I would recommend this product right away simply by the fact that despite it's flaws, this controller has improved my workflow, and more importantly, made creating music more enjoyable. Like other reviewers have stated, this is a MIDI "CONTROLLER" meaning no on-board sounds, if you don't wanna bring your laptop to gigs, go pickup an MPC or the cheaper XR drum machine.

Now that you understand that you need other software to use this product, let's get into the pros and cons. Let's start with the cons actually. Firstly, this controller has an issue with double-triggering notes. What I mean by this specifically is very often when playing a pad on this controller the resulting MIDI data will be the note you played, followed immediately by either the same note, or a different note on the controller, but at a much lower velocity. There is no way to adjust the sensitivity of the pads so there is really no way to remedy this issue though I've heard that replacing the stock pads with either the MPC2000 or thick and fat pads from MPCstuff makes the issue much less frequently and also slightly decreases the sensitivity of the pads. Unfortunately, in many live rigs, this will make the controller unusable, especially if you are buying it with the intention of launching scenes. With this considered, I would not recommend purchasing this controller with the intention of using it to launch scenes.

Where this controller excels is for finger drumming. Despite the fact that I just recommended changing the pads, the stock pads actually feel very nice. Prior to owning this I actually thought I hated Akai pads, but the only ones I had tried were the ones on the older generation MPD and MPK series. These pads improve dramatically over those. They feel nice and soft and definitely have a bit of a bounce to them that makes playing snare rolls, flams, or even double kick patterns a delight. I've played on this controller for periods of over 2 hours where my fingers do not hurt at all afterwards. They are also much bigger than the pads on other controllers I have tried which is great if you have big hands. One problem I did have with the pads at first is (as stated before) they are extremely sensitive. I thought the problem at first was that the velocity curve wasn't that great and playing this controller created too many MIDI notes with full level velocity values. However, I realized I was actually playing too hard coming from another controller and that the velocity curve is definitely present and very good. While I have adjusted my playing to get the most out of the controller's velocity range, I still feel like it is slightly too much and wish I could turn it down just a little bit. If you like to play hard, you're gonna have a bad time with this and I suggest checking out the IK Multimedia iRig. Also worth mentioning is that the pads are backlit with a red LED light when you press down on them. I definitely like the visual feedback from playing.

Now that I've said everything I need to about the pads, let's get into the build quality and other features. This device is made from a nice hard plastic that definitely prevents it from feeling like a toy. The construction is seriously rock solid and I think the overall footprint of this device is exactly what I could have asked for over the more expensive MPD226 and 232. The 6 onboard endless rotary encoders feel fantastic as well. I am currently also using Nektar Impact LX49+ for my keyboard which also has knobs. These feel much better and have a nice little bit of resistance. Once again, nothing cheap here. Another great feature is that you get 3 banks of pads and encoders which are switchable via one button. There is an LED indicator letting you know which bank that you are in case you forget, nice. The only other thing left to mention is the built in note repeat which I have not fully exploited yet, but seems interesting. Basically when you use the momentary note repeat switch the note will repeat to whatever value you have set it to. While the note is repeating, you can change the velocity by changing the pressure of your finger on the pad. You have to control the speed via note lengths and then use of the tap tempo feature. There are even options to swing the repeats which I think is neat. If you want to sync the repeat to an external clock source (your DAW), you can do that as well, but I found that every note produced this way was actually just slightly behind what it should have been. All in all, the note repeat is an interesting feature that does not make or break this controller.

Final verdict, this controller can be a great addition to any home studio or live performance tool for drum samples. Everything about the controller feels great and I'm sure it will last a while. I'm going to try and do the pad upgrade and see if that does anything to help the double note triggering. I want to note that while researching different controllers I realized there is a surprisingly lack of straight up 4 x 4 MIDI pad controllers without any sort of keyboard or other gimmicks. This is definitely the best in the price range (also check out the Korg padKontrol), but there is also not much available outside of this price range and while the other controllers in the MPD line offer a few more features and control options, you're essentially getting the same set of pads with some extra bells and whistles you may not need. The only reason I would suggest jumping for the MPD226 or MPD232 is if it is the only controller in your rig and you need something for transport controls. For straight drumming and knob turning, the MPD218 is nearly perfect.

