Donner MIDI Pad Controller Keyboard USB Type-C, Professional Drum Pad Machine Beat Maker with 16 Pads, MIDI out, 2 Assignable Fader and Knobs (STARRYPAD MINI, Black)

Since nobody does Linux reviews I will add one here. Firstly with Reaper it worked great, everything was properly assigned to what you would expect. Same for Ardour which was nice. Reassigned the pads to arm tracks to suit my setup. Now for the unit itself, it’s cheap, although it does feel very nice and responsive, very similar to the akai mpk25 but £20-30 cheaper so that’s a winner right there.It’s an excellent piece of kit for those who might be tight on space. Also for portability, find a padded pouch or wrap it in a big towel and throw it into your rucksack, it will be fine.Finally for people who are looking for software to get into using this little gem and don’t want to pay silly money for FL studio or such, Ardour is an excellent DAW that is free, open source and available for Windows, Mac and of course Linux. The interface takes a bit of getting used to and it can be quite cumbersome at first, but perseverance and you will be up and running in no time.There is also another DAW if people are interested, it is called LMMS, it is also free, open source and available for all systems. LMMS is a lot more like FL studio, in that it uses more of the blocked sequencer approach. Think of it as freebie version of FL Studio, brilliant for beginners.Hope all of this helps people in some way, cheers.

I’ve been looking for a new controller keyboard for a while as I’m short on space in my studio and want something to sit on my desk in front of me to play my VST instruments with transport controls for my DAW. I came across this Donner model, and as a fan of their guitar pedals I thought I’d give it a go.As far as my setup is concerned, I use Ableton Live 10 as my DAW and have a selection of VSTs mainly from Native Instruments and Arturia.My previous history with these sorts of controllers has been mixed. I’ve used M-Audio, Novation Launchkeys, and Korg. All have had different aspects that I appreciate, such as compactness, octave shifts, drum pads, transport controls, appregiators and modulation. I’m presently using a fairly battered Korg Microkey. It’s dependable, though not too sturdy, doesn’t have a wealth of features, though it’s pretty small.What I’m hoping for from the Donner DMK25 is that it takes the best bits of units I’ve tried so far and combines them into a winning unit.The information on Amazon seems to indicate that it will – there are pitch/mod touch controls, drum pads, transport controls, and a host of others. So, the main questions for me are: how well does it integrate with my DAW and how easy is it to set up, how robust does it feel, and does it play nicely?Unboxing:Well packaged, includes a manual and a fairly nice USB-C cable. I hadn’t realised it was USB-C when I’d seen it online, so that’s nice.Initial impressions:Before even connecting it and switching it on my initial feelings are that it’s light, very compact (nearly 34x18cm) and nicely laid out. Quality could be an issue as the plastic doesn’t feel the best and the keys feel a little on the cheap side and with no aftertouch. That said, for this price and with this many features you have to expect that.First connection:Plugged in with the provided cable and within seconds Windows 10 recognised it and said it’s ready to go. I load up Ableton and it’s already selected as a midi input. Not sure whether I’ll be able to use the transport controls as there’s no default control surface for this model in Ableton, so I’ll have to check with Donner support as to which to select. It would be nice if that was mentioned in the manual, so perhaps that’s some feedback they could take.I'm just waiting on advice from Donner at the moment as I've still not been able to get the transport controls and faders to work with Ableton as I don't know which template to select. They work if you choose Remote in the settings, though you then have to manually assign them to midi controls and the record only works as momentary, so that's not ideal. I'll update this review (or post a fresh one) when I have it working properly.I fire up the NI Massive X VST and choose a patch. I’m glad to say the keys don’t feel too bad, and the pitch and mod controls are automatically mapped. The pitch is pretty cool as it starts at centre and you can bend up and down, plus if you tap at the top and bottom it’ll immediately go to those extremes without the gradual bend.The rubber buttons feel pretty decent and it has both octave and transpose buttons. The transpose ones shift the pitch up or down by a semitone each time, which is an interesting feature, but not one I think I’ll use much. There seems to be only one colour of LED under the octave buttons too, so once you’ve pressed it once you have no indication of how many octaves above standard you are. It would be nice to have 2 or 3 colours there to give an idea of which range you’re at, and they do have multicolours on the drum pads (blue as standard and purple when you press the Pad Bank button).I haven’t used the sliders or rotary knobs yet as they don’t control anything by default. I’d have to dig into the settings to get them to control the VST, which will probably be via the NI controller editor. The sliders and knobs feel pretty decent too with just the right amount of resistance.So, all in all a very nice addition to my studio and one I’ll use. It fits exactly what I needed which is a compact mini keyboard controller with drum pads and transit controls. It compares well with other units on the market which are at a higher price, though perhaps doesn’t give you the quality of feel as something by Novation. So if you’re looking for a good, compact controller on a budget you won’t go far wrong with this. 8/10.EDIT/Update 05/01/2021:I now have the transport controls working in Ableton thanks to the support from the Donner team.You select the device by clicking the Track and Remote buttons ON under the Inputs on the MIDI Ports, on the Link MIDI tab in preferences.Then click on the MIDI button at the top right of the screen once you’ve closed preferences to enter the MIDI learn mode.Click the function you’d like to map (e.g. the Stop button) and then press the appropriate key on the controller.If you get an issue where the record button is only momentary (i.e. it switches off again as soon as you take your finger off it) then there’s a workaround!On the controller press both Transpose + and Octave + at the same time. Press the middle D key, then the record key, then the lowest C and finally the Highest C. That worked for me!

I received my midi keyboard on time and well packaged. The Keyboard and pads itself are extremely sturdy and well built and overall aesthetically pleasing. This coupled with the reasonable price at which it is sold provided an extremely positive first impression.As a first time user of a midi keyboard it is a fairly steep learning curve in regards to assigning it's functions but it comes with a comprehensive instruction book that provided clear instructions on how to assign each of the function buttons to control the DAW of your choice.As I was using the keyboard with the Cakewalk DAW I found it easier as it automatically sets up the keyboard function only leaving the other keys to assign as aforementioned.The full board is extremely portable and can be used to make music with your computer pretty much anywhere. After a few hours of programming and composing I am extremely happy with the new sounds I am able to create with this versatile and solid little unit.I would recommend this for beginners and experienced users alike as it has every function you could ask for in a midi keyboard unit and has certainly expanded my sonic capabilities through its versatility and options it provides.

Superb bit of kit for the price, I am so far very happy with the quality of the item, it's easy to carry around with it being so small and it's also slightly heavier then I expected which gives it a more premium feel, touch pads are responsive and colours help make it easier when selecting different banks. All in all a good purchase5/2022 Time will tell on it's lifespan so I will update if any problems occur.

It looks great but is sadly let down by its own limitations so returned it for refund & bought a Presonus Atom.

I use this for controlling vst functions and volume faders in the Reaper DAW. It is very easy to setup and also performs well in triggering drum samples. For the price it is a bargain but it really does need more comprehensive setup instruction, which are inadequate and hard to locate .