AKAI MPK 25

mr_debauch wrote:

instead of being an idiot, go down to your music store and try them out. you are the dummy that went to the music store and bought a keyboard with keys you dont even like. If you are such a pro producer and expert pianist then why are you even asking for advice then? You gotta be dumb to buy a semi weighted keyboard and expect full weighted keys.
and if you didn't try your axiom before buying it... then you are dumb for that too.

get lost you fool... o yea I am also gay and **** dogs



that is comming from the owner of akai, m-audio, and novation midi controllers.

well I bought the m-audio axiom used on craigslist for $50, funny cuz I once tried a new axiom pro 49 at gc and the keys felt exactly the same. the axiom should be classified as synth action, with a semi weighted release

didn't know any better at the time, probably as knowledgeable as W. steele at the time.

can't try anything out for another 4 months for I am in asia and there are no music stores. so seeing if there is any informed advice available on this forum, but I guess not.

digitalanalog wrote:W. steele

Hey a$$hole, what's w/ you jocking me so much ? I'm by no means a keyboard player or claimed to be, I simply made a statement on what felt best to me . Leave my fckin' name out your posts .

BTW, it's not too bright making enemies on a board when you're only 5 posts deep .

So I was browsing the interwebs and.... came across a video with a broken key.

http://vimeo.com/4035037

It seems to be the MPK49 though. To the guy who works in the store: Do you see a lot of 61's being returned?

W. Steele wrote:

digitalanalog wrote:W. steele

.

BTW, it's not too bright making enemies on a board when you're only 5 posts deep .

OOOOOH what are you gonna do to him?

Place him on your foe list.

Explicit- wrote:

W. Steele wrote:

digitalanalog wrote:W. steele

.

BTW, it's not too bright making enemies on a board when you're only 5 posts deep .

OOOOOH what are you gonna do to him?

Place him on your foe list.

Nah . . no e-thuggery here . I was a smart a$$ when I 1st got on here too and thought I knew everything as well so to each his own . The more I think about it though, I don't understand why dude only has 5 posts & 3 have my name in it . Kinda strange .

Doglamp wrote:To the guy who works in the store: Do you see a lot of 61's being returned?

I'm sure the keybed, specifically those "hooks" I mentioned in my post, is still made of plastic. Though the only way to know is by having someone open it up. The design might be different.

Btw, it would be nice if someone with an Axiom, and some other controller keyboards, would open them up, take pics, so we could see the differences in keybed design. I wouldn't be surprised if they're all made of plastic.

I'll open up my mpk49 later and take pics so you guys can see exactly what the problem is.

W. Steele wrote:I was a smart a$$ when I 1st got on here too and thought I knew everything as well so to each his own

same here.. but this place will humble you quick lol

digitalanalog wrote:has anyone tried the yamaha kx25!??!!?!? some piano player on gearslutz said he swears by the kx61, and I am hoping the kx25 has the same keys!!

The KX25 has the same keybed as the KX61. For the record, I've never had a defective one of these come back to my store. The KX8 actually has the most faulty action in the series strangely enough. The KX8 has the same keybed as the P85 stage/digital piano and those have been coming up defective left, right, and center. In one week alone I saw 4 defective P85's! Luckily Yamaha has the best warranty and service in the game.

Doglamp wrote:Idk, I've had an MPD32 before. It was plastic but felt nice and sturdy, not flimsy at all. I don't see why the MPK's would be different in quality. The keys can't be that bad. I refuse to believe that.

And I refuse to buy a keyboard that is blueish-grey all over. I prefer neutral colors.
Oh, and what is up with the knobs on the Axiom looking squishy?

My future keyboard will be an AKAI MPK or Novation SL MKII.

The MPD's are waay more sturdy feeling than the MPK's. MPK's feel alright straight outta the box, but after a bit the action goes soft. I'm telling you man, I've seen a near 50% failure rate first hand! Within the first 6 months! Since they came out I've processed more warranty claims on this product than any other...ever! Never had to process a warranty claim for a Novation midi controller.

