Side by Side Comparison of: Focusrite vs Akai Professional vs Talent vs Image-Line

I was hesitant about buying this because I generally don't trust bundle packages (looking at you directv). I have to say that I am very glad that I pulled the trigger on this one. Three hundred and whatever dollars for some studio monitors, an audio interface, a mic, and a bunch of accessories (including ableton live lite) was a steal. This stuff doesn't seem to be of bad quality either, I don't know where i'm getting screwed on this. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

GREAT easy hook up speakers are better then i thought awesome a must buy

This is a great piece of equipment for a beginner musician, but there IS a learning curve, so please be aware of that when buying. What you are purchasing is a MIDI controller (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). Unlike a synthesizer, MIDI controllers do not produce sound without software. It's basically just a tool to control computer software. So after you've downloaded the software and plug it in, you will still not have any sound generated until you've set everything up properly and loaded sounds onto the pads. So I feel it is slightly inaccurate to call it a "plug-in and go", as some people do.

Pros:
- Its easy to use AFTER you have learned how to set up and use it.
- Its fun.
- A good way to get into digital music making.
- Budget friendly.

Cons:
- The software setup is kind of intimidating but luckily there are easy-to-find tutorials to help you.
- Akai itself doesn't seem to have much assistance in actually using the controller. Every useful tutorial I found was by someone else, not the company. It would be nice for them to take the time to make more tutorials. Unless I just didn't find them? Everything I found just had to do with setting up the software, nothing really about HOW to actually use it.
-The software that is included is limited. You can't use the knobs with MPC Essentials, you need Ableton or something similar for that. Or rather, I should say, you can't use the knobs for effects in your track. I believe you can use it for other things but I still don't quite understand that part.

I am still learning to use this but it has gotten significantly funner to use as I have learned more about it and found sounds I like.

Just as a tip:
- Make sure you know where all your files are saved when you setup the software. You will need to know where your VST stuff is so you can load it into MPC Essentials.
-Use Program 2 when you're finally ready to start loading sounds in. Program 2 has the pads laid out in order in the software, so everything correlates properly.
-Read the manual and do a lot of research if you are new to it. It's worth the time, trust me.

While I understand the frustration of not having availability to download the free software on Christmas Day due to web traffic errors, my wife was patient and waited a day. Luckily, since it's a USB MIDI device, our PC and Mac recognized the drivers immediately and we could use it with the software we already had installed, like Garage Band or Logic Pro.

Construction of the controller is really great and the sale price was far below what I expected for such a well made product. The pads work and knobs work natively with the midi synthesizer settings within our programs and the keys are really responsive.

If you're looking for an affordable and great entry midi controller, this is a great item to start with.

Ordered this to help get me back into playing and writing music after a few years off. After searching around and doing research I settled on the mpk mini 2, as it had everything I was looking for and the price was perfect. The velocity sensitive pads are perfect for writing drum patterns in FL, especially when linked to FPC. The keys are also velocity sensitive but seem a little stiff, but I figure it's just because they need to be broken in a bit. Wasn't really a fan of the Hybrid 3 synth download it came with as it required a separate program to manage the activation keys; though it did come with a huge bank of presets of all different sorts. The link-able knobs make it really easy to dial in that perfect sound and for tweaking and modulating during a recording session or even live performance. I'm sure there's plenty of other features I still haven't discovered but overall I'd recommend this for anyone looking for a compact solution for producing.

This is a fantastic little midi-controller. I use it with my Mac Mini (OS X 10.8.5) running Logic X (it will also work with GarageBand and most other DAW's) and it works very well. It also works well with my M-Audio sustain pedal, it has a port for a sustain pedal in the back (in case you were wondering.)

The packaging was fantastic. Included is the Keyboard, USB-Midi cable, instructions, and information on where and how to download your included software.

The keyboad itself looks great. It is very streamline and has a great color scheme. A unique feature is the 4 way joystick for modulation and pitch control. I have to say I like it better than a typical wheel style control you see on other midi-controllers. It really helps keep the size of the keyboard down since you don't have to include those bulkier pitch and modulation wheels. It really helps make this a portable keyboard. Though someone who is use to the wheel style control might not like this feature. It takes a minute to get acclimated to.

