I was not too pleased with the MPD218 and I also thought the LPD8 could be improved too. With the same pressure, the MPD218 triggers less notes than the ATOM. When you do finger drumming, you need agile fingers, but you also need a device with pads that will trigger on the slightest and fastest touches. I was looking specifically for a pad controller that was very sensitive. Pad sensitivity: Now this is where it gets interesting for me. The MPD218 feels a bit plasticky in a cheap way. Therefore, on looks, I announce it a tie.īuild: The PreSonus ATOM is built more solidly and feels less cheap. For the ATOM, the different coloured lights change with different uses, so they have functional benefits.

At first I would say the MPD218 wins in the looks comparison, but when you plug it in, you’ll see that the reason why the ATOM has white pads is because they are illuminated with a lot of different colours when it gets turned on and the MPD218 lights up with a red light only on the outer edge of each pad. Look: The MPD218 has a really sleek black look whereas the PreSonus ATOm looks less sleek with the white pads, but everything is arranged very neatly and the knobs are shaped very nicely.

Akai professional mpd