Akai Pro MPK88 Hammer Action USB Midi Controller

by Akai Pro

Product Features

• 88-key fully weighted, hammer-action keyboard with aftertouch for expressive melodic creativity
• 16 genuine MPC pads with pressure and velocity sensitivity
• MPC pads access four banks each for instant access to 64 samples
• MPC Note Repeat, MPC Swing, and arpeggiator aid in creative process
• MIDI output over USB, bus powered, class compliant: plug and play with one USB cable

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 51.7 x 14.9 x 5.2 inches ; 65 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 69 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B002QXLJ6S
• Item model number: MPK88
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,669 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #63 in Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Computer Recording > MIDI Controllers

Product Description

The Akai Professional MPK88 is a professional performance keyboard controller with MPC production controls. The MPK88 draws on the design of the popular MPK49, the first keyboard ever to features MPC pads. This first-of-its-kind keyboard is ideal for performance, starting with a premium, fully weighted, hammer-action keyboard, adding MPC pads, Q-Link controls, and a selection of MPC technologies. The MPK88 is born for the stage and is equally at home in the studio.This unit is only USB powered. There is no need for an electrical cable."

CREATIVE INPUT
MPK88 features an 88-key keyboard and 16 genuine MPC pads. The hammer-action keyboard is fully weighted and features aftertouch for expressive melodic control. The MPC pads are pressure and velocity-sensitive to capture every nuance of your creative concepts. The pads can access four banks of sounds, so you have 64 samples at your fingertips with the touch of a button.

The MPK88 places dedicated transport controls within your reach for easy control of some of the most important tracking and editing controls. The MPK88 has modulation and pitch-bend wheels for expressive musicality, and two assignable footswitch inputs enable you to connect an expression pedal or other continuous controller and a footswitch for momentary controls like patch change or start/stop.

MPK88 Key Features

• 88-key fully weighted, hammer-action keyboard with aftertouch for expressive melodic creativity
• 16 genuine MPC pads with pressure and velocity sensitivity
• MPC pads access four banks each for instant access to 64 samples
• Control up to 72 software parameters with 24 assignable Q-Link knobs, buttons, and faders
• Key Split enables two different sounds from the same keyboard
• MPC Note Repeat, MPC Swing, and arpeggiator aid in creative process
• Transport controls for use with sequencers and DAWs
• MPC Full Level, MPC 16-Level, Tap Tempo, and Time Division assist with tempo and dynamics
• MIDI output over USB, bus powered, class compliant: plug and play with one USB cable
• Comes with Ableton Live Lite Akai Edition software
• Works with virtually all MIDI recording, sequencing, and performance software

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Found a fit after 5 keyboards, March 28, 2010

By 

J. Haury (San Marcos, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Akai Pro MPK88 Hammer Action USB Midi Controller (Electronics)

A lot of reviewer here on Amazon, and also on Guitar Center and YouTube seem to think the action is heavy and loud. I have now owned and used 5 full size (88-key) pianos to use with sequencing on my PC and this is the best one yet. I got the MPK88 because of all the controls it offered. I use it with Reason 4.0 and it works perfectly!

I'll quickly compare it to my past pianos:

1) Technics (now Phillips) electric piano - felt great, sounded great, but not many built in sounds and no MIDI controls except for the keys themselves, and MIDI playback was always at 100% velocity (so it was super loud when playing MIDI into the Piano. I got rid of this to get my...

2) KORG Triton Extreme - AWESOME keyboard/workstation. My hope was to do all my sequencing and sampling on this keyboard without a PC, but after discovering Reason 4, I just used it as a MIDI controller. It was only a step up from the Technics piano in that it had the pitch bend and mod wheels. The "transport controls" (stop, play, record, etc) didn't map to MIDI out data, so I couldn't sync those buttons to Reason. The knobs would map out okay, but there were only 4! The Triton was a $2500 board new, and it felt as good as the Technics to me. Since I wasn't using all the bells and whistles of the KORG, I sold it and downgraded to an...

