MPK Mini by Akai Professional

So first post into music and music production, yesterday I picked up a little goodie for me, The Akai MPK Mini Production Keyboard. I use this with Ableton Live 8, have heard of this working with many other programs like Fruity Loops (after all, it is a MIDI keyboard, so all the keys are programmable within your program)

For the price point, I really like this device. Ran me about $90 at Guitar Center. It may not look like there's a lot of keys but you can switch the octaves down and hit all the ranges of a piano or full keyboard, just not instantly. I myself prefer the compact design.
Those who are doing music production on their computer or just getting started, this device will get you started in the right direction. If you're using Ableton, I would recommend getting this over a launch controller (APC20/APC40 by Akai, for example) as you won't have to map your keys to your computer keyboard any more. And the keys are velocity sensitive, meaning the harder you hit the key, the louder the sound produced.
It also includes 8 velocity sensitive pads which you can see above the keys. Actually, there's 16 pads because there's 2 banks of 8 pads each. These are my favorite feature because you can set effect racks, keys, drums, whatever you want and they feel much better than the keys.
Maybe I have to break it in some but the keys feel loose and takes a little bit of effort to strike the way you want to. Everything you record can be fixed in Ableton though, and the velocity of each key can be raised or lowered to your liking.
All in all, for the price, this is a great tool for the up and comer producer or DJ. Recommended!