AKAI Professional MPK Mini– 25 Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with 8 Backlit Drum Pads, 8 Knobs and Music Production Software Included

Product Information

First, let’s look at it as an instrument. The MPK Mini Play MkIII is portable, fun to play, with some decent sounds and just enough tweaking to make it interesting. It’s had a makeover since the last version, wrapping it in red, giving it a slight incline to the front panel, rearranging the knobs and improving both the keys and the speaker. Akai have upgrade the pads to the same ones found on the MPC range of machines. Beginning with the keys; the MPK mk3 mini features a new generation of keybed, with a more responsive feeling and smoother travel. This new keybed still features 25 velocity-sensitive keys and is created to aid in the capture of even the smallest nuances that a lot of players might miss when using something with keys that are a lot stiffer or less weighted.

Strips are not always the most desirable in terms of performance, but they typically do work and get the job done, all while being easier to maintain. Pads The overall build quality also seems to be enhanced. Akai calls the MK3 both rugged and portable. Knob Enhancements The MIDI out option is such a great addition to this controller as there aren’t many options that have this. You can control your favorite hardware synthesizers from your controller with this feature and a lot of synth players will appreciate this. The sample or kit will populate the pads and can be triggered from the MPK's pads. The MPK's hardware Preset 1 is already mapped to Pad Bank A in MPC Beats. Just press and hold down the Prog Select Button and press Pad 1.It also lands on just about every meta-review of mini MIDI keyboards out there. (And sure enough, we included it as one of our top 25-key choices in our review, The 12 Best Mini MIDI Keyboards for Your Mobile or Home Studio.) After the strips, you will see some control parameters and your classic octave up and down buttons. 16 RGB-lit velocity-sensitive pads take-up the middle of the controller. After installing the application, find and open the iLok License Manager from your Programs or Applications folder. Now that you have installed the included sound content, let's connect the MPK mini and launch MPC Beats!

The MPK Mini is surprisingly programmable. Eight different control sets can be recalled directly from the front panel. Out of the box these banks are populated with sets for different DAWs, including MPC Beats, Logic Pro X and FL Studio. With the Mac or Windows Program Editor app you can customise pretty much every control on the surface, and even change their display names. One nice feature is that you can store the Arp’s settings and on/off status as part of a program bank, so you can create performance snapshots.The Akai MPK Mini mk3is USB hub powered. It connects and powers by a standard USB-A to USB-B cable and does not require an additional power supply. In MPC Beats the MPK can be selected from the supported controller list, although it took me a while to figure out that I needed to also enable it in the Preferences. Once done, the pads and encoders automatically stayed mapped to whatever mode was selected in the software. It would be nice if you could control a bit more, like mode selection, but there are only so many physical controls to go around. The MPK Mini is listed as a supported smart controller for Logic Pro X, so should be auto‑detected, and map to Smart Controls. This didn’t work for me, but I suspect that’s because I’m not on the latest Mac OS and Logic version. Conclusion The arpeggiator found on the MPK range has always been a great feature, and although it largely remains the same, the addition of the endless encoders allows for you to control things such as arp rate, movement, octave, swing etc while using the keys with minimal fuss.

You have successfully logged in to your inMusic Software Center.You will now be prompted to begin your MPK Mini 3 setup. With this all being said, I do believe that this is the best option for a portable mini MIDI controller as it has the MIDI out, great functionality, and great pads. The MPK mini mk3 comes with 3 AIR plugins that can be installed directly from the MPK mini Software Manager. These virtual instruments are a great way to expand your melodic ideas. Controller-wise, both keyboards offer the same amount of drum pads – eight in all, assignable in two banks for a total of sixteen – but in different layouts. The MiniLab lays all eight pads out in a single row, while the MPK prefers a 4 x 2 layout. This layout allows the pads on the MPK to be larger than those offered by the MiniLab, despite the MPK’s smaller overall footprint. The pads on both machines are illuminated, and both pressure and velocity-sensitive, but Akai has a serious pedigree when it comes to pads, and these examples, derived from the famous MPC product family, offer a greater degree of sensitivity, giving the MPK the edge in this regard. As a tool for building beats, loops and patterns, you’ll find little that can beat the MPK Mini and its bundled software – with the possible exception of an actual MPC hardware unit!"Further settings and behaviours including MIDI channel, specific CC assignments, knob behaviour and aftertouch are set in the desktop editor app (MPK mini 3 Program Editor). Also, shoutouts to the small but highly effective decision to add illuminated lights to the text on the Mk3’s buttons, rather than the entire buttons itself (which was a little hard to read in the past). A Brand New OLED Screen This intuitive instrument distills all of the key tools required by a producer into one compact unit. From a range of pads and assignable controls, to immediate integration with your preferred music production software and a new and improved Generation 2 enhanced dynamic keybed, this controller punches well above its weight.

Refer to this guide for step-by-step instructions on how to authorize and activate plugins in iLok:

I’ve always disliked sustain buttons as they’re not very helpful if you’re using two hands. Features The Novation Launchkey Mini Mk3 is a small but perfectly formed MIDI controller that works great with or without Ableton Live. Absolutely! The MPK mini mk3is compatible with virtually any DAW or music production software that will work with USB/MIDI keyboards. Refer to your DAW's documentation for more information on how to interface an external controller with the software.