Right now my only complaint is that the keys are a little smaller than I was expecting. As you can see in my pictures, each key is about the size of a penny. They are completely usable but a little hard to get used to if you are use to a full size keyboard. This may or may not matter to you. If you have big fingers, I may recommend looking for something else. Of course this is not the manufacturer's fault, they list "mini keys" in the first description of the product so I am not going to knock any stars for that. I just thought they wouldn't be quite so mini. But the upside is that it makes the overall footprint very small, smaller than my computer keyboard infact. Also, unless you have nothing else, this isn't really the type of keyboard you (or atleast I) would use to put down a lot of notes. I think it's more for editing and mixing than for creating and composing, but if you really needed to you easily could.

I think would be really neat if they made this same controller with normal sized keys. They make one similar (Akai Professional MPK25 25-Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with MPC Pads) but it has a lot more going on and is $80 more. Maybe I will invest in that someday. If you have larger fingers or don't like the mini-keys go check that one out.

Anyway, in summary, fantastic little midi keyboard. Good price, great packaging, and great usability. I think this is a good keyboard to start out with as a beginner and even a good keyboard to have floating around if you are a pro. Pick it up, I don't think you will be disappointed.

I'm a full-time student at a university, and on the side I like to make music--so I'm not doing anything huge here. I was looking at budget MIDI/USB controllers a couple months ago--and I came across the Akai Professional MPK Mini 25-Key Ultra-Portable USB MIDI Keyboard Controller. I was about to get it, but I saw people saying that the pads had a somewhat bad hit detection. After looking at some videos I confirmed this to be true, but there was also an easy fix for it (the electrical tape fix). After more research I saw that there was a second version of the MPK Mini coming out, except this one apparently had updated pads AND a new control knob (which I REALLY wanted).I figured I'd wait it out and buy it when it came out! So, I did and here's my review:As a preface, I was looking for a MIDI controller mostly because I make live music with programmed drums, and I wanted to get velocity-triggered pads to make them sound more realistic. I also make Instrumental Hip-Hop in the style of Nujabes, so I was keeping that in mind as well. Generally, I just wanted a really well-rounded keyboard that I could do a huge variety of things with.As soon as you plug the controller into the computer, the pre-loaded drivers install themselves and then you're ready to go. I had no issues with this step, and I'm using Windows 7. After that I loaded up my DAW of choice (FL Studio), and loaded a channel to get going. Everything was already completely working. I didn't have to mess with the MIDI settings at all! I actually didn't even know that the KEYS were also velocity-sensitive before I bought this keyboard, so that was a pleasant surprise as well. The pitch & mod knob by default on most things for me was pitch shifting, but in whatever DAW you use you should have no trouble mapping the knob to whatever you want.This being my first controller, everything else was on point 100%. I was worried about the pads still having the same hit detection issue as the last model, but that's not the case. In fact, by the time I got around to the second use the pads got MORE sensitive. You honestly don't need to hit very hard to get maximum velocity. What's also great is that there's a "full level" button which always plays the pads at max velocity no matter how hard you hit. I highly recommend reading the manual when you first get the keyboard, as it explains all the features pretty much on one page!Lastly, I'd like to talk about the arpeggiator. I think it's really nifty, and I love it a lot, but there's a serious problem I've been having with it. It doesn't automatically sync the tempo up to the computer, and it doesn't always play right when you hit the keys (I'm assuming that it's either one of the settings causing this, or something in the DAW itself--I'm still just a noob when it comes to MIDI controllers, so I'm sure that the MIDI clock isn't set up correctly). But since the arpeggiator runs on the tempo, you have to manually sync it up to the computer, and even then I still have issues. I'm sure there's a trick to make it auto-sync, but I haven't found it yet. It's just annoying when I'm trying to record with the arpeggiator and it doesn't start playing right when I hit the keys--it gives it about a one-second delay 60% of the time, even when I play right on the beat and/or I'm NOT recording.So, all in all, I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone looking to start out with a really well-rounded MIDI controller. It has so many features that seriously cannot be beaten for the price you pay.Pros:Great priceImproved pads--overall very sensitive on my partLots of control knobs and multiple programs/banksHigh variety of settings for arpeggiator and padsVelocity-sensitive keys/padsWorked immediately from initial plug-inFast responseCons:Arepeggiator issues (most likely a DAW sync issue)Had a couple issues with mapping the knobs (probably the VST itself)Joystick was a little jerky at first, but it works in pretty quicklyI still can't believe that I only paid $100 for this. Too incredible of a deal.

