Customer Reviews

Akai Pro MPK61 USB MIDI Keyboard Controller

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've seen only two reviews on the MPK61 having looked all over the net. Both complained of the feel of the keyboard. I'll get to that shortly.

I bought mine based on reviews of the MPK49. I also bought an On-Stage stand for it and a Behringer expression pedal. It was a quick setup - but I found almost immediately that two adjacent notes were not playing - unless I really hit them hard. So it got RMAed - no problem - the next unit was fine.

Pros:
The controls and pads were much bigger than I thought they would be - I just hadn't picked up on the size from the photo. So they are large and very smooth.

The pitch bend and mod wheels are well built (and lit up!). It doesn't look like the pitch bend would ever bias like some controllers.

The unit can run on USB power only. For all the lights on this thing you wonder how 500 milliamps manages it all. If a USB connection is not established the MPK will send controls out the MIDI connector - yet still run from USB power (say your computer is in standby but still provides USB power - actually I'm passing through a USB hub). This is useful if you just have a sound module connected to it.

If USB is established, the MIDI in connectors will pass another controller or keyboard to the computer. This keyboard actually establishes three USB MIDI connections with your computer.

Aftertouch works well.

Generally you have a lot of control over sensitivity of the keys and pads. So you can adjust things the way you like. Except....

Cons:
The guy was right about the feel of the keyboard. To be more specific - it is supposed to be a semi-weighted keyboard but the spring in the keys requires every bit of force (or more) than a fully weighted keyboard. The spring fights your fingers down and up as well. But worse, the keys are about an inch shorter than they should be - so hitting a black key requires a lot of force if you're towards the back of the key. Be prepared to learn how to play just for this keyboard. Akai should really rethink this - much less spring and longer keys.

Those two reviews also complained about the pads not working well. But I find that they work just fine as long as the sensitivity and sensitivity curve are adjusted properly - I use 14 w/curve A.

Considering I had to return the first keyboard - Akai has some quality issues.

Finally, one annoying firmware bug - a bank value of 127 for the MSB in a program change is excluded only if you try to assign it to a key. Why? For me it is a pain since all my drum kits use MSB=127.

I've had my Akai MPk61 for about three months and my hopes that my playing would adjust to the keyboard have all but vanished at this point. The MPK61 has excellent knobs and sliders, but the action of the keyboard is just terrible. Keys feel springy in both directions. This means that getting consistent velocity response is difficult. I've tried all the different keyboard velocity settings and none suit me well. This keyboard seems to have been designed for someone with an extremely light touch, with moderate hits registering full velocity. And this is with the keyboard velocity scaling adjusted as best as possible (Akai needs more options here).

As for the pads, you can purchase MPK61 pad upgrade kits and DIY a fix for them, but until you do so, the pads are just as useless as the keys. But, after upgrading the pads, they work surprisingly well (unlike the keys, which your stuck with). I don't detract any points for the pads for this reason.

Now, this unit does have some Pro's. The knobs, sliders, wheels and buttons feel great. No complaints there. The feature set is quite impressive with a built-in MIDI arpeggiator, note repeat, and several other MPC based options that come in handy when using this to control software based beat boxes.

In short, if having good keyboard response is key, look elsewhere. When playing samples and physical models of real instruments, it's just too hard to coax even velocity response out of the MPK61. If you're more interested in the pads, while note having much interest in anything other than a basic keyboard for playing synths, then get this unit and upgrade the pads.

I bought this after narrowing down to two controllers. I was looking at the Novation 61 SL MKII or this. Price ended up tempting me. I bought this for a mere $380.00 on sale here at Amazon compared to the Novation's $599 price tag. I must say this controller keyboard has great solid controls and great semi-weighted key action. I know some have complained about the keys being a bit stiff, but I find the keys to be a perfect balance. I do not like keyboards with light hollow keys which are too flimsy. I also don't like fully weighted since I do a lot of Electronica style music with 16th and 32nd notes which is a pain on the fingers with fully weighted keys. I use this keyboard with Ableton Suite 8 and this keyboard maps beautifully with Ableton controls. I especially like the Vyzex profile editor software that comes with it to easily setup control template profiles for the keyboard. This keyboard has a very solid feel to it and seems well built. The blue backlit LCD screen is very bright and clear. I love the built in arpeggiator on the MPK61 and the 8 different time division buttons for the different timings of the arpeggiator. Those are great touches. The 16 pads have great touch sensitivity as well with four bank buttons. I also like the positioning of the octave buttons for transposing. They are in a very convenient location while playing live. What can I say? This was a perfect fit for my Ableton work that I do. I also will be purchasing the Akai APC40 when I start going live and the MPK61 and the APC40 will work great together in unison with Ableton MIDI mappings. It really is a great value and great quality. Akai really builds very solid controllers and their tech support is very responsive.

