The AKAI MPK49 has officially won a place in my project studio. Having received my unit about a month ago, I was able to put this bad boy thru the ringer and came to the conclusion that I must have one of my own. With enough bells and whistles to keep you busy for quite some time loaded into a package that is not overly obtrusive to your studio space, the MPK49 is big tool in a small disguise. Part keyboard, part control surface, part MPC drum machine, this USB powered unit combines much needed options into one very stylish piece.
In the forefront of the unit we are presented with 49 semi-weighted keys with aftertouch. Being a smaller packed keyboard, they are of course smaller in size than piano keys, but by far outsize many of the keyboard controllers in its class and price range.
Its keyboard does not define the MPK though. The controller also offers up eight assignable faders, 360-degree rotary knobs and switches, each with three banks of programmability for a total of 24 assignable mix controls. With a general MIDI preset loaded and the advanced MIDI assigning features of Logic Pro 8, I had 24 channels of volume, pan and mute mapped in a matter of a couple of minutes. As I worked thru my test drive though, I found that I was wasting assigned controllers that way and shifted my game plan to one bank for mixing, and the other two banks for virtual instrument control. This worked out great for playing with Logic’s EVB3 organ after assigning the faders to the instrument’s drawbars for customizing sounds while playing without having to stop and grab a mouse or move to my mix controller.
The third major component of the MPK49 is the 12 MPC style pads. Fully velocity and pressure sensitive, the drum pads perform much like the award winning MPCs for which AKAI is famous. Out of the box, I have to admit that I wasn’t overly impressed with the factory velocity curves set up for the pads. Adjusting the pads sensitivity was not overly complicated, but it was a bit time consuming to find the perfect setting for my style. However, the pad section does offer up both Full Level and 12 Level functions, so even without dialing in a curve for yourself, you can utilize the 12 Level to gain great control over your performance. The pad section also has four banks and a note repeat option.
To top the whole unit off, you have several other little additions that really make up the icing on the cake.
The unit has an assignable transport control section with various options for control. It comes set with options for MMC, MMC/MIDI SysEx, MIDI START/STOP or pre-assigned MIDI CC values. Of course you also have the option to switch them to just send MIDI messages of your choosing and map the controls out yourself. You will have to figure out what your DAW functions with best, but with the ease of mapping controllers in Logic, I went for the manual mapping.
Also, the MPK boasts a built in arpeggiator, which works in tandem with the eight switches on the unit. With the arpeggiator active the switches can set time divisions ranging from 1/4 note all the way to 1/32 note each with a triplet option. The time divisions are defined by either slaving the unit to an external time source for tempo, or by just setting your own by using the tap tempo button. This is a cool function anyway, but let me tell you that diving into some of the more interesting instruments in the Logic Studio produced some really entertaining results.
Top it all off with glowing orange back lighting behind the switches and pitch/mod wheels (yes they actually glow) in a matte black finished casing, and you have yourself a slick little unit that fits well into any project studio. Or if you have been waiting for the perfect all in one Mainstage tool, The AKAI MKP49 could be a must have for your live performance rig.
