Akai Pro MPK61 USB MIDI Keyboard Controller

I bought this after narrowing down to two controllers. I was looking at the Novation 61 SL MKII or this. Price ended up tempting me. I bought this for a mere $380.00 on sale here at Amazon compared to the Novation's $599 price tag. I must say this controller keyboard has great solid controls and great semi-weighted key action. I know some have complained about the keys being a bit stiff, but I find the keys to be a perfect balance. I do not like keyboards with light hollow keys which are too flimsy. I also don't like fully weighted since I do a lot of Electronica style music with 16th and 32nd notes which is a pain on the fingers with fully weighted keys. I use this keyboard with Ableton Suite 8 and this keyboard maps beautifully with Ableton controls. I especially like the Vyzex profile editor software that comes with it to easily setup control template profiles for the keyboard. This keyboard has a very solid feel to it and seems well built. The blue backlit LCD screen is very bright and clear. I love the built in arpeggiator on the MPK61 and the 8 different time division buttons for the different timings of the arpeggiator. Those are great touches. The 16 pads have great touch sensitivity as well with four bank buttons. I also like the positioning of the octave buttons for transposing. They are in a very convenient location while playing live. What can I say? This was a perfect fit for my Ableton work that I do. I also will be purchasing the Akai APC40 when I start going live and the MPK61 and the APC40 will work great together in unison with Ableton MIDI mappings. It really is a great value and great quality. Akai really builds very solid controllers and their tech support is very responsive.

Best investment ever. He spends hours everyday creating and recording music. It is his passion and we researched very carefully before we purchased this item. We asked many professionals before we took the leap. I didn't want to get something that felt like an expensive toy that he would outgrow. He's headed off for college and wants a degree/career in music production. He really wanted the MPK49 but after much advice from his music teacher we went with the MPK61. He doesn't regret that now. The keyboard was lighter then he expected and even the bigger version is easy to carry around. We bought a carrying case for it for trips so it wouldn't get damaged.

The shipping was not a problem at all. The one drawback that I have is the drum pads and their response even when I adjust it to the full level. Its works well but you will have to adjust your playing to it, which means you will have to push harder on the pads. Some others complained about the feel of the keys being plastic and that is true but it works well for be. You may also want to be careful playing to hard on the keys because one of my keys, I have to press down hard to get the note to play though I have been having it for about 8 months now. Overall, it was a great purchase and helped me to elevate my musical talents in producing hip hop beats and rapping on them.

I've seen only two reviews on the MPK61 having looked all over the net. Both complained of the feel of the keyboard. I'll get to that shortly. I bought mine based on reviews of the MPK49. I also bought an On-Stage stand for it and a Behringer expression pedal. It was a quick setup - but I found almost immediately that two adjacent notes were not playing - unless I really hit them hard. So it got RMAed - no problem - the next unit was fine. Pros: The controls and pads were much bigger than I thought they would be - I just hadn't picked up on the size from the photo. So they are large and very smooth. The pitch bend and mod wheels are well built (and lit up!). It doesn't look like the pitch bend would ever bias like some controllers. The unit can run on USB power only. For all the lights on this thing you wonder how 500 milliamps manages it all. If a USB connection is not established the MPK will send controls out the MIDI connector - yet still run from USB power (say your computer is in standby but still provides USB power - actually I'm passing through a USB hub). This is useful if you just have a sound module connected to it. If USB is established, the MIDI in connectors will pass another controller or keyboard to the computer. This keyboard actually establishes three USB MIDI connections with your computer. Aftertouch works well. Generally you have a lot of control over sensitivity of the keys and pads. So you can adjust things the way you like. Except.... Cons: The guy was right about the feel of the keyboard. To be more specific - it is supposed to be a semi-weighted keyboard but the spring in the keys requires every bit of force (or more) than a fully weighted keyboard. The spring fights your fingers down and up as well. But worse, the keys are about an inch shorter than they should be - so hitting a black key requires a lot of force if you're towards the back of the key. Be prepared to learn how to play just for this keyboard. Akai should really rethink this - much less spring and longer keys. Those two reviews also complained about the pads not working well. But I find that they work just fine as long as the sensitivity and sensitivity curve are adjusted properly - I use 14 w/curve A. Considering I had to return the first keyboard - Akai has some quality issues. Finally, one annoying firmware bug - a bank value of 127 for the MSB in a program change is excluded only if you try to assign it to a key. Why? For me it is a pain since all my drum kits use MSB=127.

If you are thinking about getting a MIDI controller, and are loaded, and aren't looking for something hard to play like fully hammer-weighted keys, then forget the 88. Get the MPK61 and all your dreams will come true. With 16 velocity sensitive pads as well as 5-octave velocity keys, as well as 8 knobs and faders for mixing, you have a full workstation at your disposal. It's not too heavy and it will definitely be an asset to your production. If you want to see what it can do check out my music here: [...] I bought this item from Amazon, and they shipped it faster than I expected. I highly recommend you buy it from them for a great deal. - S.S