Akai MPK 49 Controller Keyboard

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1. C-Tru
   July 22, 2010
   11:12 pm

   Review by C-Tru for Akai MPK 49 Controller Keyboard
   Rating:
   Now when I think of Akai, obviously quality and music productions come to mind. Unfortunately, this does not live up to the name. The biggest failing in this product is the drum pads. YES, THE DRUM PADS! No you might be thinking, ‘what could be wrong with legendary Akai drum pads?’ First off they are very unresponsive, you have to press down very hard just to trigger medium level midi sounds (yes, i even adjusted the sensitivity of the drum pads and this did not help). I am really perplexed by this, I’ll hit down on the pad, and then hit it again with the same pressure and it’ll either be louder or softer!!! I traded in my Axiom 25 and honestly, the drum pads on those were much much much better!!! On the plus side, the keyboard action on the piano keys is awesome! It has a slight weighted feel to them so you actually feel like your playing on a professional keyboard. (the Axiom series of keyboards had very light fake feeling piano keys). Needless to say, its alot of fun playing on the piano keys and 49 is good for most songs. The piano keys feel so great and are so responsive to slight pressure and touch that I’m using them instead of the drum pads to make my drum beats. Another great feature is the built-in arpeggiator, which is easy and fun to use when making melodies. There are also 8 knobs and 8 sliders that you can program on the audio program you are using. Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to do this. I have Logic Pro and ProTools and I have yet to find out how to program the knobs on the keyboard to correspond. I do think though, that should you learn how to program it to work seamlessly with your recording or music making software it theoretically will give you the feel of a mini mixing board.

   All in all 3 stars, I subtracted two because the drum pads were absolutely worthless and its a shame to advertise them as Akai drum pad quality! But what saves this keyboard is the excellent action on the piano keys and the many features it has. Oh yeah, and it also looks great and is very aesthetically pleasing (very cool looking) which is another plus. Don’t buy if you are expecting great drum pads. But buy if you are looking for a keyboard with great piano keys and lots of awesome built in features. Lots of time studying and reading the manual will be needed to master all the functions though. High learning curve.
2. jiakenmin
   July 23, 2010
   12:07 am

   Review by jiakenmin for Akai MPK 49 Controller Keyboard
   Rating:
   First of all, the pads DO suck. MPC’s are known for their pads so you’d think Akai would at least be able to put the same type of pad/contact design on their MPK line. Instead they put a bunch of pads with no play that feel like buttons and make the keyboard housing vibrate when you pound them. On top of that they placed the contacts so far away it’s damn near impossible to get 127 velocity on the pads without going Full Level. Even my LPD8 feels better than this thing. And even though they look like the MPC1000 pads, the 1000 pads are twice as thick as the ones here. I would have loved for them to have put the 1000 pads on this. At least then I’d be able to play back a chopped loop without feeling like I’m dialing a phone number.

   The best part of the controller is the control surface. The transport keys, knobs, and sliders feel great. The LCD screen looks great.

   Something unique about the controller is that it has built in MIDI settings that mimic classic MPC functions (16 level, MPC swing, note repeat). Too bad the pads keep you from fully enjoying these features.

   The keys are decent but slightly noisy because they vibrate on release. The controller is also one of the few 49 key controllers out there with aftertouch. I prefer the lever-like feel of the Axiom when it comes to using aftertouch but the keys here are not a dealbreaker.

   There’s also a simple arpeggiator you can use. It’s fairly simple in that there are only 5 settings you can use to separate notes in a chord. If you’ve used a more sophisticated arp (like the one on a Yamaha KX8), you’ll be disappointed though.

   The MPK is a good controller but Akai could have done way better than this. If you’re using this for the keys and control surface it’s a decent investment. But if you’re thinking of buying this for the pads so you can drum and play back chopped loops, get an MPD instead.
3. Conduct
   July 23, 2010
   12:22 am

   Review by Conduct for Akai MPK 49 Controller Keyboard
   Rating:
   What a freakin great piece of hardware!
   
   First let me say-
   
   I’m coming from a MPC 1000, apparently the MPC1000 and the MPK midi controlers have “terrible, wack, horrible….” pads that are too hard and not as sensitive as the other MPC’s.
   
   I think it’s a bunch of B.S.
   
   Yeah I’ve used the MPC 2000XL and MPC 3000, thinking back are their pads slightly softer? Yes. Are the pads magically going to make me program fresher drum lines? NOOOOOOO! Honestly I think underground producers will use any excuse to why their beats are wack. Look at the other great Hip Hop Hardware that don’t even have “traditional” pads like the ASR-1O, ASR-X and the SP 1200, Did their hard plastic or non-existing pads stop great beats to be bang out of the units? Nooooo!

   Back to the MPK.
   
   I love having a all-in-one unit sitting right in front of me ready for action. I use this controller with Logic 8. You basically map out your drums to the piano keys (in Logic using the esx sample editor), from their you can map out the pads to certain keys(kicks on the right, snares on the left). Since the MPK is not an MPC you will NOT get the heart and soul of the MPC which is the quantization, this is OKAY, I repeat this is OKAY! The MPK is meant to provide the feel of a MPC to use with your DAW. You can find MPC “Grove Templates” with a little searching on the net. These groove templates with provide the necessary swing to make a full transition to software based producing with a hardware “feel”.

   I haven’t programmed the sliders yet so I can’t comment on them.

   In all this is a great device to transition long time MPC hardware users to step up their game and jump into software. You can have best of both worlds. But don’t take my word for it, go down to your local music shop and take it for a test spin, compare the pad sensitivity to the MPC 2500 or 2000xl
4. Twiddly Diddly
   July 23, 2010
   12:51 am

   Review by Twiddly Diddly for Akai MPK 49 Controller Keyboard
   Rating:
   I spent 2 days reading and working with this unit only to send it back. Sonar 8 and the MPK49 should be easy to set up as they are supposed to ‘support’ each other but they don’t. You need to map this yourself and even then it isn’t able to realize it’s full potential because Sonar doesn’t play well with it.

   The documentation is poor and it comes with a horrible programming software called Vyzex.

   If you have the time and knowledge to work with MIDI controllers it’s well built. Also, although it can be used with Pro Tools, it’s not a supported device and so I’m going to get an M Audio Axiom Pro.