Akai Professional MPK Mini Plus - USB MIDI Keyboard Controller with 37 Mini Keys, 8 MPC Pads, Sequencer, MIDI/CV/Gate I/O, Music Production Software and Native Instruments Sound Package

The keys take a little adjustment, but once broken in it feels like quality item. It’s super lightweight and portable. Its compact form makes transporting this controller incredibly easy. The drum pads are a bit stiff but can be adjusted for better performance. The interface has a lot of control buttons, which can be intimidating at first but are incredibly easy to use. It’s plug and play with some setup required if you use a DAW other than the one it comes with; functions on any DAW regardless with instant response during play. Akai is known for their quality products, and with the three free, industry grade plugins that come with it, it makes this price seem like a bargain.

Really nice MIDI controller. Comes with a USB-A cable to connect to a computer (no MIDI cables, which is normal for controllers, so not a surprise). Lots of good functions. The keys ARE small and feel kind of plasticky (they are, after all, plastic), but it's well made, and seems like it will last. Responsive pads for the percussion pads (rubberised -- 8 of them). Modulation wheel feels just right -- not too loose, not too stiff. The pitch bend wheel has a nice spring, and feels solid. Good set of keys and knobs. Some gate sync connections, a sustain pedal, and the 37 keys is a good size going up 3 full octaves -- I prefer it over the smaller 25 key formats. It's still small enough to be portable without being limited for use.The size of the keys makes playing full pieces a bit impossible, but it's a controller, and not meant for that. It's good for keying in the notes you want where you want them, and maybe doing a chord or two and a short run. Overall, I'm super pleased with this controller.

This is one awesome little machine the true measurements are 18 inches long 7 inches wide 2 inches tall from the bottom to the top of the knobs this is the exact measurements not leaving any room around it or above and below it is the exact measurements.It does come with a free MPC beats program but what they don't tell you is he just about need a college degree to learn how to work it and the other thing they don't tell you is it only comes with a few samples and sounds and it's $100 per package to purchase more is based upon a good idea but it is so confusing and complicated trying to get it set up for the first time and use it it's not worth having when the machine is supposed to work right out of the box but it didn't

UPDATE:It was important to me to return and update this review, as this info is not mentioned anywhere and I had discovered it only after contacting Akai's tech support. While the manual says that you can use the 5Din MIDI connectors when the unit is powered from an external source, such as a wall plug or a charging port only, it's not the case - MIDI data just aren't sent over. I bought it in thought that I could use it in a standalone setup to playing the sounds of my hardware synth, by connecting the MIDI-Out from this controller into the MIDI-In of my synth. However, no matter what I tried, nothing affected the hardware synth and pressing on the keys does nothing, unless I connect the USB port to a computer (host) and then set in my DAW to send MIDI signals from the MPK through its 5Din Midi-Out. So it basically forces you to use a computer host in order to use it, which is a terrible design flaw considering the fact that it has MIDI-In and MIDI-Out 5Din connectors. I contacted Aka's tech support and they confirmed that and said that this keyboard is designed to be used only with a computer, and that it cannot be used in a standalone setup. Maybe some modern hardware synths serve as hosts when connected to them via a USB cable, but my synth is quite old and doesn't serve as a host, and can only provide power to this keyboard from its memory stick USB port. So I just took 1 star away from this review, as this is still a great keyboard, only that it can't be used without a computer. I suggested Akai to perhaps fix this in a firmware update if it's possible, but I doubt this can be done if something physically needs to be changed in order for it to work - so we might just see a 2nd version for this great keyboard with proper 5Din MIDI connectors capabilities. You may find my original review below.ORIGINAL REVIEW:I planned on buying the first MPK mini when it was first out, but it didn't have pitch and mod wheels, which for me is a deal-breaker not to have any on a controller. While there are other keyboards with pitch and mod stripes, I always preferred physical wheels that I could both see and feel. When this MPK mini Plus was out I immediately knew that I'm going to add it to my setup, but I just couldn't afford one until now. Finally, I have this cute and practical thing on my workstation desk and I'm quite happy with it.I really like the quality of this thing. It's plastic, yes, but it seems like it was built to last. Its footprint is quite small (has the width of about the size of a standard PC keyboard), considering the amount of things you could find on it, and it's just a ton of features that utilize every inch of it! There's just no "empty" plastic space on this thing - Akai did quite well when designing this one to bring together all these features in this small form factor, and to still make it playable and not too small.You get physical pitch and mod wheels. You get drum pads. You get 8 endless rotary knobs to control parameters (I mainly going to use them for adjusting the tracks volume instead of faders). You get full transport buttons located in a convenient place, just above the key-bed to the right. You get Octave Down / Up buttons. You get full sized 5din MIDI-IN & MIDI-OUT connectors which you could utilize to connect to other midi devices, while using the USB port for powering the keyboard (if you connect it to a computer host via the USB then the 5din connectors don't work as you get midi-over-USB anyway). And many other features like a step sequencer and other connectors on the back which I'm not even going to use, but they're there for whomever needs them. Last but not least is the 37-key bed - unlike 25-key bed in other mini controllers, here you get 37 of them, which is just right for playing with 2 hands. The front shape of the keys is not full like you would find in semi / full-weight hammer action keys, and look like the traditional standard design that you'd find in most synth keyboards, only narrower and shorter since it's a mini keyboard after all. As for their feel? They're quite good. They're responsive and makes the job done.I didn't want to have a large keyboard above or under my workstation desk, as it's just going to be in the way and interfere when I don't need it. Hence, I looked for something small for recording music in small parts, and not something for playing an entire masterpiece on - for that I have my digital piano. If you're like me and waited for a small controller for sending midi signals to your DAW and to also have full transport control on top of it, grab this one as long as it exists.The only thing that I didn't figure out yet is how to hook it to my hardware synth via the 5din MIDI connectors. I followed the instructions and connected its USB port to a charging port only, but from some reason I don't get any input on my synth - through my DAW I'm able to router midi input from the MPK mini Plus and control my hardware synth without any problem. I'm still new to it so I think that it's just a setting that I need to adjust in the MPK mini Plus to make it work without a computer.

The media could not be loaded. I can fit both hands on this 37 keyed midi controller that I've been using with Ableton Live . The stop and play, rewind ,etc.buttons make it easy to record with. The knobs go all the way around. The pads feel good ,they have 2 banks and several functions and the action on the keys is just right. There's a sequencer on there and it's capable of hooking up to synthesizers and drum machines with 5 pin in/out/USB/3.55mm but I haven't got that far with her yet but I will. The downside is there's not much literature on the mpk plus so good luck with that ,just a smattering of YouTube videos and some Reddit articles. Overall, I got it at a fair price and it's fun to play even though I haven't figured the whole thing out yet . I bought it to replace my Akai mpk mini 3 and I'm glad I got the mpk plus instead. I like it much better . It's more diverse and you can do more with it in a lot of different ways and it's still compact enough that it won't take up much room in your studio. Plus it's compatible with pretty much every DAW out there. So,if I were you and I needed a keyboard controller then I'd get this one because that's what I did. 😁

Tricky installation but nice..Has a toy feel.

Awesome product for an awesome price!