Akai Professional is a leading provider of music production hardware and software, recognized for its innovative products that cater to musicians, producers, and audio professionals. Established in 1984, the company has built a strong reputation in the industry, particularly known for its iconic MPC drum machines and the popular MPK Mini MIDI controller. The company's offerings include a wide range of music production tools designed to facilitate creativity and enhance the music-making process. Akai Professional serves a diverse customer base, from hobbyist musicians to professional sound engineers, providing essential equipment for both studio and live performance settings. With a commitment to quality and innovation, Akai Professional continues to be a trusted name in the realm of music technology.
Akai Professional receives significant criticism from consumers, primarily due to poor product quality and inadequate customer service. Many reviewers express frustration over faulty products, with claims that items like the MPC One and MPK Mini have serious issues, including unresponsive keys and software bugs.
Customers also report a lack of support, stating that help tickets go unanswered and communication with the company is nearly impossible. While some users appreciate the quality of specific hardware like the MPC Key 37, they note that the accompanying software is limited, only functioning on Windows and MacOS. Positive experiences are rare, with only a few praising the ease of purchasing plugins. Overall, the sentiment leans heavily negative, with many vowing never to buy from Akai again.
Summary generated with AI from recent reviews
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
| Source | Rating | Reviews | Weight | 6-mo | Fake risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trustpilot Imported Trustpilot reviews | 1.9 | 35 | 100% | ● Low |
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Jul 2025.
| Month | Average | Reviews |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 24 | 3.0 | 2 |
| Sep 24 | 2.0 | 2 |
| Oct 24 | — | 0 |
| Nov 24 | — | 0 |
| Dec 24 | — | 0 |
| Jan 25 | 2.3 | 4 |
| Feb 25 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Mar 25 | — | 0 |
| Apr 25 | — | 0 |
| May 25 | 1.0 | 1 |
| Jun 25 | — | 0 |
| Jul 25 | 4.0 | 1 |
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 35 most recent reviews.
“I needed to contact Akai Professional support over the bundled software and online store partnership – they took a wh...”
“Do not buy any used Akai pro product”
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Musical Instruments.
| Company | Overall | Legit | Service | Quality | Refunds | Trend | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1.9 out of 5 (poor) | 100 out of 100 | 1.5 out of 5 (poor) | 1.3 out of 5 (poor) | 1.0 out of 5 (poor) | — | 35 |
| 5.0 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | — | — | — | — | 25 | |
| 4.7 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 4.7 out of 5 (good) | — | −3% | 551 | |
| 4.4 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | 4.6 out of 5 (good) | 4.0 out of 5 (good) | 2.6 out of 5 (poor) | — | 272 | |
| 4.8 out of 5 (good) | 100 out of 100 | — | 4.0 out of 5 (good) | — | — | 25 |
Bottom line: Akai Professional is #5 of 5 on overall rating in this group. On quality, Sports Integrity scores higher (4.7 vs 1.3).
35 reviews of Akai Professional. Filter by what matters to you.
Over a year ago
Very poor customer service - few months to answer. AKAI Professional Advance Keyboard and VIP software never worked properly and now no updates to new system on OS X. So, after 4 years this equipment... See more
Over a year ago
newsletter Ordered a 55inch tv 4 days later still waiting on update of confirmation email. Rang several times left 2 voicemails sent several emails. Will be seeking refund buyer beware. Full amount de... See more
Over a year ago
When looking at reviews for Akai Professional, it's important to remember that Akai Professional, part of InMusic group, is not Akai, a brand which is applied to all sorts of electronics such as cheap... See more
Anyone can write a CrowdTrust review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they'll be displayed as long as an account is active.
newsletter Ordered a 55inch tv 4 days later still waiting on update of confirmation email. Rang several times left 2 voicemails sent several emails. Will be seeking refund buyer beware. Full amount debited from my account. Site shows my full name and address of “last purchased” did not give consent for my data to be used here!
