Customer Reviews

Akai Pro MPK88 Hammer Action USB Midi Controller

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I'm a classically-trained pianist, so I am picky about hammer-action touch. I previously owned a CME UF8, which in my opinion had a very good touch. Trouble is, when some of the keys stopped working I could not find anyone to fix it. I decided my next keyboard would be a supported brand. After searching for quite some time, I settled on Akai. I did not order from Amazon, although they had a very good price, because I wanted an easy return option if I didn't like the touch. A local music store offered to order one in and let me try it on the floor, no risk. Luckily for them, I loved it, and I paid them a premium price for it.

I am very pleased with the hammer-action touch on this keyboard. I have had no problem controlling expression, even without messing with the various velocity curves offered. It also includes aftertouch on the keys (contrary to some reviews I've seen) as well as aftertouch on the pads.

The keyboard is highly programmable. The preset determines how all of the knobs, faders, and buttons act. Included are presets for Cubase and Ableton, among others, and you can edit these or create your own from scratch. Switching between presets is done easily from the front panel. Each fader and knob can be programmed to send a specific MIDI CC on a specific midi channel. Most of the buttons are also programmable, even to the point of specifying whether they trigger or toggle. All of this programming can be done either from the panel or from an editor program. The faders, knobs, and "mute" buttons can be switched between three banks, each sending a different set of MIDI CCs. I use A and B to control the Cubase mixer, leaving C free for VST plugin control.

One of the surprisingly cool features of this keyboard is the arpeggiator, which can be programmed to up, down, up/down inclusive, up/down exclusive, or random, and can be slaved to MIDI control. Switching between eight notes and sixteenth note triplets (for example) is a quick button press. Gate time (how long each note is held) and swing parameters can be adjusted. Splitting the keyboard allows me to play arpeggios on the top with a pad on the bottom.

I find the drum pads to be somewhat awkward, but this is my first time playing them. A button-press switches to "full level" mode, sending max velocity regardless of how hard you hit them, and you can switch between four banks. You can also program the pads to send MIDI CCs or program changes, very useful in live situations. Speaking of live, this keyboard is heavy. I don't find this to be a problem because I don't gig with it.

If you are looking for a hammer-action MIDI controller with lots of controllability, this is a great buy. I would have enjoyed motorized faders, but that would have driven up the price significantly. As it is, I highly recommend this keyboard.

I have been in the market for an 88-key controller for awhile, so was excited when I heard this was coming out. I had a chance to demo it in Guitar Center recently, and I came away very disappointed. Although the keyboard action isn't nearly as craptastic as the Keystation 88 Pro, it only ranks somewhere above subpar. So, as the reviewer before me said, it doesn't matter how many knobs you put on it; at the end of the day, it's still a controller, and if you're going to build one with weighted keys, you need to make those not suck, or else it is a complete waste of time, because somebody looking for 88 keys is obviously looking for something playable, or else we'd just get one of those cheap 49-key gadgets.

And I haven't heard good things about the CME controllers either (buggy), so the search continues for a decent controller with 88 keys and enough knobs to make tweaking softsynths bearable. You know, it's funny... with softsynths getting so popular and many more people now using computers to compose music, you'd think these controllers with weighted keys would have gotten better over time, but they haven't. They've only gotten worse.

Just a couple of things to help you figure out if this review is actually going to be useful: I'm reviewing this in a vacuum, so to speak. I don't have a lot of experience with midi controllers, and in fact this is my first purchase to not only learn on a piano-like instrument, but to start making my own electronic music. I'm not going to compare this to any other similar item, I'm only going to give you my experience as a person who is just starting out in music production. If you're a pro musician, you may not find this very useful. On the other hand, if you're a pro you're probably looking at a full on workstation and not reading this review anyway, so with that said...

This keyboard arrived today and I messed around on it some before going to work. The first thing that struck me was how easy it is to jump in and use it. I haven't loaded Ableton Live yet, but I have used it with Magix Music Maker 17 and so far it works great. The features on the board itself are pretty easy to understand. Most of its features are no more than a button click away, and won't take very long to get used to. So, if you're a beginner and are pretty familiar with electronics, you'll feel pretty comfortable right away. It also seems like it would be pretty useful for live playing when you need to quickly access features without interruption. As a board used for live shows, I'm already very impressed with it, but bear in mind that I haven't played it live yet.

I'll start with the bad before moving on to the good.

