I used to use an AKAI MPK Mini controller. I had it for 4 years and didn't really need anything else, I had keys and pads and I chop up samples using Serato so you just switch the octave etc.
It finally broke and I decided I wanted a larger keyboard MIDI controller as I want to learn to play piano. I was not expecting the amount of features and complexity that this device has. It's overwhelming If you're somebody who doesn't know about MIDI programming, CC, etc.
I never learned it because like I said, my plugins did the job. Serato, Kontakt, plus multiple others.
It comes with a free copy of Ableton lite, MPC Daw production packs etc. Just read the features list. I use FL studio and it arrived a week ago and sometimes when making beats I barely have to touch the mouse. It comes with faders you can assign to the mixer or DAW, knobs for manipulation which you can assign to your DAW, mixer and has a play, pause, loop, and record button.
Like I said, I've been making music for years for fun but after beginning to make some money off of it,. I had to watch many tutorials on how to set this controller up properly with FL Studio and have every control mapped where I wanted it to be etc.
But once it's set up it was so worth the price. Just a big learning curve due to the amount of features available on it, it's pretty huge for me because I always had that AKAI MPK Mini, but this was a worthy purchase as it comes with instruction manuals, free software, product keys, tutorials on their website, software so you can edit and create your own presets etc.
Fantastic piece of kit for anyone, well worth the price.
If you're a beginner producer, or even an experienced one,