CONTROLS AND FEEL
What about those keys? A common complaint with today’s USB controllers is that the keys feel as if the thing is just a data entry appliance rather than a musical instrument. Happily, the MPK49’s keys proclaim “musical instrument” loud and clear. I use a competitor’s controller on one of my gigs to play soft synths in Propellerhead Reason, and it’s difficult to get predictable dynamics from its keys. So on those gigs, I end up using Reason mostly for pads and things that don’t require a nuanced touch the way piano and acoustic guitar patches do. The MPK49’s response made it much easier to play dynamic sounds with the musicality I need. An analysis of the MIDI output bears this out; the keys transmit velocity values of 1 to 127 in response to actual finger velocity, without perceptible humps or “flat spots” in the response curve.
The aftertouch is a pleasant surprise in that it’s very sensitive, pleasingly linear, and quite easy to initiate and control. You definitely don’t feel as if you’re bending the plastic keys to reach the top end of the aftertouch range like on some keyboards.
One thing you certainly expect to see on an Akai product is drum pads. The 12 on the MPK49 are the same size as those on the MPC500 drum machine (reviewed Nov. ’07), and they respond exactly the same way. Since I still have the MPC500 here (I’m returning it soon — honest, Akai dudes!) it was easy to compare how they worked triggering drums. Compared in the only way that could be fair, which was with both devices used to control external sound sources over MIDI, the two sets of pads behaved identically. Akai confirmed that the MPK’s pads are the same as those on the MPC.
ARPEGGIATOR
Adding more fun to the party is the MPK’s basic but cool arpeggiator. Modes on offer include up, down, up/down cycling with the top and bottom notes in the pattern sounding twice each (“inclusive”) or just once (“exclusive”), random, and chord, which will repeat the chord you hold down. The range goes up to three octaves. You select straight and triplet note values, from quarter- to thirty-second-notes, by holding down the dedicated Time Division button, then hitting one of buttons S1 through S8. The gate time parameter does nifty things — arpeggiating an acoustic piano sound and lowering the gate time to a value below 10 yielded notes so staccato that the patch transmogrified into some modified experimental piano. The sustain pedal is active while the arpeggiator runs, letting you create all kinds of cool effects. Since the arpeggiator respects key velocity and can sync to either the MPK’s internal MIDI clock or an external one, the results can be engrossing and downright inspiring. It may seem like just a dumb little arpeggiator at first, but this rabbit hole goes deep.
IN USE
To my slight disappointment, there’s just one velocity curve, and it isn’t editable, though you can turn velocity-sensing off. Of course, you can adjust velocity response on the receiving plug-in or host program. In Reason’s NN-XT soft sampler, to give just one example, a Velocity Level setting of 70 suited the MPK’s touch superbly. Once you match the response of the receiving sound source to the Akai’s velocity curve, the keys reveal their finesse.
Compared to the sliders on many other MIDI controllers, I initially thought the MPK49’s looked cartoonishly oversized. After a few weeks sliding them back and forth, however, I really came to appreciate this, as well as the high-contrast, white-on-black panel look that makes it easy to see where you’re at, even in very dark conditions.
Switches can send any MIDI continuous control number, though only with values 0 or 127 (on or off), which limits their utility somewhat, but Akai made the safe bet that most of us will use them as solo/mute buttons for some kind of multitrack program. They can also send program and bank change messages.
Four banks of 12 pads are more than enough for all but the most extreme plug-in drum kits. You can also use the pads in other ways, owing to the fact that they can be set to toggle notes on and off. In a cover or worship band, for example, you sometimes hold notes on a pad sound all the way thru a song’s intro, verse, and B-section, while covering other parts. Rather than holding a sustain pedal or tying up a hand, you could assign pads in toggle mode to the appropriate notes, so the notes will begin when you hit the pads once and sustain until you hit ’em again.
CONCLUSIONS
A great-feeling keyboard, ample MIDI controllers, the killer pads from the MPC500, and seamless remote control of your DAW or other music app. Nice. I think Akai bulls-eyed their goal of making a stout, solid, musical controller. Also, the version 1.03 operating system in my review unit appears to have addressed some early issues. I experienced none of the trouble reported on various blogs and online forums, so there’s really nothing to recommend against the MPK49. It’s a fantastic choice for anyone looking for a note-entry device that acknowledges and accommodates you as a musician rather than mistaking you for a musical data entry clerk.
CLAIM CHECK
Akai’s Glen Darcey says, “The goal we set with the MPK49 was to build a quality keyboard controller that lets you expand your performance capabilities. While many software applications have arpeggiators, most aren’t implemented in a way that lets you ‘play’ them likes the synths of old. We added an arpeggiator that was simple to use but that gives you that performance capability. We had to put our MPC pads on a keyboard so that you have it all in one package. We kept the MPC tradition of having four pad banks and the ‘full-level’ and ‘12-level’ functions. We also added a note-repeat function with the swing feel from the MPC line. There are never enough hardware controls, so we added three banks of controllers for a total of 75 assignable controllers. We went with a custom LCD display that makes editing easy. To top it off, we built it solid, used high-quality pots and sliders, and added a quality-feeling keyboard that has aftertouch.”
JARGON JOCKEY
CC: Continuous Controller. This refers to any control message available in MIDI-land, and it’s basically an ID number whereby a physical control — or recorded instructions from a sequencer — tells a sound source, “Hey, I’m the boss of such-and-such aspect of what you sound like, and right now I’d like you to change it by X amount.” What amount? That’s another number, the value. That value can range from 0 to 127, and change in real time, hence the term “continuous.” That’s why MIDI-savvy pros say things like “I want to send a value of 64 on CC 7.”
The Akai MPK49 and most of its competitors offer templates for controlling a wide variety of software apps and plug-ins to save you the time of making assignments yourself.