New MPK Mini owner having trouble with MPC Beats

Hi, not sure if this is the right forum for this but I am at a complete loss:

While using my controller in MPC Beats, I have to press the keys very hard in order for any sound to come out. I know they are touch sensitive keys but the volume is very soft and I can't figure out a way in which those 10 or in the program itself how to make the notes louder. There are so volume setting on the controller itself. There is no way to decrease or increase key sensitivity or anything like that. I know it's not broken, it's pretty brand-new, I just got an in November. Sorry I am so new at this but I figured this would be a good place to start but of starting to get the sense that this is more of a forum for very advanced users. I hope I haven't intruded.

Thank you

The post location is okay, but normally you'll want to post in the Beats/MPC 2.x forum here: viewforum.php?f=45

PurpleSweetTart wrote:While using my controller in MPC Beats, I have to press the keys very hard in order for any sound to come out.

I just got a MPK Mini MK3 recently, too. You'll need to open up a MIDI track that has a pad set up or a sample (or instrument) loaded into a keygroup (a.k.a. piano roll in other DAWs; a.k.a. keyboard view). The fastest way to do this is by loading a template/demo song. In Track View (Ctrl + 2) you can click on the midi track and everything will instantly load into your Mini. Then try tapping keys and pads. The MPC Beats academy tutorial videos are very helpful for watching how people navigate MPC Beats.

Beats Academy can be found here: https://www.akaipro.com/mpc-beats-acade ... 20Redirect

Once set up, as you mentioned there are a few variables to check. If your model has a little screen to the right of the pads, press the pad as hard as you can and it will show a full bar and "127". Release pressure slightly to see the variability. This value is "Velocity" in MPC. It is possible to turn velocity to 100%. In general you will want your notes to be at 100% so they are played "fully". It makes it simpler to deal with.

You can drag the mixer volume bar up above 0 on the left side of the screen to increase the volume. Sometimes a second track will get selected so make sure you're looking at the very bottom left to see the track title (e.g. A05, vocals, kick, Program 001, etc.). I just checked a little and if you see two bars you're looking at the selected Pad Mixer and Channel Mixer (terms you can see in the mixer view).

You can also add effects to a MIDI track and turn up the gain/level even further if need be. Remember not to allow the track to "peak" in the red or the output sound will be horrible for speakers and your track will be ruined by high pitch white noise and crackling.