Very poor customer service - few months to answer. AKAI Professional Advance Keyboard and VIP software never worked properly and now no updates to new system on OS X. So, after 4 years this equipment goes to trash - never AKAI Pros again.
When looking at reviews for Akai Professional, it's important to remember that Akai Professional, part of InMusic group, is not Akai, a brand which is applied to all sorts of electronics such as cheap TVs and cooking appliances. If there's a review for a TV here, it's the wrong Akai. I bought an Akai MPC Key 37 and have discovered the MPC system for the first time - only 35 years too late, perhaps. This is a synthesizer keyboard based on the new MPC environment, so it's essentially a computer and software in a handy package rather than a traditional synth or sampler, but it works well, its fast, and has an amazing selection of presets. I needed to contact Akai Professional support over the bundled software and online store partnership – they took a while to respond, but were very helpful once I had a customer service advisor to talk to (Monika). The older packages and bundles are still tied to a partnership with FastSpring, which is a third party store and it has lots of issues with checkout and payment (even when buying a free item), it also charges extra for 'continued access to downloads' when Akai Professional offers continued access once you have bought something. I resolved the issue with FastSpring not taking payment by filling out total nonsense in their checkout form - the only thing to remember is to make sure the email address used is the same as your InMusic profile. If you've bought an MPC Key 37 which comes with a voucher for one free extra instrument, do NOT use it to get the MPC Stems expansion (that is only £9,99 and if you hesitate on checkout you'll get a 10% off code, so £8.99. InMusic should just make it a part of the MPC Desktop and Standalone package rather than trying to gouge such a trivial extra amount for it). Akai Professional's MPC store has moved to a new checkout partner and I'm sure their future offerings will be more robust and user-friendly, harmonised across all InMusic brands. However, there's a worrying trend to subscriptions and DLC across all these types of instrument, and the MPC/Air subscriptions do not (as far as I can tell) extend to standalone MPC instruments, so check carefully before being tempted. Jura and op-X4 are well worth having. My objection was that the free plugin did not include the option of getting the excellent "Fabric" one, which would make the MPC Key 37 very versatile. Note that while marketing claims the MPC Key 61 has many more bundled instruments, the actual difference between the sounds provided with the 61 and the 37 is just six virtual instruments. The rest of the package is the inclusion of VST versions of the AIR softsynths, and some effects plugins. These do have a high price normally, but Akai frequently offers promotions for MPC instruments and software, so don't buy them unless you NEED the sounds right now, or have waited for a discount. The MPC Key 37 itself is a brilliant bit of kit, really versatile and flexible. After buying it I weighed up all the gear I owned and sold six things that it overlapped in sounds and process, worth twice what the MPC Key 37 cost even though they were secondhand. That illustrates what kind of value it offers I think... but I do hope they upograde it to 4GB RAM to match the 61 key, and it's a shame it doesn't have an M2/nVME slot as an evolution of the SSD in the Key 61 - instead, you add storage on an SD card which is certainly cheap and apparently not much slower than the Key 61's SSD interface anyway. The Key 37's exposed SD card feels more vulnerable than an internal nVME card would however, and since it holds your samples and projects, you'd want to make backups and protect it from theft at gigs.
Shoddy customer service. Incredibly bad interface design for Studio, as if they got non music people to work with the UX, just blatant disregard for the customer base. Avoid at all costs. Not responded to a single enhancement request - and I've made hundreds. Don't even want to appear to accept help. crazy.
I ordered a AKAI MPK mini about an year ago. First of all, the drum pads were not working properly, and you had to really "hit" the buttons for them to to work (usually you should be able to just lightly tap them for them to work). I really didn't have a problem with this since I almost never used them anyways. However, a very comedic thing happened a week ago. I, for the first time, dropped my AKAI MPK Mini from a table (around 50cm drop to the floor with a carpet) by mistake. The MIDI keyboard stopped working... It's really insane, since the drop wasn't even that bad and the first time ever. I feel like AKAI just uses their legacy/history as a pioneer in the MIDI keyboard industry as an advantage, and they don't really care about quality and just want to profit. Because this is just outrageous honestly.
