AKAI Professional MPK261 – 61-Key Semi-Weighted USB MIDI Keyboard Controller Including Assignable MPC Controls including 16 Pads, Q-Links, Buttons and Plug and Play Connectivity

Beautiful keyboard, a little thick for my liking, though it causes me no issues. Keys feel fantastic and pads are nice and sensitive. I haven’t had a midi controller with pads, so I’m quite happy, and impressed with them!
Knobs and slides feel quite high quality, responsive as required. Mod wheels also have a great feel to them.
All in all, this controller is great quality, is very capable and well built. I recommend it to anyone looking for a high quality controller at a good price. Well worth the money!

I love this keyboard so much! What made me hesitant to buy this was tech support – I tried using some of the software it came with and it did not work or was very difficult to use so I gave up. The keyboard it’s self is beautiful. and good to play on – compatible with ableton.

Item came new and and in the same package.
Item came as advertised.

The F6 Fader is useless. I don’t know why. Now I have solve the problem, so review it again.

Best keyboard i ever onw quality is gerat the pad are cool feel good to us

I’ve owned a few of these type of keyboards over the years but this has the best build quality and keyboard action of all of them.

Kinda weird combining it with heavy keyed piano but the pads and the knobs obviously made for Ableton speeds up my music making process tremendously

I can’t judge based off of alot of other mpks but I really love this one. The only thing is I wish the keys were a tad bit more sensitive to the heavy presses but I think I can find a way to fix tha

Como siempre Akai no decepciona, el MPK225 se configura completamente con FL Studio (knobs, botones, pads, entre otros) fue una excelente compra.

Excellent keyboard. I can only compare with other cheaper controller keyboards I have owned from IK multimedia and other brands. This keyboard is night and day compared with my irig keys pro, which was an overpriced tacky piece of junk.
This Akai keyboard is solidly built (quite heavy too) and oozes quality all over it. I love the action of the keys and they are quite silent compared with the ik keys and not clacky at all.
I’m not sure if I’ll use all the buttons and controls on this keyboard or if some of them are even necessary but the option is there and could prove useful at some point.

Great keyboard.

Using this for professional studio. Works well especially for its size.

This was a gift for my son. He was very pleased to receive this for Christmas. He is now back at school and every time l call him he is playing it.

I wanted a lot of control in a small space and this keyboard delivers. The keys feel nice – solid with some mass. The pads are great with excellent aftertouch, fully programmable in four banks with a “full velocity” switch and a programmable repeat. It syncs to external clock easily. The keyboard arpeggiator is excellent with most common patterns available. The other programmable knobs and switches (with a transport control) are what you want. Not great for master clock as you have to go page diving to get to tempo and the internal clock isn’t very accurate. I have not used the included software –
I am using it with MIDI DIN only. The USB port is being used for power. (NB – No wall wart included.) Buy an OnStage pedestal stand and you will be styling. Highly recommended.

My first MIDI controller so probably not the best review but representitive of a beginners experience…

Easy to setup initially with your favourite DAW, plenty of info available online if you’ve never used a similar product. Plug and play with the ability to do more in depth configuration as you progress, with software and hardware.

Has enough keys to play a range of melodies (two full octaves with an extra C) can be played two handed however if you are decent at playing piano you may find it limiting. the pitch shifters (one sustained one returns to the middle when you let go) allow you to reach different pitches although, I don’t think they shift full octaves alone however with the Octave up and down buttons this is possible.

The keys feel decent (even somewhat better than other semi-weighted keyboards ive used from reputable brands) and are relatively accurate as far as the velocity is concerned though it may take a while to get used to if you haven’t used anything similar.
Ability to plug expression/sustain pedals directly into the back was a nice feature that i didn’t even consider using when I first purchased.

The latency of input was at first a bit off but I soon realised that the response time can be changed with software which I believe lowers the initial quality of input and allows for the signal to be near instant (quality of rendered sound is not affected e.g. after exporting to .mp3/wav etc.) This isn’t really a problem but is particularly useful for doing drum patterns in real time and not having to manually quantize as much if you can’t get it perfectly on beat which is something that has a learning curve itself and took me a while to figure out.

The pads have a nice feel and aren’t too soft/firm. I found it hard to judge velocity which could be a problem however I soon found the ‘full level’ button which detects all pad input as max velocity, allowing for consistency where necessary. I found this to be the way to go for me though it would be possible to learn the velocity levels I prefer to lay down the drum pattern then go back in the software and change It manually to perfect and reduce velocity for things such as open hats. 8 pads are enough for me with the ability to cycle through 4 banks being a nice extra.

