MPK Mini No Midi Signal with XP

Hi there,

I am at my wits end, I have been in contact with Akai support to no avail, and I still can't get the MPK Mini to work with my laptop running Windows XP.

Before I go further I will tell you that I have tested my MPK Mini with a borrowed laptop running Windows 7 and it works completely fine.

I am unable to upgrade my laptop to Win 7 because of driver issues, it's an Acer Aspire 5633wlmi, Dualcore Centrino Duo.

I can get my MPK Mini installed, and it appears as 'USB Audio Device' as predicted, but not even the Akai editor recognises it as a midi device. No entry for it appears in Ableton Live under midi inputs, and the midi signal light doesn't light up when I press a key (as noted as happening when I trialled the controller on Windows 7.)

I have attached a screen shot o show my dilemma, as you can see, the device is installed, and listed under device manager. All the lights are on on the MPK Mini itself, however, the MPK editor doesn't give me the option to select it under the midi devices drop down.



Looking forward to any help or suggestions from the experts, I really want to start learning how to use this!

Best

- Roo

you got to turn on the red button of the midi track (in the ableton mixer) you want to use
it is a really annoying thing in Abltn Live till you figure it out

Thanks for the reply thx, but the problem is so rudimentary that there's not even a midi signal getting in for me to arm a track with. The controller isn't recognised in Ableton to be selectable in the midi inputs or even the MPK Editor itself.

roowilliams wrote:Thanks for the reply thx, but the problem is so rudimentary that there's not even a midi signal getting in for me to arm a track with. The controller isn't recognised in Ableton to be selectable in the midi inputs or even the MPK Editor itself.

try to plug a new midi cable (or usb cable)
or try to control another midi instrument (synth or sampler if you got one) to see if the mpk is faulty or if it got a factory problem
i don-t know...
good luck

sorry for the dumb question, but did you installed the drivers for the mpk?

maybe try uninstalling everything then plug in mpk and follow microsft install wizard to get drivers installed then install software, also I would try doing this using different usb port

thx wrote:

roowilliams wrote:Thanks for the reply thx, but the problem is so rudimentary that there's not even a midi signal getting in for me to arm a track with. The controller isn't recognised in Ableton to be selectable in the midi inputs or even the MPK Editor itself.

try to plug a new midi cable (or usb cable)
or try to control another midi instrument (synth or sampler if you got one) to see if the mpk is faulty or if it got a factory problem
i don-t know...
good luck

Hey thx, I have tried it with the same cable on Windows 7 and it works fine so I think the MPK is good to go!

thx wrote:sorry for the dumb question, but did you installed the drivers for the mpk?

It doesn't have drivers, there's no driver available for it. It installs as a USB Audio Device which is what Akai advise. I kinda wish there was a driver for it, I feel like it could be made more specific that way and avoid problems like mine.

konc3pt wrote:maybe try uninstalling everything then plug in mpk and follow microsft install wizard to get drivers installed then install software, also I would try doing this using different usb port

Thanks for your reply dude. I have tried this, as well as viewing hidden devices and removing all instances of it from device manager and reinstalling on every USB port my computer has, but still with no joy