For some reason I can't link it with FL Studio 12 PE. I give up. Sending this thing back!!!
UPDATE:
So I finally figured out how to get it working. It was just something wrong with my laptop. This controller is good. The pads are thick like I thought they'd be. In my opinion it's better than using my laptop keyboard. It did have the potential to be great. I gave it 3 stars because it plays double notes when I've only pushed a pad once. It's not that much of a big deal because of the style of music I do. It's happened on all pads at different times. For some reason #8, #9 & #16 seem to always do it.

I fell for the new toy. As with so many of the modern software makers out there, Akai has the same attitude about their offering - "This is a stick-up! Test our crap for us for free, and give us your money too." It is put upon the paying customer to figure out all the problems with the buggy, bat-crazy, upside-down, incomprehensible install job, that is thrust upon the digital musicians of this world. In my not so humble opinion, ridiculous FOOLS wrote this code.

THE JUNK:
The midi button controls don't align 1 through whatever pads to software. They light up randomly in the software.
The software assigning is deep, but it never saves a state of settings without some issue.
The pots on this are stiff, it would work for some things but mostly not. It gives an artificial sense of solid construction.
Switching the banks on the controller does not switch them in the DAW or MPC software.
The one time (yup - one) this thing read my Vst folder without crashing, it named them all wrong. suddenly drums were cross named with other instruments.
Every other time I tried to add Vst folders - the MPC crashed - even after hours of FAQ and videos and reading install notes and so on, hours of changes all lost and hopeless.
A warning would pop up with every restart stating that my audio card had changed - every time - and would I like to adjust my preferences. GAH! I only have ONE installed audio adapter and it was already selected, over, and over, and over.
There was a distinct delay beyond normal response times from the tap of a pad to the MPC seeing it, and most of the time the pad tapped would not be the pad used in the MPC software. GAH! No damit the bass drum! not the crash-GAH!
In the online forum (which in this case means: for them idiots we sold this to) what worked for one person did not work for me.
AND LASTLY THE BIGGY STUPID INTERFACE MASHUP:
I should not have to adjust MY ENTIRE OS DESKTOP INTERFACE TO MAKE THIS CARP WORK. Wide screen, text enlargement and drag and drop have been around for over 20 years, Akai must have missed the last two decades of advancements.

WHAT THE?:
People just keep on buying this garbage and calling it platinum. Why? I was mislead.
Why do we keep testing their junk and solving their problems for them after having paid for a working product? Are we all that desperate for a tappy thingy?

EULA JUNK: KIDDIES WILL BE BORED:
EULA anyone? Thanks to the supreme court of this great nation, These cretins can now require us to give away our rights as of the moment we use the software (if that's what you want to call this riddled-pockmarked and weeping-pile of broken code.) And so they can give out whatever they want, lie about it, and not have to face any repercussions.
For every one who finds out the hard way - ten new people fall for this package in the hopes of a great deal and a way into a simple control interface. Seemingly Akai can't manage a working product never mind one simple to use.

THERE IS GOOD AND THEN THERE IS ACTUAL GOODNESS:
It isn't good- none of this product is good.
Good, as a general rule - works.
Good, gets us motivated and firing on all cylinders. GOOD gets a bad man good, and a good woman bad. Good is not what this product is and if they come at me with fire and brimstone, I will shrug it off because: 1) I'm an Athiest, and so therefore 2) once someone makes a claim of something that cannot be supported by facts it is THEIR problem to PROVE the claim has merit. Oh... that's what I am doing with this rant.

THE TOUGH QUESTIONS MUST BE ASKED:
Is it that they have no respect for their customers? Oh my friends - I think it is worse than that. I think they have a true disdain for their customers. EVIDENCE FOR MY STANCE IS IN THE FORUM AND THE FAQ AND THE EULA.