software needs be more adaptable. I can't get it to work with windows 10. It says its compatible but it won't download. There should also be a way of making it work with windows xp.

Great starter package!!!

Just what we needed to start working in the voice over world!! Quality product. I gave it four stars because I felt like the sellers communication lacked just a little bit. They were helpful and responded to emails though, so if I could give them 4.5 I would.

Great product if your familiar with music. If you have no idea what your doing like me your going to have to take a lot of time researching and looking up videos. There isn't much that the device gives you for learning. Although the product does come with a program for music creating but it is almost like not having one at all. Great for Macs because garage band is a great start till you can afford something better or just to use while your learning. Programing the keys is so hard depending on what your using. If your a music production person you will have no trouble others beware. Great product wish I knew more about how to make music though.

-1 star because it is indeed a huge pain to set up if you wanted to use the proprietary software. I gave up and set it up in Reaper. I had no idea what I was missing without one of these, and my respect for EDM artist has dropped considerably lower than it already was.

I'm mostly kidding about that last bit, but tools like this make it so much easier to record something that resembles respectable music.

The only problem I'm having so far with this is getting the latency down. 46ms might seem like a short lag, but man it really makes a difference when you're trying to compose to a beat! Have installed ASIO4ALL drivers and everything, using Windows10 and FLStudio12. Overall I really like it and am discovering new ways to use it every new session, but I would really like to give it that fifth star if I could just figure out how to trim the latency down to where I can use it as a live instrument.

I really bought this on a whim, as I was just looking for something I could use to lay down chords and more easily input percussion tracks. It does both of those very well. It comes with a few pieces of software. The included program to map the keyboard's various buttons is very easy to use, and will receive plenty of use. I never even bothered trying to get the other free programs to work because I had no use for them. The reason I'm not giving 5 stars is because I don't love the action on the synth keys, and the software download and installation is a bit cumbersome.

I got this product assuming it would serve as a pad controller, and save me taking my full-size keyboard on the road. It does the first very well, the pads feel great, the lights are very visible, and I haven't managed to dig my nails in, or scratch the black paint off yet. The sensitivity is just right for me, as I like to actually tap the pads, if you like to barely touch your pads, then this might be a problem for you. It is possible to rest your finger on the pad and then press, as well, as they will not activate if your finger is merely resting on them. The build quality is plasticy, but fairly solid, and it has survived being dropped.

The knobs and the pitch bend stick work as expected. They don't feel premium, but this isn't a premium product, and they get the job done without feeling cheap. The pitch bend stick is a little "springy", and has a little bit of wobble, but this hasn't affected my use of it. The knobs have some resistance behind them, but it's a little too easy to accidentally turn them. The keyboard, however, is the weak point of the hardware. The keys are narrow (this was expected, but still annoying), have no weight behind them, and it is difficult to repeat them quickly by hovering around the actuation point. Also, they bottom out quite hard, but luckily the actuation point is high enough that bottoming out will never be necessary. While the keyboard isn't the best, it suffices for playing simple basslines and melodies to compliment what you're doing on the pads, so as long as you don't think of it as a standalone keyboard, it's fairly useful.

The included programming software is a nightmare. The user interface is ugly, especially on a high dpi screen, and it doesn't give enough information about the communication between the software and the hardware. (It doesn't tell you if it's actually read or written to the MPK) I found it difficult to tell if it was doing anything at all, and most of the time it wasn't. Perhaps I have it misconfigured, but it's still very confusing, and fails silently.