Doglamp wrote:So I was browsing the interwebs and.... came across a video with a broken key.

http://vimeo.com/4035037

It seems to be the MPK49 though. To the guy who works in the store: Do you see a lot of 61's being returned?

61's are too new, they actually just started shipping to Canada. So I haven't had a chance to see how they will turn out yet, but time will tell. Honestly, I just don't have much faith in anything from Nukai these days, unless your buying an MPC1000. Even the 2500's seem to have a lot of manufacturing errors these days.

digitalanalog wrote:

mr_debauch wrote:

instead of being an idiot, go down to your music store and try them out. you are the dummy that went to the music store and bought a keyboard with keys you dont even like. If you are such a pro producer and expert pianist then why are you even asking for advice then? You gotta be dumb to buy a semi weighted keyboard and expect full weighted keys.
and if you didn't try your axiom before buying it... then you are dumb for that too.

get lost you fool... o yea I am also gay and **** dogs



that is comming from the owner of akai, m-audio, and novation midi controllers.

well I bought the m-audio axiom used on craigslist for $50, funny cuz I once tried a new axiom pro 49 at gc and the keys felt exactly the same. the axiom should be classified as synth action, with a semi weighted release

didn't know any better at the time, probably as knowledgeable as W. steele at the time.

can't try anything out for another 4 months for I am in asia and there are no music stores. so seeing if there is any informed advice available on this forum, but I guess not.

first of all, if you are such a pro pianist or keyboardist... then why are you looking at amature equipment in the first place? get yourself a weighted keyboard from yamaha or something like that and be done with it.

You are no more knowledgable then anyone here since you dont know yourself what is good... in fact you prove to be a bigger idiot for insulting someone's suggestion on the axiom when you are looking at an even worse model from nukai. The axiom series is sturdy, I have owned the standard axiom 49 since a couple of months after it came on the market and it still works 100% properly with no degradation of they keybed or any of that. Okay i admit that chopin wouldn't like playing on it, but I aint chopin anyways and I am using a program that records midi notes which gives me the easy simple option of editing my mistakes.

djchucknorris wrote:61's are too new, they actually just started shipping to Canada. So I haven't had a chance to see how they will turn out yet, but time will tell.

Please do me a favor, and post more info after a few weeks / months.

Hello guys!!!

This is my first time on this forum, my name is Tomas, and i come from Sweden. I recently bought this new keyboard Akai MPK25 to have a little fun with it , and try out some of the feautrers. Now i have some questions that i dont know where else to ask about, hopefully somebody in this thread could help me with some basic things:

software: Cubase 5 , Ableton 8.1 live

1.) CUBASE 5:

I setup the keyboard as USB DEVICE, and most of the features work just fine in Cubase. I am trying to use VST instruments such as Battery 3 , FM8 from NATIVE INSTRUMENTS. Pads , keys, arpegio, note repear and most of the the things work perfect. But i cant seem to setup control buttons on the right (record, play , rewind, stop) to work, however i edit the buttons set them as CTRL , MIDI or MMC they dont trigger the actual transport inside Cubase 5, i can see the midi input level goin up when i press them but they do not trigger.

Also when i use a VST instrument, and try to control its virtual knobs with knobs on MPK25, they dont seem to trigger the VST knobs, but something rather other in the main mixer or so.

How do you setup a particular program for particular key inside program? I know its a noobie question, but i would really like to learn this things, as i am fairly new to this kind of equipment.


2.) ABLETON (that comes in box) + ABLETON 8.1 (the newest live)

So i read around that this keyboard should work well with Ableton and it also comes in box, so i figured those things might work in the program without the settings hassle. I tried the on that comes in the box, and things are even worse.
The pads i press are totally mixed on the VST instruments, none of the banks are changing correctly, but rather change nothing on the VST (still same pads pressings after bank change), knobs are not working in VST, and also the transport (rec,play,stop) is not working.

I checked in the settings under midi, and on the keyboard list there is no MPK25 among keyboards. it comes in the box?! :\
Then i googled it , and read around that they included the MPK25 in the newer version 8.1 which i happen to own.

