BIG FUN! Over 20+ years of experience I found that most samplers and synths are fun, tactile and immediate. But many times there are just too many features missing that will eventually lead you back to a DAW. I've had many samplers and also the Live II for a while but man let me tell you this thing hits different! Sure there are a lot of buttons, and a little bit of getting used to the different sections, I haven't ran into anything that I couldn't do. Record a mic (phantom power!), bass, crazy fast drumwork, sample chopping. All the included sounds are great. Most of my projects (usually 1 durmtrack, 1 sample chop, a bass and 2-4 instrument plugins) load in a matter of seconds. Browsing presets, sounds, menus all feel super responsive. And on top of ALL these features, it just sounds really good. Its really impressive how quickly you get it to sound like a record. Really cool stuff Akai! Expensive, sure but worth it. One thing: sampling through an Android phone doesn't seem to work on a lot of models but I just use a USBC out on my phone and a good old trs cable. Works fine.