It's pretty much everything I want rolled into one. I'm no big time producer, so it should suffice. Are there other alternatives I should consider around the same price range? (+- $50)

It is very good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ3t7GqrwEI&feature=channel_v ideo_title

I've been using it for about 8 months... the keys and pads could be better. It's difficult to play anything with nuance and feeling, but it's a robust piece of kit overall. Especially when compared with the Korg Minis (ver.1).

I'd give it a test run first, though.

It's great for what it is and I don't think that you'll find a better compromise in terms of size/performance for keeping your desktop free of clutter. I wouldn't want it as my only keyboard though. The pads can get sticky (not from soda/coffee) as some have reported and the knobs are not suitable for heavy live work. The lack of a pitch wheel is also irritating.

That lil'thing is awesome, I tried it, and want to buy it ASAP

for me it is too small

I've been using the predecessor for a while in the form of the LPD8 and LPK25. Was quite interested when I saw they'd joined them together for a good price. Presuming that it's more or less the same bits of metal and plastic inide I'd say that it's good. The main frustration for me with the keyboard has been the lack of performance controls apart from a sustain button. Pads have been OK but have not had much use, you have to hit 'em hard to register.
Overall been very happy with them though.

Thanks for the response guys. Hmm... I'm pretty convinced right now. Are there any other alternatives though?

Novation Impulse and Nucturn.

great replacement for my two korg nanos, but there are some serious gripes that are already listed. you can't get everything perfect with these little devices, but i think they should've assigned two of the rubber buttons to pitch bend. i am going to figure out how to do this on my own.

also, from what i can tell, the arpeggiator doesn't trigger the drum pads. if this is correct it's a big WTF!

well in the meantime i'm using it as a portable looping station with live, and so far i've got some good results going.

The Mini is pretty great. It's extremely portable. Obviously it's not meant to be a primary controller. One thing I haven't seen documented is that the drum pads light up when you send MIDI to them, not just when you press them. That can be cool.

With the shallow depth velocity response is not as nuanced as with bigger keys, but it's better than I expected.

On the Mac I found a couple things. One, you shouldn't run this off of an Apple keyboard's built in USB hub for the most part because the Apple keyboard doesn't supply enough current at times and after a while it gets bolloxed and needs to be unplugged and replugged. That's not the Mini's fault though. It works OK off of my USB hub. Even connected directly though, the default Apple USB MIDI driver that Leopard and Snow Leopard use lose the connection to it from time to time and needs to be replugged. This again is likely not a fault of the Mini but due to the mysterious degradation of the default Apple MIDI drivers that became a problem after Tiger. However, I have noticed that certain USB MIDI devices are afflicted by the problem and others are not. (No problem observed with Novation ReMOTE SL.)

Having a really small keyboard like this that is USB powered is extremely useful for laptop work, but it's also useful to toss another keyboard on my desktop when playing multiple parts at once. Since it doesn't take up a lot of room on the desktop it's really useful when I don't need a bunch of octaves of range.

I have the keys and pads separately and they are pretty good for the price. I would be all over this if they included a small pitch/mod joystick.

mind it wont work with an ipad. if you don't care about that, it's decent. the pads kind of suck (wayyy too stiff/insensitive imo), though i'm spoiled by my padkontrol. the keys are ok, lack of a pitchbender/modwheel kind of bites. the arp is basic but ok (you can do the same in software). hardware editor is very well made, but it was made using maxmsp

for the price, for a notebook/traveling setup, it's definitely a nice keyboard, if the pads were more sensitive i'd like it a lot more, same with addition of mw/pb. it's worth the money but it's not perfect.

They have some of these at the college I work at, I have used one briefly - seems like a handy mini controller, feels better than the korgs, but the lack pitchbend is a real shame and the pads are not very useful.

I registered just to respond to this thread. I have a few things to address about the Akai MPK mini. First and foremost, I LOVE this keyboard. I've been able to come up with some pretty creative things simply because i had this keyboard and my macbook with me wherever i was when inspiration strikes. Plus its simple to use (once it's set up of course, i had to set preset controller assignments in logic to ease workflow) and fun to produce since the pads and the keys/knobs are so close to each other.

I have really only one major complaint. I know that some of the ppl on here already mentioned the pad issue. Thats easily fixable. A single layer of electrical tape carefully placed underneath the pads (you'll have to take it apart) will make them much more sensitive. There are videos on youtube on how to do this. That is not my complaint. The biggest reason i'm now looking for a different keyboard is the USB port on the mph mini. It SUCKS! first one broke away from the circuit board from a mild impact (cord was plugged in obviously). That rendered the keyboard useless. Tried resoldering the port back in but it was beyond saving. The second MPK mini i had bought as a replacement i reinforced the usb port by supergluing around it on the circuit board. However, it ended up becoming a light-weight brick last week because of, you guessed it, the usb port. This time the little plastic piece on the inside that spaces out the electrical leads broke off and has disappeared. Now the leads are exposed and bend easily whenever you plug the cord in, so there is never sufficient contact. I could probably replace the usb port if i had the right tools, but again, a nice instrument is rendered useless because of a very cheap usb port.

I do plan on getting another one soon because it is an awesome and handy keyboard to have, but first i'm looking for something different to use primarily in the studio, such as the MPK 25 or 49. I will reserve the MPK mini for mobile producing only.

If you have any other questions about the mini feel free to message me. Hope this helps!