OOPS:
This software is Akai's promise of entry level excellence with the actual delivery of, UH-OOPS- Ah shucks was that us?
If you look at their add campaign, It's like a bad episode of Mad Men. They are quite serious about this terrible solution they have strung together, with the intent, and the ethics of the "New Trumpians." (My phrase - mine)

THE UNREAL:
this stuff has been on the market for years and it is still useless for any serious creation - buttons and all.
I had no idea it was this bad until I purchased it. I thought, briefly, at a minimum, that crashing software at this level would be unheard of. Perhaps they should employ better coders - not crazies with a new plan of vendetta against the world because Steve Jobs died, and Kurzweil never made a great keyboard.

SO GOOD THEY DID IT AGAIN:
Weather it be MPC essentials or MPC 2.0, BROKEN IS BROKEN. Reasoning would find a normal business meeting that concludes: if it doesn't play well with newer systems, heck - with any system, without crazy high=jinx don't sell it to the group of people being relied on to better the bottom line.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:
if I have to set up anything for hours just to get it to work (it never did wholly work), I lose money, intensity, and creativity. Is Akai going to pay me back for those losses? They don't have to according to their EULA. It is my fault for choosing their gear; for trusting them.
Oh and how about the time it took for me to find all of this out on my own? Do I get my time or money back? Nope. How about for reviewing this for free, to keep you all from getting your time, and money stolen?
Nope that was my choice so they are covered there too. I don't get paid to be a watch dog.

THE FINAL WORD:
The problem with abusing trust, is when people like me choose not to forget.
Haven't you heard? Memories are better than ever thanks to all of the research being done, smoke or no smoke. Records online never go away either - well they do, but I will keep putting them back. The notion of never, suddenly outlives the expected financial life span of a corporation. Well except too big to fail banks, and apparently car companies; oh yeah, and housing sales and ... well that's another set of rants.

Thanks for reading and please do not buy this product. There is other gear that will get an entry level digital musician where they want to go.

Double note triggering that everyone else experiences. The second false-positive "ghost" note is not always low velocity and is certainly audible enough to throw off one's playing and mess up a performance. Even if recording is your only concern and you feel you can rely upon after-the-fact manual MIDI edits, with all the EXTRA TIME you invest in deleting ghost notes from your "otherwise perfect" performance, you could buy a nicer pad that didn't have that problem to being with. Then that "otherwise perfect" performance would be even more perfect, because you weren't perpeutally worried about triggering or actively ignoring ghost hits.

The issue persists regardless of the solutions proposed by others online. Doesn't matter if you tighten/loosen the screws on the back, play it for a few days to "break it in," or what have you. If anything, the double triggered notes gets worse as you play it more, as I only noticed it after a few hours of playing but after that it was unavoidable. At least every 1/10 hits for some of the 16 pads, and worse when playing more than 1 pad at once with you hand.

Users elsewhere report that "holding the notes down too long" is the problem and that this is a user error. This is, of course, ridiculous because the double-triggering occurs within less than a 32nd notes' time at reasonable tempos; one ought to be able to remain stationary for more than a few milliseconds without having to reperform their entire piece.

My $50 when brand-new Korg Nanopad 1 (not even Nanopad 2) was better than this.

I bought an MPD218 awhile back. I ended up selling it after awhile, and here's the reason why -

This MIDI controller has everything you need for a drum-pad style controller. 16 pads, 6 knobs that go great for filtering, and great features such as 16 level, note repeat, etc. Basically, this is the ultimate MPC controller.

However, it lacks in playability. When I would play live with this MIDI controller, the pads were so sensitive that I would get notes triggering twice when I intended to have them trigger once. Even the lightest single touch and this glitch would occur. Not only that, but sometimes other notes around the pad you are playing will trigger. How utterly disappointing this was. I've owned an MPC before, the real drum-pad sequencer Akai is famous for, and have never had this problem. Why then should they manufacture something sub-standard to what they used to put out?

This controller could have been the best MIDI controller I ever owned for playing drums. It literally has every feature I want in a drum-pad MIDI controller. But sadly, it lacks in the most department for controllers of its kind - playability. And for that, I have to give it two out of five stars. I was considering giving it three stars, because the build quality is there, but let's be real - you buy controllers like this for playability. As much as this controller may entice you with its red backlit pads and Akai's reputation of producing legendary drum-pad machiens, I would look elsewhere. Perhaps at the Launchpad, which is more fit for DAW music production of today.

A darn shame!