AKAI's bad management with MPK mk IV and MPC Beats, MPC 2.0

So I just bought a MPK mk IV and lo-and-behold it doesn't work out of the box with the latest MPC Beats software!! Why is that?! Why do they keep doing things like this? If you're releasing the product, make it so I can choose a default profile for it in the Beats software at minimum, Really they should do it in 2.0 too. Has anyone been able to get it working in MPC Beats? I chose MPC Mini 3 when setting up Beats and of course the transport controls don't work, the keys don't work, etc. This sucks!

If I'm doing something wrong, please school me. Sure I know I can midi learn it, but it should work at a basic level out of the box no?

IMO, those controllers aren't worth it if you're just buying something to get started making beats and will be depending on the bundled software to do so (I'd argue you can get free DAWs that are much better, while still using the same controller).

If you want a groovebox, though, you are better off buying a Komplete Kontrol M32 and getting the full Maschine 3 software with that.

Akai broke KB Controller support at MPC 2.10, when they released the MPC Studio 2. They've never bothered to fix it. I've reported this "issue" to them multiple times. No responses, ever. I ended up getting rid of the Studio 2 that I used on a laptop and getting a Maschine Mikro MK3 instead. That at least works well with 3rd party DAWs, etc. (almost feels like a first party controller in Bitwig Studio).

They also broke the ability to junction the content directory to an external drive (or separate internal - I've tried both), which can be problematic if you have a lot of expansion packs and a smaller system drive (or simply do not want bulk sample data on your system drive, because you have dedicated sample/library drives in a desktop computer setup).

If you want these controllers to work, you need to downgrade to MPC 2.9x or lower. They won't work with 2.10+, even though the templates are still there. However, you're kind of screwed because the old versions won't have support for the newer controllers, anyway. The only thing you could try is using the template for the old version and hope they didn't significantly change how the controller interfaces with software (this is how I would use a LaunchKey MK3 with MPC 2.9x, even though it didn't have templates beyond the MK1).

I've also tried copying the controller templates from 2.9x to 2.10+. That doesn't work. So, it has something to do with the application itself. I haven't found a fix for the content directory issue - at least, not on Windows OS.

If a newer version of MPC [Beats] has templates for the MKIV, you can try copying them to 2.9x and seeing if they will work with that controller there.

Software support is too bad with Akai. They're only worth it if you're using the controller with a third-party product (KB Controllers), with a standalone in controller mode, or on a standalone (MPC Software).