3) M-Audio Pro Keys 88 - Advertised as a "stage piano" that thing is solid, but not really all that great for the built in sounds. As a MIDI controller it offered about as much as the KORG except the knobs and sliders were not mapable. The keys themselves were hard to play in that it took a lot of pressure to get them moving, then they collapsed down the rest of the key stroke. The velocity readings were always high because of this (one had to play hard to get to play evenly). I could change it to a different velocity curve, but then everything would simply be scaled down and the notes I wanted to be high velocity wouldn't be. In other words, the keyboard lacked dynamic contrast. This problem moved me to my spare "gig board"...the

4) Casio CDP100 - It has built in speakers and standard MIDI out (like the Technics), but with shorter keystroke (and less pressure needed) than the KORG and M-Audio boards. This allowed me to have expressive playing (smooth playing) without having to play hard. The problem here is that the velocity readings were all so low! Even when I did play hard, they rarely went above 75%. Finally, i was fed up. I wanted a ton of MIDI controls with accurate playing and no concern for built in sounds. This led me to the

5) Akai MPK88 - Now that I've gone through all the other boards, I can say it feels somewhere between the KORG and the M-Audio. It's heavier than what I remember the KORG being and it does a bit of that key-collapsing feel of the M-Audio, but it reads the full range of velocity as I expect them to be read! I can play soft and loud passages, and they all show up as intended. That's the most important part to me. The board could be improved by taking out some of the initial force needed to press a key, but still, it deserves a much higher rating than it's been getting for a MIDI controller.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good for Controlling, Bad for Playing, December 1, 2009

By 

D. Jez "djdj" (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Akai Pro MPK88 Hammer Action USB Midi Controller (Electronics)

I was initially quite excited about the arrival of the Akai MPK88. I owned a Roland FP-4 prior to purchasing this product and loved it, aside from the fact that it did not have midi control capability whatsoever and no modulation or pitch-control which I find useful with some of the audio plug-ins I use with Ableton Live and Cubase. I was warned ahead of time that the keyboard was heavy. The shipping weight is around 68 pounds and I hoped that a lot of that weight was due to the packaging. Alas, this keyboard is HEAVY! Only slightly lighter than my old Yamaha Motif 8. I'm a big 6'2 guy and I it's a challenge for me to carry this around more than a short distance. I haven't opened up the keyboard yet to figure out why it's so heavy. My FP-4 had a fully weighted 88 note keyboard and is 20 pounds lighter. Which brings me to my next point, the keyboard is cheap. The first thing I noticed is the noise the keys make, expecially in the middle section. It's NOISY! I can't record with a microphone because I pickup keyboard noise. There should be no reason for this. I've played cheaper controllers that don't have this problem. The feel of the keys aren't bad given the price, but could be a better. I'm not expecting a professional feel at this price, but I think Akai tried to but costs in this regard. Which is a shame, because no matter how many controller you have on this thing, it's still an INSTRUMENT and the feel of the instrument should override all other concerns. When technology, knobs, buttons, take priority over the keys then you've lost sight that one is still trying to make music and wants to be inspired by the instrument one is playing. From a controller standpoint (i.e. knobs and buttons) I really don't have any complaints. I own the Akai APC40 and it's a well thought out device, but again it doesn't have a keyboard. Anyway, I'm going to sell this and buy something different. The combination of the weight and keys is just not working for me.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best controller for under a grand I've tried., January 6, 2011

By 

dennis b "[e-mail]" (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Akai Pro MPK88 Hammer Action USB Midi Controller (Electronics)

let me preface this by saying I've been looking for an 88 key midi controller for about 2 years. I finally bit the bullet in the last few weeks, and while I went to the music store with the intention of coming home with an M-Audio product, what ultimately ended up in my studio (read: den) is this controller.

The biggest selling point for me on this was the action, which I understand is subjective. Ultimately you need to try out different controllers before you decide what to buy. I tried this controller for about 90 minutes against the oxygen 88, and a few other edirol / yamaha products. Compared to the Oxygen 88, I felt this had better feeling keys, had the right amount of knobs / faders , came with FL Studio AND it comes with a drum pad to use however you would like.

As others have said - it is heavy. How much the weight of something will influence your buying decision is a very personal thing. Mine came from the store, went up into my studio and has never left - so weight is not really an issue.

I wholeheartedly recomend this product, again, the ONLY downside is its weight. If they could somehow make it 20 lbs lighter, 5 stars all the way.