No I just got the MPD. They just have shitty pads, its well known that they suck. MPCstuff.com sells better pads though, so Ima get that. You have to like, ****ing punch the damn thing to trigger hits
I find that when I use my midi keyboard I come up with a decent melody much faster than just messing around wit piano roll. Learning a bit of basic music theory will help during those times where you can't think of anything. Many of my tunes I have come up with just from playing around and practicing what I already know.
I have never taken a piano lesson but the Oxygen 49 I use has really given me much more to be creative with.