Hi is the Akai MPK49 midi keyboard any good for using with Native instruments and FL Studio,
my budget is around the 300.00 gbp mark, suggestions most welcome,also i am a newbie to this music thing
but learning. My pc can handle Native Instruments good as well as other daws.
Thank you for any feedback

 

Yup just bought 2 of them for parts and made one working one for under 140.00 us dollars The Akai Mpk49 is a killer keyboard for any Daw and Vsti so much you can do with it also see Mpcstuff.com has a lot of modifacations parts you can do to it enhance drum triggers ect...
Honestly Good Choice Ebay has good working ones starting at 150-300 Depending your luck Peace Out..

 

If you need dynamics for your projects, which i would suggest you do, you will want a full weighted keyboard, ive got this specific keyboard and its only semi weighted. It can still give you dynamics want but you will have to play a bit more gently. Pay a lot of attention to this. If you can test these out and have a laptop and midi cable with your daw, just try it at the store to see how the midi values come out after recording. See if the feel and the midi values represent the amount of effort you put into the key. The drum pads are shit and you will need to mod them to get real sensitivity without hammering the keyboard. The sliders are decent build quality and the knobs are great quality. The mod wheel and pitch bend are also high quality. Keys themselves are sturdy and so are small buttons and the screen. Programming it is very easy if you read the manual

 

If you find you have to play too gently, you can always tweak the velocity sensitivity/curve. Not sure about the MPK, but I can do it in my trigger finger and Axiom controllers, as well as in the DAW.

 

Cheers for the feedback , most appreciated but have another question would i be better off getting a seperate midi control pad aswell,
either the ni mikro mk2 or an akai mpd 24 or something else, your help on this would be most appreciated thank you,

 

Not that it isn't a great drum pad and allows for MIDI triggering on everything else but unless you are planning on using the Maschine, I might avoid the the Mikro just for the fact that it's main purpose is for Maschine and you would be paying a mark up to be using the software. If you don't mind used though and without the legit Maschine software you might be able to get the mikro mk2 for a steal and still able to use the software non legit but it will effect the resale value of it.

Also, I'm pretty sure the pads on the 1st gen MPD are the same as the ones on the 1st gen MPK, they aren't the greatest but they work for triggering samples. I can't speak on the 2nd gen MPK or MPD products.

 

Last edited: Aug 28, 2016

There's like 2mm of space between the bottom of the pads and the sensor on my MPK25.
There are custom pads you can buy to remedy this and increase the response.

I ended up cutting and sticking 2 layered circles of Gorilla tape to the bottom of the pads and adjusting the Sensitivity, Threshold and Velocity on the device.

EDIT - I tried different velocities but Curve A worked best.

 

Problems with pads on MPK25, MPK49 and MPK61 have been solved with MPK2 series. MPK249 can be purchased (used) for around $200.

 

Does anyone have the firmware for this? Mpk49 would really appreciate it.