The "MPC Essentials" software is also poorly designed. The user interface is both confusing and ugly. It has crashed many times in both standalone mode, and inside REAPER. I wouldn't even bother installing it. However, the addon packs are useful, as the sound effects can be used outside of the essentials software. They include lots of great sound effects that you can use on the pads with proper software.

The two included VST plugins are fairly useful. They aren't extraordinary, but if you don't have a favorite synth already, they are worth installing. It should be noted that they will break REAPER if you are running it magnified on a high DPI screen. (It gets small, and then crashes.)

Overall, it has great pads (wish I had 16 of them), but the keyboard and software let it down. (Only taking off 1 star because those are secondary features.)

I've been using USB MIDI controllers for several years, though to be honest I have never really bothered to learn how to take full advantage of their controls — I really only use the keyboard itself and the pitch/modulation wheels (and for small keyboards like this, octave/transpose buttons). I'm experienced, but nowhere near an expert. Prior to this Akai controller I owned (and still own) two larger M-Audio controllers.

I bought this controller for one reason only — I wanted one that was small enough to fit in my backpack so I could take it anywhere. With my MacBook Air 11", this USB keyboard controller and a pair of earbuds, I have a portable studio I can literally take anywhere. To that end, this keyboard is great.

The one downside, and the only reason I am giving it 3 stars instead of 5, is the velocity sensitivity. I'm not sure if I just got a "lemon" but at least in my case, the velocity sensitivity on this is practically non-existent. If you use an extremely light touch, it will register around 30-40. Anything harder and it almost immediately maxes out at 127. I tend to be a "hard hitter" on the keys, and I really wish I could get more sensitive dynamics in the 80-120 range, but with this keyboard it's impossible.

I use the keyboard with Logic Pro, primarily to record keyboard/synth sounds (especially electric piano) and drum parts. Electric piano software instruments tend to have a "hammer" tone at 127, and drums sound robotic if there's no dynamic variance. This keyboard disappoints considerably for these uses, and I find I have to use Logic Pro's Velocity MIDI FX to tone down the dynamics. The results are usable but nowhere near as good as they could be.

All of that said, this is a $100 keyboard. Don't expect pro quality. The portability is excellent and I still primarily use this controller for recording — even at home — instead of my larger and better M-Audio controllers. But be prepared to work around its weaknesses.

UPDATE: I read the comment here from the manufacturer and downloaded the editor software, but it does not appear that the velocity curve is an option in the software for the MPK mini. So I'm sticking with my 3-star review. (I'd give it 3 1/2 if I could. I do actually like this keyboard a lot, but the velocity issue and the weak software are a negative.)

Would give better rating if the software that came with it worked. The website says it's down every time you try to download the software. Is there a fix to this?

I'm giving this 3 stars because the keyboard itself is fine, once you can get on the website and download everything that's needed to run it. It took two days to get on the website because it was down, AT CHRISTMAS TIME. It then took 3-4 hours to get the software downloaded and the keyboard operational. I'm keeping the keyboard because my daughter loves it and it does work.....however, I will never buy anything from Akai again. They are maybe the single worst company, as far as customer service, I've ever dealt with.

The pads and controllers on this make it really handy, but the keys on this controller make it pretty much unusable. The keys felt like I was pressing against a resistance the entire time, which just messed with my brain when I tried to play. It was like the keys were fighting me. Totally felt weird, so much that I just could not use it for anything other than pads and knobs. Those worked really well :)

This is a good buy for a hundred bucks but unless you are extremely fluent in midi, you might be better off with a simpler keyboard. The reason I say this is because the instructions from Akai for the higher level functions are incredibly cryptic. Doing a simple thing like making a sample loop over and over using a latch function and easily assigning knobs proved impossible due to limitations of the included software and hardware programming. I'm not saying these things can't be done with this machine but probably only if you're very determined, patient and resourceful. If you want to get more into midi I would get a more functional/expensive product, this seems stripped down.

Given as a Christmas gift to my teen daughter, product seems like it should work but . . . starting the 5th day and we still have not been able to download the software or sign in to my account. I understand wanting to control distribution & save resources by not including a CD but frankly I think Focusrite is irresponsible and apathetic in how they have under-developed their website... hoping we get to use the product before the new year...

