AKAI Professional MPK Mini Plus - 37 Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with 8 MPC Pads, Sequencer, MIDI/CV/Gate I/O, and Music Production Software

Product Information

For Windows users, make sure you have extracted the application from the zipped folder before running it.

While maintaining its compact footprint, MPK Mini Plus offers extensive controls providing deep command over a wide range of features. Indeed, the proliferation of older-style sequencers on modern hardware has been a feature of recent years. Included within MPC Beats are powerful plugin instruments such as Electric and Tubesynth that provide everything from eclectic soundscapes to soaring leads and smooth pads. The keyboard is more responsive and playable than it has a right to be, and the 37-key design and option of using a sustain pedal enable creative playing as well as simpler synths and beats stuff. That’s a pretty comprehensive spec list, and one that would seem to put the MPK Mini Plus in direct competition with Arturia’s popular KeyStep 37 controller.The transport controls are a great additional feature to the MPK Mini Plus as well as the Chord and Scale modes and the Step sequencer. This allows you to play phrases not normally associated with keyboard playing, such as guitar-style riffs. The MPK Mini Plus expands on the Mini and Mini PLAY in a number of ways, the most obvious being its larger keyboard, fitting in 37 mini keys to their 25. Most music equipment is very similar so it's about the vibe you get from the equipment and that tends to make you WANT to use it.

PC or Program Change - Also known as a "patch change", these messages are commonly used to tell hardware or software to switch to a different preset. This is probably the unit’s only physical weak spot, and you’d want to take care when transporting it. It’s a 37-key design with Akai’s Gen 2 Dynamic mini keys, eight RGB-backlit MPC drum pads, eight assignable rotary knobs, a step sequencer, arpeggiator, assignable joystick and CV/gate functions as well as MIDI. I'm no stranger to slim synth style keys, it's what I was looking for in fact, but these are too small.

The controller features a new two-track polyphonic step sequencer as well as the option to do Roland TR-style drum sequencing via the pads, making the keyboard a surprisingly powerful sequencer – not quite on a par with something like the Arturia Keystep, but more versatile thanks to the pads and other controls. The bundled MPC Beats software DAW for Mac and PC offers the iconic MPC workflow right on a desktop or laptop computer, and also includes thousands of sounds, drum samples, loops, and plugin instruments to create your next hit song. For example, when using an arpeggiator, you will want it to stay in time with the rest of your song, and the best way to do that is with MIDI clock.

Keep all other software closed while using the editor to ensure only the editor is using the port for your MPK Mini Play. In this case, open the MPK mini Software Manager from your computer's Application or Program folder. Be sure to continue holding these buttons until the MPK mini Plus powers on and you see the firmware version on the display. Take the USB cable for your MPK mini Plus and connect it to your computer, but do not connect the MPK mini Plus yet - we'll do this in the next step. For anyone making music on a computer or mobile device, a MIDI controller of some sort is one of the essentials.I'm able to map the knobs to certain parameters on the MPC One like pan and volume for programs, etc. From creating loops and full songs, the MPK Mini Plus provides you with everything you need to get there. Regardless of where you play, you’ll have access to every aspect of your sound with pitch and modulation wheels, eight drum pads and rotating parameter knobs, a set of DAW transport controls, and more. One thing that frustrated me for a few minutes: if you use a laptop as power source, all midi gets routed through the usb when the laptop is on.