Some years ago I wanted a 5 octave controller that would fit in smaller space. Only a few were on the market that would fit (the rest were âtoo wideâ, or Iâd need to shave off octaves). Those two were Akai MPK261, and some of the Arturia models.
First time around I went with the Akai MPK261. Out of the box the integration with Cubase wasnât very good, but that wasnât hard to fix. I gradually tweaked it to work exactly like I wanted over the legacy generic remote system.
The first minor issue I had with the Akai, was that it didnât like my higher end Yamaha pedals (closed switch when up, open when stomped). There was no way to invert the polarity in the MPK2 firmware! Itâs supposed to do it automatically, but never did, and there is no setting in the firmware to force it. It wasnât a huge deal, I just make Cubase do it with a global transformer. StillâŚannoying. And as far as I know, after all these years, Akai has NOT bothered to release a new firmware to fix this.
Back then it came with a slate of sounds from Sonnivox and AIR, a now rather dated version of Akai MPC, and a lite version of Ableton Live.
The Akai instrument purchase also entitled me to use some kind of stand alone âlive hostâ by Akai instead of a DAW. I forget what it was called now, but I wasnât impressed. Note, itâs been years since Iâve looked at how Akaiâs native software suites have advanced and improved. I do recall that back then, I wasnât impressed at all. Just skipping it and working directly a DAW like Cubase or Ableton was far superior (even on live gigs).
The sounds and extras that came with mine were OK (the Sonnivox Piano Plugin sounds and plays great), and still are I guess, but only come in VST2/AU/AAX to this day.
Still no VST3 for the Sonnivox and AIR plugins!
These days the software that comes with an MPK2 might be a little different and more fresh. I notice that they now have an inMusic download app (kind of like Stienberg Download Assistant) that did not exist back when I purchased and use the MPK261.
Iâd check it out before buying to see if itâs a slate of stuff youâre interested in using.
The Akai MPK2 played and felt great for about half a year. Got a brand new key-bed, which wasnât cheap (though way cheaper than keeping a real piano in top shape), and it worked well for about another year. When I say âbad key-bedâ, I mean certain notes double strike, and only at full velocity! Iâve tried and failed figuring out how to ârepairâ the key-beds. Even tried swapping out various components (changing the whole key-bed is the only thing that has actually worked). They are simply built, and I canât imagine what in there could possibly âgo badâ, but it does. No amount of âcleaningâ gets it to perform properly again. I dunno. Something is off about them. I think they go bad too soon/easy for my money.
Decided not to fix it again.
Now I have the Arturia Keylab 61 mkII. Itâs about a year old now, and so farâŚno problems with the action. It has a decent response. If the keys are scaled down a little, I honestly havenât noticed. Itâs a different key-action than the Akai (not as âspringyâ when lifting the key back up), but itâs nice, and quite responsive. The Akai feels like nothing else on the market (bouncy and springy). The Arturia has a flatter âbottom me out and lay into the channel pressure pad if you wantâ feel like a high end synth from the late 90s or first part of this century. The âupâ action doesnât feel as fast/aggressive/springy as the AKAI.
I really enjoyed that springy AKAI feel for piano stuff, itâs killer fun for percussion/mallet/tuned-bar instruments, but now Iâm used to it, I think the Arturia is superior when it comes to actually using channel pressure. To get that working on the AKAI, you had to push in past what felt like and âindentâ to get it moving. With the Arturia, you bottom out the key anyway, and itâs comparatively less effort to induce the channel pressure (aftertouch) when you want to use it.
While it doesnât have a remote script shipping directly with Cubase, I found a really good one by m.c. here on the forums and itâs amazing. Definitely the best implementation Iâve ever seen for a keyboard in this price range, with a layout like this. Heâs got that script âpagingâ controls rather deep. There isnât much you canât do in Cubase right there on the MIDI controller (including browsing and changing sounds)! On top of that are 10 user presets you can hop to and layer up your own custom goodies. A very interesting experience.
