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How's the Akai MPK49 controller?

M

MezicanGangxtah

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 21, 2007
114
0
Denver,CO
I wa thinking about maybe purchasing this controller mainly because of its cool features like its drum pads,arpeggiator,and its wealth of faders and knobs. Plus Ive read pretty good reviews from it. But basicaly i want to know how easy it is to set up in garageband/Logic any difficulty? does everything work properly?

Thanx
 
MezicanGangxtah said:
I was thinking about maybe purchasing this controller mainly because of its cool features like ,pads,arp.,and its wealth of faders and knobs. Plus Ive read pretty good reviews from it. But basicaly i want to know how easy it is to set up in garageband/Logic any difficulty? does everything work properly?

Thanx
Click to expand...

doesnt anyone own one of these? or atleast experienced one?
 
Hi yeh, I've got one.. Takes some time to setup which I still have not done properly yet. But build wise its solid and feels very robust - worth getting.
 
Fargomac said:
Hi yeh, I've got one.. Takes some time to setup which I still have not done properly yet. But build wise its solid and feels very robust - worth getting.
Click to expand...

cool...well recently i went to guitar center and i was checking out the controller and the keys were pretty nice i liked them..it was the pads im concerned about they seem like there not really sensitive and you have to pound on them to get a sound....although that might be easily fixable with velocity settings on it..what can you tell me about the pads?
 
I bought MPK49 a month ago and returned it the next day. The keys were rough and noisy. Got Korg Kontrol49 Much better KB IMO.
 
I have this


Im finding it hard to integrate directly with garageband. But then again I havent put much time into it. I don't know how to assign with the knobs and faders
 
I wanna know too... I was thinking of picking up a MPK25 because I'm looking for a cheap portable controller with aftertouch. The arp and control surface are a plus too. Far as setting up the MPK49 to use with Logic, you can find guides on youtube

So far the one drawback I've heard is that the pads are really weak compared to an actual MPC but it IS possible to tweak the sensitivity

The keys feel like my old Oxygen8 but I figure anyone going for a piano feel would buy an 88 key weighted anyway.
 
abolit said:
no, it's not
Click to expand...

ok, I've been reading it's possible to tweak the pad sensitivity but you still can't get it to the point where you don't have to bang on the pad to get 127

and that sucks b/c the MPC pads were a big draw

I'd get the Kontrol but there's no aftertouch and I wanna use the controller to synth wind instruments. Also no arp, but I don't really care since my KX8 has an arp anyway

the other alternative is the Novation which doesn't have the 16 pad layout, but has its own version of the Kaoss pad integrated
 
Liquorpuki said:
ok, I've been reading it's possible to tweak the pad sensitivity but you still can't get it to the point where you don't have to bang on the pad to get 127

and that sucks b/c the MPC pads were a big draw

I'd get the Kontrol but there's no aftertouch and I wanna use the controller to synth wind instruments. Also no arp, but I don't really care since my KX8 has an arp anyway

the other alternative is the Novation which doesn't have the 16 pad layout, but has its own version of the Kaoss pad integrated
Click to expand...

Same dilemma..and was going to get a Axiom or Axiom Pro but then you lose NOTE REPEAT and ARP.

So, if its impossible to get a simple beat going, what does one do? Then I was at GC yesterday, messing around and noticede that the NOTE REPEAT could be AWESOME for using Orchestral Drum, especially for action as I was messing around with it and getting some really cool results that would be nearly impossible to do manually, so I have to ask myself, is it worth the trade off and maybe get a cheap DRUM PAD DOWN the road.

At the same time, one reviewer said that it will take time but in 6 months to a year, the pads will break in and become more sensitive, he spoke as though he had first hand knowledge of these AKAI products.

Anyway, doing some of the great NOTE REPEAT with GREAT SAMPLES could result in stuff that is a) Unique, and b) almost impossible to play manually unless you had the real instrument and hammer. LOL.

So, what it comes down to is how well it works with LOGIC 9, and any plug ins, Omnisphere, Reason (there is a template, but Reason within Logic), Absynth, BFD, EWQLSO, Symphobia.......and they are priced really good for this weekend only, almost as if the price makes it worth it.

The Axioms look good, the Pro even better but no ARPEG. or NOTE repeat, thus, NO ORCHESTRAL CHASE music, which I do more often then song creation.

Ah, the dilemma on what to do....

Thoughts?
 
I got a GC giftcard in the mail, went out and bought the MPK49. So far I've just set up the sync and transport keys. It comes with a GUI called Vyzex that makes set up pretty easy.

The velocity pads are thin MPC 500 pads but less responsive because they're too far away from the sensors. You bang your fingers on the pads and you feel like you're straining the keyboard housing. Akai should've used the thicker 1000 pads. If you came from the MPC world, you'll hate the pads.

The built-in MPC functions are nice. Full Level negates the sensitivity problems, as long as you're doing something non-expressive like sequencing chopped samples and don't mind how bad the pads feel. MPC Swing and note repeat are great.

The Arp is ok. It's just not that robust. My KX8 in comparison, has a ton of built in arp patterns organized according to instrument. IE if I have a guitar patch, I can select an arp pattern that caters to guitar. For the MPK49 arp, you select the type of note, the number of notes you want in the chord, distance between notes, and one of 6 patterns (increasing, decreasing, etc). It basically just plays a constant arpeggio. Maybe I'm missing something here.

The control surface is great. One thing I liked about the MPC is I could get creative with the Q-Sliders. IE I could put a scratch sample on one of the pads, configure the slider to vary the sample pitch, then I could use the Q-Slider like a fader and scratch (IE DJ Hoppa Doors Routine). I can do that again here.

I don't have a problem with the keys and I don't get the comment about them being too noisy. They're your generic semi-weighted plastic keys. If you're playing a patch, you won't hear them.

Haven't messed around with aftertouch yet, which is one of the main reasons I got it

Anyway, if you're buying the controller primarily because of the pads, it's not worth it. You're better off getting a standalone 16 pad controller OR using an actual MPC's MIDI out
 
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