Product came on time & in perfect condition. The serial number on the back of the product is where I've ran into trouble. I have entered & re-entered the serial number correctly 3-4 times now & it says it's invalid. I can't get the software needed to use the product without the serial number working so basically it's useless till this problem gets solved.

Akia includes an MPC Essential software that only gives you only one track to record. I saw on there website where several people request an upgrade to MPC software with multiple tracks Akai didn't respond. I guess you get what you pay for but I consider no response as bad costumer service.

Didn't like it and returned it.

Keyboard was the primary issue. Keys wobbled side to side a bit (primary issue for me), had no consistent feel, and were a bit uneven. Drum PADs had very limited and inconsistent dynamics. MIDI worked fine and I had no issues there with my iPad or MacBook Pro.

I had tested an AKAI MPK Mini MKII 25 in GC earlier and the PADs on that one way better than the MKI model and the MKII I received. The keys were better as well, not sure why the one I got was such crap.

I like it, but am having trouble loading it to FL studio. Also, the pad response does not sound like the actual drum that is being used. It is pretty hard uploading the VST's that comes with the keyboard, but still trying to figure it out.

Although an attractive keyboard with a tiny footprint for the ultimate in portability, the AKAI Mini MKII has let me down in multiple ways. First, the promised software (SONiVOX Wobble) was never added to my account and requests for a link were not responded to adequately by AKAI Pro customer support. You will either hang on the phone forever (long-distance from a landline) or submit an email request and wait 1-2 weeks for an answer, which never seems to address the actual issue. Poking around on the forums, I found I was not the only one with the missing software so be aware if this is one of the factors influencing a purchase decision. You might or might not get what you expect and you’ll have to hunt around to find the free editor, too.

I was also dismayed to find there was no auto-mapping to my favorite DAW, Reason 8, and no technical info available to help in setting it up. (It eventually worked as a midi controller but not a control surface for Reason.) For the price and portability I thought I would just put up with it but the unnatural feel of the mini keys turned the tide. I’m a keyboardist and although I wasn’t trying to replace my 88-key controller, I did want something I could enjoy messing around with while on the road or using for homework when away from home. In frustration, I called an online music vendor and received an excellent suggestion to try a different 25-key midi kb that works automatically with all my DAWs. It’s bigger, with full-size keys, pads and wheels, but still fits in the backpack and I’m very pleased so far.

I gave AKAI support almost 4 weeks (with 3 calls, 9 emails and multiple forum posts) to address my problem; if they had just supplied the missing download link by now, I would have kept this little keyboard as a backup. Instead, I’m packing it up to return. (Thanks, Amazon!)

Just what I've been missing

Broken key. The B2 doesn't make any noise. No way to get it fixed or get support even though it's only 2 months since I've bought it. Just a waste of $100. Might as well buy at a store with support.

I've had it for just over 2 months and the dang thing burned out. I've had it connect to my Acer E15 E5-575G-53VG with abelton live. I started smelling wire burn the other day and the lights on the machine started blinking. I quickly unplugged the device from the USB port and re-plugged it back in about 30mins later. Now it doesn't work but the usb port seems fine. The port works with my audio interface, mouse, and external hard drive when plugged up but when I plug in the Akai the device just blinks. Total waste of money. Wish I had waited and grabbed something different.

Mine came with a broken key and I'm not able to get another one.

Overall it is IMPOSSIBLE to make it work with the Hybrid 3 and wobble(included with this keyboard) So i contacted the AKAI support almost took 1 week to even reply and all they did was gave me a link to "how to setup the akai midi keyboard" which i watched on youtube as soon as i opened the box, and let me tell u i probably watched 10 or more times of the video and still DIDNT work. The included software (ableton live 9 lite) can't find the hybrid and wobble software and i scanned it a million times. And so after attempting to fix this **** , still didnt work after three weeks so i decided to RETURN. I urge u not to get this if ur using ableton live 9 lite!!!!

Came busted, something was rattling inside.