I’m still learning with it and haven’t used all of the buttons/features such as the knobs, latch and arpeggitator but as far as music production goes, this device has taken me from not being able to create a simple drum pattern to learning how to create complex meoldies using different scales and diverse drum patterns and being able to translate the melodies I can think of directly into digital format which is something I didn’t think I would achieve.

For anyone who is looking for their first MIDI device this may be a bit overkill however as you progress and climb the learning curve i feel you may find that this has a few extra features that allow you to progress and learn more without being hindered by hardware as early as you might with other devices. If you are serious about learning to create music I would suggest this device and would even consider the models with extra keys (49 and 61 I believe) if you have the room.

Durability. I’ve only put out around 30 hours into using the device however I’m very impressed by the design and feel of it and nothing seems to have degraded/worn out/ no buttons sticking or friction in the keys etc. even with the most used pads/keys. It is slightly bulky and has a fair weight to it however this imo makes it feel more durable. LEDs look good and while they are quite bright they aren’t obnoxious or off putting and do serve a function in showing you which bank is selected, which buttons are ON such as the ‘Full level’ making it possible to see what settings you have selected without having to mess about playing something to see if it sounds different.

All in all I would recommend the product however first consider if you will be dedicating some time to learning and perfecting your ability to use it as well as the software you use alongside it. If you aren’t sure whether you will continue to use it or get bored with it I’d say get a lesser model such as the Mpk Mini.

Works incredibly and was just what I needed for a home production setup.

Very sturdy and well built. It was well packaged. I’m very satisfied

Livr uniquement avec un cble USB Midi, suffisant pour alimenter le clavier (celui ci peut tre galement aliment par une source externe, mais vous devez vous munir au pralable du chargeur).

Les touches sont semi lest, un bon compromis entre le synthtiseur et le piano numrique touche lests.

Vous disposez d’un petit manuel d’utilisation (version quick) mais dans ce guide, on vous renvoi vers une adresse internet pour le guide complet d’utilisation.

Il s’agit de la nouvelle version du MPK261

Je l’utilise avec Ableton live 10 suite et il fonctionne trs bien ds le premier branchement.

Pas de soucis d’installation des driver

5/5

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Versatile keyboard with a professional feel.I wish I got the 49 keys version though. This size is good for studio work only.

This here is a beautiful piece. Love the feel of the pads, the knobs feel premium, and the keys are a lot better than the ones on the impulse. Eight pads on the MPK225 may not seem like much, especially when compared to some other keyboards in the same price range, but they were adequate for me. Unlike most midi keyboards in this price range, it also has an internal midi clock. It’s a complete package if you’re short on table space. It isn’t very portable and if you need it for producing on the go, give this one a miss and go for the cheaper mini mk2. Also, this does NOT need external power unless you plan on connecting it to midi devices through the midi ports, without connecting it to your computer. The unpowered iPad connectivity is a welcome feature for those who constantly like to experiment with synths without having to turn on their computers everytime they want to. 4 stars.

Great piece of machinery!! I still have much to learn about music production and this will help me very much!

My only qualm (not problem), is that I have to plug it into my iMac directly instead of my power hub.

Great device. I use logic pro X and it has a preset for it. I have not had any issues plus it looks real cool too. I would say definitely get this if you use logic pro X, it has been worth the money I spent.

I brought this for my boyfriend as his Christmas gift and he is in love with it, i don’t regret buying this product for him!

bought it for my daughter who is a musician that writes songs all the time. It’s a great starter kit for those who are interested in building a home studio. You can get a lot of this instruments functionality!

Amazing playability and feels good. I’m still learning the ins and outs but this was a great purchase for my home studio

The best controller I have ever owned, and my studio looks like a museum. I might get the 88 key next.

Great keyboard. My only gripe is I wish you could edit the sensitivity of the drum pads a bit more than what is available. Works excellent with FL studio, but further tuning will be needed within the program. Worth the buy!

Ottimo come sempre da AKAI, sta diventando rapidamente la mia marca preferita in ambito produzione audio. Consiglio la versione con pi tasti se non si dispone di una seconda tastiera (la affianco ad un piano digitale CASIO per suonare)