Talking about MPK Mini keyboard; this thing is of very low quality. Some keys got broken after a while without even using, just by themselves. And when I searched about it on internet, I saw that this is a very common problem with this keyboard. I was short on money when I bought it but now I wouldn't buy it again nor recommend it to anyone. Very portable keyboard,you can carry it so easily but very very poor quality. Don't expect a long term use from it.
Worst customer service experience from any name brand. It's a hassle to even find their support pages and contact numbers, but even if you do they never reply on any platform. It's absolutely ridiculous that a company that sells such pricey equipment can't even email you about the warranty on one of their products. It wouldn't be that bad if you didn't eventually have to contact them for every piece of gear you buy off them, their MPC One which retails for over 700 usd is an absolute piece of garbage with horrendous quality control.
MPC hardware is great but their desktop DAW software only runs on Windows and MacOS - which is classic because AKAI uses the superior Linux OS on their MPC hardware. All of the truly great software is cross-platform and AKAI is missing out on a market here.
Never buying Akai again faulty products made to last a year no help line seller(rockshop) nor manufacturer will help faceless company selling cheap products now. Good bye forever
Do not buy any used Akai pro product! You will not be able to register it! They never respond to help tickets on their support site, their chat system DOES NOT EXIST and their phone support is only for corporate buyers with account numbers. THEY DO NOT CARE if you can use their products or not, only about getting your money!
SERIOUSLY DONT BUY AN AKAI PRODUCT EVER THEY USE A THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE LICENSE COMPANY CALLED ILOK WHO REFUSES TO LET YOU ACCESS YOUR PURCHASES EVEN WHEN YOU CONTACT THEM FROM THE SAME EMAIL ADDRESS YOU'VE USED FOR DECADES.. ILOKS SOFTWARE LOOKS LIKE IT WAS DESIGNED IN XP I HAD A MUCH BETTER EXPERIENCE WITH NATIVE INSTRUMENTS WHO SORTED THIER LIVES OUT OVER 5 YEARS AGO AND GOT WITH THE TIMES DELIVERING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ARTURIA IS GOOD BUT THEIR HARDWARE SUPPORT IS SERIOUSLY IS LACKING SERIOUSLY IF YOUR COMPUTER BREAKS DOWN YOU CANT TRUST AKAI TO ALLOW YOU TO REINSTALL YOUR PURCHASED SOFTWARE THEY EXPECT YOU TO BUY IT AGAIN AS SUCH HALF MY BUNDLED AKAI AND AUR INMUSIC SOFTWARE IS NOW RENDERED USELESS THEREFORE AKAI = USELESS DONT BUY LOOK AT TRUSTPILOT BEFORE BUYING ANY HARDWARE OR TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE BUNDLE AS THERES PROBABLY A HIDDEN CAVIATS IN THIS CASE A THIRD PARTY CALLED ILOK WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO SUPPORT CUSTOMERS INSTEAD ILOK HAS BEEN A CONSTANT CAUSE OF FRUSTRATION FOR 7 YEARS WHERE OTHER COMPANIES HAVE IMPROVED AKAI SUPPORT IS NOW WORSE THAN EVER IVE LOST ACCESS TO IVER HALF MY SOFTWARE AND IM SERIOUSLY UNHAPPY ABOUT IT THIS IS SENT FROM MY GOOGLE EMAIL ADDRESS AKAI CAN SEE MY COMPLAINTS VUA MY ASSOCIATED EMAIL HOWEVER IT DOESN'T APPEAR THEY CARE ABOUT REVIEWS DUE TO THEIR LIW SCORE OVER THE LAST DECADE
This company is poisoning the crap out of their products with Diisononyl phthalate. I got a live 2 in the mail yesterday, 2-3 hours after it being in my house I was getting a headache, slight seizures, coughing fits, I threw up my dinner and it made my eyes swell and turn red. So I put it away in its box washed my hands and went to bed. Dude, It makes my eyes swell just sitting next to it while it’s in its box. I just took a picture of it, but apparently, I can’t post it on here.
