Anyone tried the Akai MPK series controllers?...

[Shredfiend]

Anyone tried the Akai MPK series controllers?

Need to pick up a controller....these are a little more than I wanted to spend.
But I see they have drum machine styled Pads built in and I was going to eventually buy a rigger finger style set of pads aswell to program drums aswell.

 

[Shredfiend]

meant to put this in the equipment section.

 

[Gnash]

Bump

 

[Djabthrash]

Bump... i'm thinking about using the pads for finger-style drums programming and the keyboard to play bass on Trilian.

Anyone tried this with those AKAI models ?

 

[MindMunch]

Also interested. I wanna buy a MPK Mini as soon as I get the money : )

 

[black.death]

I'm probably going to get some hate here but I'm going to post my opinion regardless.

I owned an Akai MPD-32 for a minute but really did not enjoy it for programming drums as much as I thought. I used this mostly with Reason at the time.

With controllers, I feel that there is a certain amount of disconnect and it's still not like you are actually playing an instrument. I'm the same way with Wacom tablets, it's still not like drawing but a controller that helps emulates drawing.

I just imagined the fun factor to increase over from programming music by using the mouse. However, this was the exact opposite. Because now I would drum out a pattern and would have to go back and quantize it and I still wasn't actually even playing an instrument.

Personally if I were to interested in beat making again, I would buy an Ipad and grab the Beatmaker 2 app and/or Nanostudio and transfer files over WiFi to my computer. This would have problems in it's own right but would be more fun imo.

 

[DaveBlack]

I have to imagine that the MPK and LPK series are similar. I just purchased the LPK Mini and boy is it mini lol. Its taking some time to get used to. If i would have had the loot to buy the MPK, I would have just for the sake of having the pads but honestly, i can program the keys just the same (I have circus midget hands so it's not that bad).

I plugged it in, reaper recognized, I enabled it and boom that was it. There's virtually no latency and if there is, it's completely unnoticeable. The build is pretty quality as most Akai products but the LPK is def not a controller as much as the MPK would be. There literally is no knobs to assign to anything. The LPK is great for something portable and fun with no hassle.

To the post above - It's hard for me to believe that programming by mouse is better. I get that you have to quantize but the point of triggering is to get a more realistic feel anyway so quantizing would defeat the purpose. I usually do things in pieces and layers because you obviously can't do sick double kick patterns while maintaining the hat but at least you can get your velocities right. After that, bounce it out and edit little things by hand if you need to. It's just as much or possibly less work then you would put it into tracking/editing acoustic drums.

 

[black.death]

To the post above - It's hard for me to believe that programming by mouse is better. I get that you have to quantize but the point of triggering is to get a more realistic feel anyway so quantizing would defeat the purpose. I usually do things in pieces and layers because you obviously can't do sick double kick patterns while maintaining the hat but at least you can get your velocities right. After that, bounce it out and edit little things by hand if you need to. It's just as much or possibly less work then you would put it into tracking/editing acoustic drums.

Hey Dave, programming by mouse isn't necessarily better. I just wasn't as stoked about playing pretend drums as i hoped to be. I can see how using one could be an improvement for less robotic drums. I just did not enjoy using a usb controller for drums and didn't ultimately really see the convenience. That is all.

 

[DaveBlack]

Gotcha! to each their own my friend. Technically, you didn't say it was better so sorry about that.

 

[Vinny]

I own an MPK25. It's pretty darn good for the price. Just wish I had gotten the 49 instead though.
The pads are a great addition incase you have some rap project you are recording, and the guy prefers to use pads over keys (trust me, rappers/beatmakers HATE keys for beats).
Havent tried programming drums with them though.
It's really a great product.
Oh, and a plus is that it fits PERFECTLY in the rack space on my desk, seriously.
The only thing I don't like, is that the pads aren't very sensitive and take a bit of force, which can hurt your fingers after a while.

Would you by chance be willing to buy mine? It's in absolutely pristine condition, has never been taken outside of my house, and doesn't get used that much. I'm looking at getting the 49 key one, and won't have a use for this one once I get it.

 

[MindMunch]

Well, I´ve received my Akai MPK Mini today. I really liked it. It´s actually even smaller than I thought, only 2 keys larger than my 10" netbook and very light. The keys are very small and a bit hard, feels much more like a toy than a piano so I wouldn´t recommend for real performances (I wouldn´t reommend any 2 octaves keyboard for performance anyway). It is great to write beats (on the pads), preview sounds and write ideas (it has a built in customizable arpegiator). Really cool product, I´m glad that I´ve traded a M-Audio for it. Also, the backlit pads look great.