The firmware in the Arturia is leaps and bounds more advanced than the Akai MPK2. It supports MCU. The Data wheel serves as a jog wheel in Cubase with M.Câs script. EtcâŚ
You get MIDI control center if you prefer building user presets and such in a computer app (as opposed to poking and saving on the keyboard itself). The control center also comes in handy for backing up your settings, or keeping up with multiple layouts. The Akai MPK2 series did NOT come with anything like this (while the older MPK series did).
I think it also comes with a key for a lite version of Ableton.
All in all, the Piano and Audio Lab software (stand alone or as plugins) is FAR superior across the board to the small suite of software that came with the Akai. For starters, it is plug and play compatible with the Arturia Keylab series, as they have a special button/mode just for the Arturia Analogue and Piano Lab software. You can browse and dial up sounds in their âlabâ series software right from your MIDI keyboard.
Arturia doesnât come with any live hosting option of their own that I know of (just the starter version of Ableton); however, you can launch Analogue/Piano lab in stand alone if you just want to skip the DAW and twiddle and play.
Analogue Lab grants access to all the piano sounds in Piano Lab, as well as any custom user presets you might build in Piano Lab. In fact, you could skip installing Piano Lab and still get at the sounds. Piano Lab just has things arranged more specifically to tweaking/building piano sounds. So, once youâve built themâŚitâs all available in the one Analogue Lab plugin.
Arturaâs sounds are artsy and interesting. I donât think there is a âbad oneâ in the lot, and they have all sorts of options to buy more if you like the way their stuff works and sounds. Their stronger sounds seem to be the synths (the company has a very good reputation when it comes to emulating classic hardware synths). The more orchestral/acoustic sounds that you get with the initial purchase of the board are a little weaker to my ears when âisolated and exposedâ (though quite nice in a mix), but still not âbadâ and are definitely usable. The Pianos and Organs that come with it are more synthesis based than âsampleâ based. Theyâre very fun and tweakable. Easy to lay into a variety of mixing styles and musical periods.
I havenât noticed much in the way of âACOUSTIC percussion and drumkitsâ going on in Arturia land. Itâs probably there somewhere, but it hasnât stood out to me as something theyâre known for, or push to the front of their interface and sound choices. So, while I might be wrong, my impression is that Arturia software is âweakerâ on the percussion end (synthy percussion not withstandingâŚthereâs loads of that kind of stuff).
All of my pedals have worked out of the box with the Arturia, mixed and matched. I have some that stomp the switch âopenâ. Some that stomp it âshutâ, and some with variable pots. They all workâŚeven if I mix and match them. Didnât matter which type of switch, or which way it was wired. Canât say that for the AKAI.
Another perk of the Keylab 61, which I personally donât use, is a C/V jack for analog synths. Not sure Iâll ever use that, but the AKAI doesnât have oneâŚ
The Arturia doesnât come with any âMPC Styleâ software at all, while the Akai stuff tends to come with some variant of their famous MPC software. Of course with either board, you can pop over to a User preset and use the drum pads any way you like.
Personally, I donât miss the Akai MPC software at all. I never tried version 2 and beyond, but wasnât too crazy about the version 1 stuff that came with my MPK261. Cubase comes with Groove Agent SE, and I already had/have the full Steinberg Grove Agent suite and use that instead.
As for Groove Agent vs Akai MPC. Thatâs a whole new thread. There are significant differences in the purpose and workflow of those two bits of software. A topic for another time and place.
A year in, and my experience with the Arturia has been really good. Itâs been very smooth since the first week of owning it (thanks to M.Câs script).
I canât say the same for my experience with the AKAI. I loved playing it when it workedâŚbut when those âsour full velocity notesâ start developing on random keys, itâs a NIGHMARE. Playing along in a nice soft passage, and that ONE NOTE always plunks out at full velocity (a double plonk at that). No thanksâŚ
