Part pad controller, part control surface, and completely ready to rock, Akai'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 that have inspired MusicMajlis music producers to recommend Akai gear for decades, 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.