Being my first keyboard/midi controller, i thought this would be the answer to everything i wanted to try. Im new to making music so when i first saw this i was intimidated, but after watching several videos on youtube of various tutorials and what not, im starting to learn how to use it. I have this plugged into Reason 4 on my PC and it works just fine. Some reviewers though are right, the keys and pads do take a good pressing to get the full sound out of it, but thats just because of the velocity thing that this, and other midi controllers have. Its not like a hard press like real pianos, but more of a spring, resistance kind of feeling, which isnt bad but it can be hard to manage sometimes. There are however, sensitivity upgrade kits for the pads, which i will most likely be looking into. This is a good product though, and also comes with Ableton Live Lite to get you started, but i recommend Reason.

If you are thinking about getting a MIDI controller, and are loaded, and aren't looking for something hard to play like fully hammer-weighted keys, then forget the 88. Get the MPK61 and all your dreams will come true. With 16 velocity sensitive pads as well as 5-octave velocity keys, as well as 8 knobs and faders for mixing, you have a full workstation at your disposal. It's not too heavy and it will definitely be an asset to your production. If you want to see what it can do check out my music here: [...]

I bought this item from Amazon, and they shipped it faster than I expected. I highly recommend you buy it from them for a great deal.

- S.S

The shipping was not a problem at all. The one drawback that I have is the drum pads and their response even when I adjust it to the full level. Its works well but you will have to adjust your playing to it, which means you will have to push harder on the pads. Some others complained about the feel of the keys being plastic and that is true but it works well for be. You may also want to be careful playing to hard on the keys because one of my keys, I have to press down hard to get the note to play though I have been having it for about 8 months now. Overall, it was a great purchase and helped me to elevate my musical talents in producing hip hop beats and rapping on them.

Best investment ever. He spends hours everyday creating and recording music. It is his passion and we researched very carefully before we purchased this item. We asked many professionals before we took the leap. I didn't want to get something that felt like an expensive toy that he would outgrow. He's headed off for college and wants a degree/career in music production. He really wanted the MPK49 but after much advice from his music teacher we went with the MPK61. He doesn't regret that now. The keyboard was lighter then he expected and even the bigger version is easy to carry around. We bought a carrying case for it for trips so it wouldn't get damaged.

I dont write reviews often but you really need to play this keyboard before purchasing it. Heres the deal:

The Good - The layout of this controller is really good. The knobs and faders all feel solid and the board itself is very well built. The programming is super easy. I didnt even read the manual and was able to figure it out. I didn't get far enough to try the software that was packaged with the unit. It has allot of really cool features and looks good too. I really wanted to love this thing but............

The Bad - The keybed on this thing is horrid! I played it for all of about 20 minuted and I couldn't take it anymore. It actually hurts to play. The keys are extremely difficult to trigger with velocities all over the place. The bottom two notes on the board I got were more difficult to trigger than all the others for some reason. There is a velocity curve setting available but I couldn't find a setting that worked for me. I cant imagine ever adapting to the amount of pressure it takes to move the keys either. Its a workout to play. My wrists hurt after only a few minutes.

The pads aren't much better. I understand there is some type of mod you can do to fix the pads and if you buy this controller you're going to need it. They are unusable as is. Almost as bad as the keybed itself. The pads are small and again they are difficult to trigger. There are settings for pad sensitivity and threshold but just like the keys I couldnt find a suitable setting.

Do yourself a favor and try this board out someplace local before purchasing. Some may like it. I know I wanted to, but Ill be sticking to my axiom for now.

this keyboard is a great value, considering when it first came out, it was about 500 dollars. i'm still getting the hang of it, but the flow of it is good enough for most people to learn.

A friend of mine who has his own home music studio (I am trying to start my own; I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting there steadily) used this keyboard for about 15 minutes and decided that he needs to get one, and I think it's pretty easy to see why. Everything on it just feels nice, and all the controls have the perfect amount of resistance. The keys aren't really the best, but at this price point, you can't really complain about that a whole lot. The entire controller also feels very solidly built without overdoing it. I like the design of the product (it strikes me as retro-futurist), but that's really a matter of personal opinion and style.