I purchased the AKAI Professional LPK25 - USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with 25 Responsive Synth Keys for Mac and PC, Arpeggiator and Music Production Software,black for $59 in December 2024. Be careful--the piano keys on this device are really small! It's difficult to play in the same way you would a piano. The device is plastic but well made. Be carefuly about whether this fits your Mac. Recent models of Mac have a different USB type port, and a converter is needed for it to work.
Eine MPC One gekauft und nur Probleme, auf der Verpackung steht alles schön auf Deutsch, Gerät ausgepackt, ok keine Bedienungsanleitung dabei kein Problem laden wir uns die PDF. Und hier fängt das Problem an! Es gibt keine Bedienungsanleitung auf Deutsch! Da mein Englisch schlecht ist hilft es mir natürlich garnicht! Support angeschrieben, natürlich Antworten die nur auf Englisch zurück was mir nicht hilft! Akai Deutschland weiss ich nicht wofür es die überhaupt gibt. Sind nicht in der Lage ein Deutsches Bedienungheft anzufertigen. Fragen beantwortet der Kundenservice garnicht immer nur Links zur FAQ alles auf Englich und dann noch nicht mal die Antwort auf meine Frage dabei! Naja geht das 750,- teuere Gerät zurück! Ach ja und die beste Antwort war ich solle mir das Handbuch doch übersetzen mit Google! Nie wieder Akai!
I have a mpc one, I have it for 3 years now. I like the immediacy of getting beats done but if I want to mix them, I export them to my mac, because there’s way more options in my daw (logic). For midi sequencing though it’s been a nightmare. I was so excited to control some synths with the mpc but I’m getting more and more frustrated with akai as the same bug keeps reappearing in every update thus far (2.15.1). I mapped 4 cc’s to the q-links to have some control while playing but it doesn’t work properly. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, sometimes in steps, sometimes without visual feedback. I updated my mpc 7 times the past few days and there’s not 1 single firmware where it works like it should. Not to be trusted when gigging live. Now I’m probably going to sell mine as I don’t want any frustration in my studio.
Très facile d'acheter et d'activer un plugin pour MPC. Mais le système de protection contre la copie de MPC Studio est quand même trop contraignant...
idiot moron stone age company can't even make a download system f-cking work properly 'ooohh we sent you a link to your email except we f-cking havent' on abouit 17 different f-cking emails u shiet b^stards
Tried multiple times to reach out to customer support with very little communication from them. After 4 business days they finally responded with generic troubleshooting. Performed troubleshooting measures and responded an hour later. No response from them since then which was 2 days ago. It should be known that once you purchase something then less than a year later if something goes wrong you may to have other companies service your product that is under warranty due to Akai's poor customer service.
DO NOT BUY. Not quality products bought 32" tv was glitchingtrougbout setup only unboxed. I returned item immediately and was told nothing wrong with tv. No refund or replacement offered. Tv clearly glitching sent video evidence and still tv is being returned. Bad quality products and vendors worse customer service
I had a lot of questions about hardware / software and plugin instrument activation. The Akai support was always very patient and answered very fast. The technical support is friendly and professional highly competent. All questions were answered, all problems were solved. I would like to give 10 stars. Special thanks to Antoaneta, Customer Experience Advisor, highly recommended. Best regards, Thomas, Germany
Akai Professional is a leading provider of music production hardware and software, recognized for its innovative products that cater to musicians, producers, and audio professionals. Established in 1984, the company has built a strong reputation in the industry, particularly known for its iconic MPC drum machines and the popular MPK Mini MIDI controller. The company's offerings include a wide range of music production tools designed to facilitate creativity and enhance the music-making process. Akai Professional serves a diverse customer base, from hobbyist musicians to professional sound engineers, providing essential equipment for both studio and live performance settings. With a commitment to quality and innovation, Akai Professional continues to be a trusted name in the realm of music technology.
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