I've got Sonar X3 Producer, a few rack-mounted synths, a Midi Keyboard Controller (Oxygen 49), a Foctusrite Scarlet 18i20 audio interface, some nice Virtual instruments, and a very nice Windows 8.1 PC.
 
I've been working in Cakewalk/Sonar for years to compose primarily electronic/techno music.
 
Question is: What's your recommendation on a new midi controller for drums/grooves? I used to own a MPC 2000 back in the day, but I only have my keyboard or mouse to program drums now and I feel like some pads would be nice. 
 
The basic Akai controllers look okay, but I hear the pads suck and they look kinda cheap. The Mashine looks awesome but I'm guessing overkill for my needs?
 
These seem popular, but do you have any advice?
 
Akai MPD18
Akai MPD26
Korg PadKontrol
Mashine Mikro
 
Thanks

I used to use the Korg...and loved it...till I got my Maschine Mikro. The new Version 2 software and libraries are fabulous. Check it out.


PS...if you are interested in the Korg, mine is for sale.

I'm a bit confused on what software would come with a controller that I would want to use with Sonar. After-all, I don't use any software besides Sonar with my Midi Keyboard. So I'm wondering why I would want to use Software version 2 with Sonar... Is it the VST instrument that's so powerful? I guess I need to do a lot of research/reading up on this Maschine device. I just heard of it for the first time today :)

What are the most important factors for you?
Footprint?
Playability?
Portability?
Other?
Do you care about included sounds? Your opening post suggests that is not particularly important.
My situation was similar. I have plenty of drum/percussion VSTi's, so I wanted just control.
Btw, your Oxygen 49 is ideal for percussion such as Tablas, congos, etc. Most of these are mapped to the keys so that subtle variations are very easy and satisfying by playing the keyboard.
Even though I have dedicated drum controllers, I prefer the keyboard for these types of drums.
That said, there is nothing like playing drums when you want to play drums.
So I went with this:
 
Yes, I know you specified pads, and a kit may be too large for your space.
But the units you have mentioned cover a broad price range, and there are kits that fall close to that range.
The Alesis Control Pad at the top of the picture would be my most direct answer to your question.
With the small pads on most of those controllers, you are still doing tabletop drumming, and to me, you don't gain much over what you can do with the keyboard.
On the other hand, the pads on the Control Pad are large enough to play with sticks, but it is still a fairly compact unit.
What I really like is that each pad can be mapped to a different channel.
So I can assign the pads to 8 different synths if I choose to do so.
It is not currently in production from Alesis, but you can find it on ebay for less than $100.
May or may not be the direction you want to go, but my 2c.

Druid
I'm a bit confused on what software would come with a controller that I would want to use with Sonar. After-all, I don't use any software besides Sonar with my Midi Keyboard. So I'm wondering why I would want to use Software version 2 with Sonar... Is it the VST instrument that's so powerful? I guess I need to do a lot of research/reading up on this Maschine device. I just heard of it for the first time today :)

I love the controller editor with the korg and hated it on the Triggerfinger. I'd put my thoughts on both here, so I won't re-type http://forum.cakewalk.com/Korg-Nanopad2-vs-MAudio-Trigger-Finger-m3022745.aspx
 
I use the editor on my Korg nanopad to set up where the pads are being assigned, Their is also a an x-y controller on the nanopad that I haven't used, but I may want to decided on the controller info that is sending. With the pads how ever, I like to set up various drum kits, so playing is easy. Sometime I set the 8 pads for the right hand, and the 8 for the left to be the mirror. So 2 bassdrums next to each other, and a a snare one the outside of them. so right and left index fingers have there own pad to hit. I just find this more intuitive, and playing flams, less clumsy when I can use 2 fingers that don't have to fight over one pad.
 
I also use the pads to play keyboard sounds, so I may have the bottom row  assigned to one octave of the the keys of C major, and the 8 above being the octave above. I also Have a midi chords plug in, so playing these individual notes now trigger a chord and the octave above maybe the second inversion

Thanks, that Control Pad may be the ticket. I've considered that pad and others like it, but I don't play drums so I'm okay with simply adding tabletop-pad drumming to my setup. I may give it a shot though.
 
Or, I could just get a simple 8 to 16 pads to supplement my Keyboard, or trade it up for a Keyboard with pads built in.
 
That nanoPad2 looks good, but the Akai  LPD8 seems to have better reviews out there.
 
>Do you care about included sounds?  
A) Nope, I've got more then enough already.
 
Basically, I'm looking for a hardware supplement to help me build drum tracks & groovy loops in Sonar X3 Producer. Akai MPD26 sounds most like what I am looking for, but for only $100 I could scoop up a Mashine instead but I don't know if that's not what I'm really looking for. Or I just grab an LPD8 and call it one until I feel the need for more.
 
Thanks! I'll research more...