a pro-level piece of production gear truly fit to carry the MPC shield with the tactile ease of use found on smartphones and tablets, the Touch is truly a workflow revolution. How producers interact with all aspects of their sound has been forever changed.

Introducing a new approach to music production with an ultra-fast and super intuitive workflow, the Touch is powered by a radiant 7” color multi-touch display. Literally grab and pinch waveforms, draw midi events, adjust envelopes, chop samples, add effects and precisely set your controls using your fingertips. Combined with the classic MPC feel, sound and vastly improved pads, the Touch embodies the best elements of our past while taking music production tech into the future.

M-Audio’s revival of the Trigger Finger proved there’s still a healthy market for generic MIDI Pad controllers, in spite of the popularity of all-in-one workstation hybrids like Maschine, Push and Akai’s own MPCs. Now Akai have refreshed all three of their MPD models with the new slimline styling we saw recently on their updated APC. As well as the physical update, the high-end model adds a built-in sequencer, and there’s a bundled software package to sweeten the deal. We had the 226 and 232 models on test.

If you like to take your ideas with you and refuse to be tied down to a desk, you just can't beat the Akai Professional LPK25 ultra-portable keyboard controller. Its small format lets it travel comfortably in the outer pocket of your laptop case, and you won't even notice its light weight design when you're on the move. You don't even have to lug around an AC adapter because the LPK25 runs completely off of USB buss power. Twenty five low-profile keys with real synth action give you plenty of immediate note access and playability, while the LPK25 remains shallow enough that you can comfortably reach your qwerty keyboard without accidentally bumping notes.

Part pad controller, part control surface, and completely ready to rock, Akai Professional's MPD226 lets you set up your music-creation to fit the way you like to work. It starts off with the same 16 MPC pads? and it only goes uphill from there. RGB backlighting behind those pads makes it easy to color code your layout, which is especially handy when you're switching between four banks of pad assignments. On the other side of the MPD226, there are four sliders, each with an assignable button and encoder. You can use these to set up track controls, ADSR envelopes, EQs, and much more. Top it off with classic MPC Note Repeat, dedicated transport controls, and a killer software package, and the MPD226 is a creative goldmine.

At under one-inch thin, with low-profile controls and a brushed aluminum body, MPC Studio made to move. MPC Studio merges real MPC pads, iconic workflow, and the same MPC Software used by MPC Renaissance to give you a fully integrated portable production solution. Welcome to production anywhere. The world is now your studio.

The MIDImix from Akai is a portable and compact high-performance MIDI mixer offering single-button control over virtually any DAW. The MIDImix offers an intuitive mixer layout with 8 individual line faders and a master fader, 24 control knobs arranged 3 per channel, and 1 to 1 mapping with Ableton Live. The controller can send all the mixer's settings to the connected DAW with a single press of a button, for unprecedented management and precise control over your DAW's functionality. The bus-powered MIDImix ships with a USB cable and a license for Ableton Live Lite.

Take full control over your entire virtual instrument collection with the Akai Professional Advance keyboard controller. Using Akai's Virtual Instrument Player (VIP) software, you can switch between your favorite software instruments right from the Advance — even if you're performing live without a DAW! You can easily browse your instruments for inspiring sounds without losing focus on your instrument. Keyboardists at music plus know that you need a precise response and easy navigation when you're playing live, and that's exactly what the Akai Professional Advance is designed for.

If you're looking for an excellent yet affordable USB pad controller, then check out the Akai Professional LPD8. The most obvious and striking thing about the LPD8 is its size. It's narrow enough to fit in a laptop bag with plenty of room to spare, and shallow enough to sit right in front of your keyboard and still let you reach your track pad and keys comfortably. But here's the thing you're sure to love: these pads feel simply incredible! And why wouldn't they? Akai Professional has been the force behind pad programming since the early days of the MPC. The LPD8's pads have that same responsive feel.

If you're after a straight-to-the-point USB pad controller, then you could hardly do better than the Akai MPD218. The MPD218 comes loaded with 16 genuine MPC pads for that unmistakably thick and fat feel, plus you can switch between three banks for up to 48 pads worth of control. The same goes for the six assignable pots, which let you take control of 18 parameters, such as volume, pan, filter cutoff, and more. One of the other MPC features on the MPD218 that the old-school music creators