akai joining the nano midi controller bandwaggon?
just got this via cdm:
nice to see ome competition developing here …
that’s pretty dope. i like the xy on the nanopad, but i like how the akai has pads and buttons…but that keyboard looks to squash the nanokey, assuming the price is competitive.
oh…btw, just saw this disclaimer on the CDM post:
Correction: The image above was what was run on musicradar.com; I’m not in the habit of ripping anyone’s images but I assumed it was a press image. Akai has written to say these are not correct images of the new products; we’ll shortly post replacement images.
The LPD looks pretty tight. I can’t see a keyboard that small being useful though imo. Plus that “under a pound” thing kind of just throws me off.
Even though I understand how people could find some good use for them, I can’t see myself using any kind of keyboard controller so small and light.
Just my opinion. Akai’s mini-keyboard certainly seems to top Korg’s attempt. Happy to see some competition though.
i would like the idea if i was going to be stuck on a plane and/or hotel room
i love akai’s pads, assuming they share some similarities to their other drum machines..i’ll definitely be picking one of them up..
These could be pretty decent and kill the korg nano line if they have a better build quality than the korg’s
They look sick, I curious to see what the price is going to be.
some more information emerges:
i especially like that:
“Both the LPD8 and LPK25 have four memory banks for programming and recalling settings appropriate to different software programs they use.”
i assume this means that it will send different MIDI messages for the different banks?
Man I need that LPD8…
I have a korg nanokey I use for cue point juggling. Using a keyboard to ‘play’ sounds just feels right, for some reason.
the lpd screams EQ controls to me 
I have notice that there are two pictures of this controller:
from akai site:
http://www.akaipro.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/21/f0ec32fd6aee9df17c98daf09f47ad21/large/lpd8_web_large.png
and from other sites:
http://www.guitargearheads.com/uploads/img4a65fad3ccdf9.jpg
???
Crazy, I was considering buying the nanokey for the purpose of composing on the go, but this LPK25 looks to blow it out of the water with that key action.
I am already finding places online that you can reserve a LPD8… looks like the price point is going to be about 69 bucks USD. never had my hands on the korgs yet but i have always been pleased with the akai gear.
here are some i found…
http://www.guitartrader.com/!Oc!nZ4TCybpQnO2sVVchYw!/Akai-LPD8-Laptop-Pad-Controller-s
http://www.midi-store.com/Akai-Professional-LPD8-p-18989.html
You can forget abaout LPD8 and LPK25 for at least a month or two. I already reserve LPD8 in sweetwater two weeks ago but the shipment is late(info on sweetwater about delays is for future shipment not the one that is on the way, and I think its already sold out). So we must wait and wait and wait, who knows how long!!!
Sweetwater will get it first, of course.
The LPD is going to replace my nanoPad as soon as it becomes available. I had to disable 4 of the 12 pads already because at times they don’t send NOTE OFF msgs, which results in a playback pause when they’re mapped to Cue Play. A literal showstopper. This is the second and last time KORG hardware has failed on me.
Plus the AKAI has backlit pads! And you can never have enough knobs. Gonna miss the XY pad though.
akai will be available in the middle of September. 