What up, it’s Troy Gayle of Gadget-T.com back with another tech toy.  But since it’s a piece of music production equipment, and I have no musical talent, I recruited the help of DJ Murkz to put it to the test.  And from the looks of it, it seems to be a keeper.  Feel free to hit me with the questions, tgayle@gadget-t.com

Review: 

The MPK25 is essentially a smaller, cut-down version of the MPK49. To say it’s ‘smaller’, however, is a bit of an understatement. It has full-sized keys, like the MPK49, but half as many of them; the same percussion pads; and many of the same assignable controls, all of them squeezed into a case measuring 477 x 359 x 88mm. In terms of its ‘footprint’, the MPK is just over an inch deeper than my laptop and about four inches wider.



The MPK25 is supplied with a printed quick-start manual, a PDF version of the same, and a more extensive PDF reference manual. The PDFs and bundled software packages arrive on two installation CDs. A standard USB cable is also provided, for connecting to a host computer. The MPK25 is a genuine ‘plug and play’ device: neither Windows nor Mac OS X requires a driver to be installed, and once plugged in, the keyboard will work almost immediately.




The MPK25 features MPC pads that are pressure and velocity-sensitive. The pads can access four banks of sounds, so you can have 48 samples at your fingertips with the touch of a button.

The AKAI MPK25 offers extensive assignable controls through its Q-Link section. The MPK-25 keyboard gives users 32 parameters of hands-on control through 12 virtual knobs and four virtual buttons, each of which can access two different banks of assignment via  bank-change control.



Two functions pioneered in the Akai MPC series and built into the MPK series are MPC Note Repeat and MPC Swing. These note-modifying features can be heard in many of the most popular tracks over the last two decades. MPC Note Repeat automatically plays a rhythmic pattern, such as 16th notes on a hi-hat, for accuracy and speed of entry. MPC Swing is sometimes referred to as “the heart and soul of hip hop”. You can specify exactly the degree and timing of swing you want to apply for the perfect feel.

The MPK25 has an arpeggiator, which enables performers to develop creative riffs in seconds. The arpeggiator features six different modes and can have its own swing settings independent of the MPC Note Repeat settings.

Because MPK series controllers are USB class compliant, they do not require custom drivers to work with Mac or PC computers and will work with all MIDI recording, sequencing and performance software. The MPK series is perfect for musicians, producers, DJs and VJs.



The MPK25 comes with Ableton Live Lite Akai Edition software, one of the most popular and powerful performance and production programs in the world. Ableton Live Lite enables musicians to spontaneously compose, record, remix, improvise and edit musical ideas in a seamless audio/MIDI environment.

Features:

· Portable keyboard controller with MPC production controls

· 25-key semi-weighted keyboard

· 12 pressure/velocity MPC pads

· 4 programmable sound banks

· Transport controls

· 34 assignable controllers

· 12 knobs, 4 buttons x 4 banks

· Assignable footswitch in

· Assignable expression pedal in

· MPC Note Repeat

· MPC Swing

· Arpeggiator

· MPC Full Level and MPC 12-Level

· Tap Tempo

· The MPK25 draws on the design of the popular MPK49, the first keyboard ever to feature genuine MPC pads.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Music, Hip-Hop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.