Inside Ableton 8.1 midi options, i really found MPK25, and as i set it up, there isnt much difference. The pads and keys are working, but i still cant setup the Transport keys to work. And also the knobs are not working with VST knobs.

3.) TEMPO question:

So i was playin around with the tap tempo, its working just fine, but i dont really understand how i should setup the synchro and tempo inside programs. Every program is showing a 120number in the tempo, however the loop played is not at that tempo. However the tempo works correctly when i listen to what i play on keyboard, aswell is recorded correcty, only the displayed tempo is always locked on 120. Am i doing something wrong?

Other than that i been having no problemsin Vyzex MPK25, everything is correct there.
Could somebody please point me to a guide where i could help myself.

Thank you very much, and happy new year 2010
Tom

im like 2 years late on this keyboard but man is this thing awesome!

for anybody that says the axiom is anywhere near as good or better in quality to the mpk i dont know what your smoking.

i had the 1st generation axiom and i dont know what the diff is build wise between that and the 2nd generation or the pro version but the mpk is 20 times better than the original axiom.

later i even got an mpk mini which feels like a toy but its functionality and programming was 100% more useful to me than the axiom. so i used it more often.

i couldn't stand the axiom. if your using it simply to play keys once in a while its fine but if your using it as a sole controller its horrid. zone and group features are useless to me. im used to having banks from my mpc. if your used to an mpc workflow there's no reason to buy another keyboard than an mpk. it even convinced me to take the mpc out of my workflow all together.

everything on the mpk feels more sturdy including the keys and they are not noisy like on the axiom.

the only thing i give axiom over the mpk are the pads. they are full size and the default sensitivity is better which i already knew before i bought the mpk but im planning to mod them soon and make it an even more awesome controller.

goldenxscholars wrote:im like 2 years late on this keyboard but man is this thing awesome!

for anybody that says the axiom is anywhere near as good or better in quality to the mpk i dont know what your smoking.

i had the 1st generation axiom and i dont know what the diff is build wise between that and the 2nd generation or the pro version but the mpk is 20 times better than the original axiom.

later i even got an mpk mini which feels like a toy but its functionality and programming was 100% more useful to me than the axiom. so i used it more often.

i couldn't stand the axiom. if your using it simply to play keys once in a while its fine but if your using it as a sole controller its horrid. zone and group features are useless to me. im used to having banks from my mpc. if your used to an mpc workflow there's no reason to buy another keyboard than an mpk. it even convinced me to take the mpc out of my workflow all together.

everything on the mpk feels more sturdy including the keys and they are not noisy like on the axiom.

the only thing i give axiom over the mpk are the pads. they are full size and the default sensitivity is better which i already knew before i bought the mpk but im planning to mod them soon and make it an even more awesome controller.

I think you can get the fat pads to fit on your mpk.. that might be good..

the axiom has velocity curve adjustments which is a nice feature.. it has good bank switching system similar to the way you switch banks on an mpc.. that is good because you can set it up to use your 9 sliders on many more sliders in the daw.. know what I mean?

The thing about the axiom is, you gotta have that manual. If there is a setting you dont change often than you will need it just to remember how exactly you make a change. For example switching the transport controls from sending standard midi messages to MMC... The way you do that is fine once you remember how lol... I like that you can make all the changed from the hardware because it works really well for controlling gear once you have it set up (which is the damn tedious/unfun part)

I am not a fan of the axiom pads.. though it is nice to have them sort of..

my opinion after years of owning one.. they are reliable, the keys still work well for what they are, the sliders and knobs still work well, the pads dont get used but still work well... and the lcd display even though my keyboard has been powered off for maybe a couple dozen days total since owning it... it still is as bright and clear as day 1..


As for the second edition axioms.. they got rid of the numeric buttons for some reason.. also they put nicer pitch bend and mod wheel wheels... I think the pro versions just have extra features in the keys like some sort of aftertouch related stuff..