The key action is pretty good, but since I can't compare it to anything except cheap pianos I'll save any further remarks. I can only say that the key action won't stand out as a negative when you first use it unless you're a seasoned piano player looking for perfection. So what's bad about it? The velocity on the keys needs some tweaking out of the box as it feels like it takes a bit too much power to really get the notes to register, but you can change that in the menu. Not a big deal. This is perhaps not the best board to enhance your piano technique on, but I'm going to anyway and I have no reservations about it so far.

The mpc pads, which were a feature I was really looking forward to, are as bad as the other reviews say. You really have to hit them hard to get them to register properly. I haven't messed with the velocity curves yet, but straight out of the box it should at least be playable and it simply isn't. Maybe you can strap some lead weights to your fingers? That's about the only solution short of using electrical tape under the pads to extend their range, which I will eventually be doing. As I understand it, once you do that, the pads are great....But you shouldn't have to. Definitely takes points away from the board, and honestly I'm considering just buying a seperate MPC deck instead of risking damage to the board with a mod. Yeah, you can turn the velocity curve off so that each hit to the pad registers in full, but you're not always going to be able impress your listeners with your mechanical sounding drums.

The keys are retarded loud. If you plan on recording or amplifying the signal through a microphone, don't get this keyboard. The loudness doesn't bother me because I'll either be using a computer to record, or playing through a line out to an amplifier, but be aware.

Those are about the only negatives I have so far. So now the positives...

The knobs and sliders are great. They have weight and feel substantial/not cheap. The addition of seperate banks for the pads, knobs, sliders, and buttons is great. These and other features put this board ahead of a lot of other boards in its price range in functionality. (I paid about $600 on amazon during a temporary sale).

The board syncs up with Ableton Live, which is included (Live Lite) with the board, again giving it points for live playing or even for your home studio or hobby desk. The latency is unnoticeable so far on Magix even with fairly complex midi signals being sent over. I haven't chained any other midi devices yet, but if the board is quick then the added latency of extra devices should be minimal.

It has great secondary features like arpeggiator, keyboard splitter, octave shift, etc. They work as well as they should.

Also, the board just looks great. Not that vanity should be high on your list of features you want, but it doesn't hurt that this board impresses.

Oh, a lot of people complained about how heavy the board is. Now, I've been doing a bit of weight training lately in my free time so maybe I have an advantage, but I really don't think it's that bad. Is it heavy? Yes. I wouldn't want to be a 130 lb teenager hauling this thing around, but as a tall guy who has occasionally seen the inside of a gym, I really just find it more awkward than anything. I wouldn't let weight be a reason to avoid buying this board.

I'll just sum up the board. It's not perfect on account of some needless flaws like the heavy MPC pads, but the board is great. I can imagine this board being used at home and live for many years before I feel the need to upgrade. It's a great looking board with great features, and for the price you can't really do much better. This board is best suited for those who are looking for a primary midi controller on a budget, especially if said person is looking to do some live performances of techno, dubstep, or the like. If a friend asked me if they should buy it, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as long as they knew about its few weaknesses.

i love the action on this keyboard, the closest i've played to a real piano. after playing on it for 6 months now there is a buzzing on some of the keys and one key feels like it is rubbing on something. the controls are awesome and the software works great to program all the controls. i was bummed to find no power supply and that it is impossible to send to the midi out if the usb is connected. if the keys didn't buzz and vibrate, and the inability to use the midi out without using a mirrored output channel on my daw which increased latency when played, this would be the ultimate midi keyboard

The keys on mpk88 can be heavy for some people, but it feels just right for me now that I tried it in Guitar Center (coming from an Acoustic Piano background myself). In my humble opinion the keys on akai mpk 88 even felt better than some intermediate stage pianos.
The drum pads are too stiff.
p.s. i personally purchased korg m50 88, it also has a very realistic weighted keyboard. To me it felt similar to the yamaha P series, but not as good as the CP series. I'll write a review on M50 once I familiarize myself to it.

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After we got our MPK88 home and started playing it, we noticed some odd sounds coming from the case when we played a key. We had read reviews commenting on the loudness of the mechanical keyboard action, so we were prepared for the thud sound when a key was played. This sound was something different. It was a buzzing sound, as though two parts inside the machine were vibrating against each other. Indeed we could reduce the buzzing a lot by pressing down on the top of the case in the right place. The video shows you what it sounds like. Thinking this was probably a one-off manufacturing defect, we returned the keyboard and tried out another MPK88 in the store. At first the offending sound was absent, but over the next 2-3 minutes we began to hear the same buzzing sound we had heard in the original keyboard. We opted to not buy the keyboard.

ohhhhhhh wow ! The Only 88key midi ive ever owned with hammer action keys. had a real piano..it makes noise too..almost similar. Not bad at all. How long will she last?Its been one and a half years. I will keep u updated.