Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII – 25 Key USB MIDI Keyboard Controller With 8 Drum Pads, 8 Assignable Q-Link Knobs and Pro Software Suite Included

This item, while it looks beautiful and functions well for a time, is built with incredibly poor and flimsy design. The keys are not supported in any way, with 1mm thick plastic holding each key to the controller. This plastic does not rotate when pressed, instead, it flexes, constantly putting the thin plastic under extreme tension. In less than a year of use, a ridiculous amount of keys have snapped off. This is a common problem, and no amount of super glue has been able to keep them on with such pathetic design quality. I urge you to search up: "Akai MK2 Mini keys snapping off" Take a look at a couple threads on the official akai community boards and you'll see that this is a very common and inherent design problem.

When I read the reviews complaining of the driver installation process I was thinking "It can't be THAT bad"... Well it is, it is easily the most idiotic driver/software installation I've ever experienced. There's no actual software included, instead you have to go to Akaipro.com, register your product, then they'll give you a list of downloads. You would think that the first item in the list would be drivers, NOPE. You would think that there would be an item in the list labelled drivers, NOPE. The first item in the list is Air Hybrid, well what is it and what is it used for, you'll have no clue because there's no description for it, you do find out later that you will need to install it but it's not the first thing you need to install. Looking through the list there's a download called MPC Essentials. Figuring it might have the drivers in it I downloaded it and ran it, it's got drivers in it alright. 3 drivers, one named Renaissance Driver, one named Element Driver, and one named Studio Driver. What's the difference between them? Who knows. At this point you'll be asking what kind of monster created this abomination. Turns out that you need to install the last option in the list first, the MPC Essential software THEN go back and download the Air Hybrid software and install that. Why not just include a simple list that tells you what to install and in what order? Or better yet, why not just include big install that installs everything you NEED to operate the MPK mini? One more example of how crazy this all is, when you go to run the firmware update it tells you to hold down the PROG button the keyboard. Problem is, there isn't a PROG button the keyboard. You have PROG 1 through 4, PROG Select, and PROG Change. Which one is the PROG button? Apparently none of them because it didn't work for me. There is such an obvious disconnect between the hardware engineers at Akai and software engineers. The hardware is good, it's built well for a relatively inexpensive item. The software portion is like nothing I've ever experienced before. It will leave you frustrated and speechless I promise you. There are similar keyboards from other manufacturers that'll give you comparable results without the headaches. I recommend you check them out.

This is a great piece of equipment for a beginner musician, but there IS a learning curve, so please be aware of that when buying. What you are purchasing is a MIDI controller (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). Unlike a synthesizer, MIDI controllers do not produce sound without software. It's basically just a tool to control computer software. So after you've downloaded the software and plug it in, you will still not have any sound generated until you've set everything up properly and loaded sounds onto the pads. So I feel it is slightly inaccurate to call it a "plug-in and go", as some people do. Pros: - Its easy to use AFTER you have learned how to set up and use it. - Its fun. - A good way to get into digital music making. - Budget friendly. Cons: - The software setup is kind of intimidating but luckily there are easy-to-find tutorials to help you. - Akai itself doesn't seem to have much assistance in actually using the controller. Every useful tutorial I found was by someone else, not the company. It would be nice for them to take the time to make more tutorials. Unless I just didn't find them? Everything I found just had to do with setting up the software, nothing really about HOW to actually use it. -The software that is included is limited. You can't use the knobs with MPC Essentials, you need Ableton or something similar for that. Or rather, I should say, you can't use the knobs for effects in your track. I believe you can use it for other things but I still don't quite understand that part. I am still learning to use this but it has gotten significantly funner to use as I have learned more about it and found sounds I like. Just as a tip: - Make sure you know where all your files are saved when you setup the software. You will need to know where your VST stuff is so you can load it into MPC Essentials. -Use Program 2 when you're finally ready to start loading sounds in. Program 2 has the pads laid out in order in the software, so everything correlates properly. -Read the manual and do a lot of research if you are new to it. It's worth the time, trust me.