Akai MPK Mini Play MK3 - Mini Controller Synth

I was sorry to return the Miniplay today, as I had high hopes it was what I was looking for - a travel-size midi-capable synth with lots of onboard sounds, battery power and programmable pads for a decent price. Well, there are 128 sounds, but some are a waste of space. While the piano sound is almost acceptable, there's no organ selection that sounds anything remotely like a classic Hammond, and it doesn't seem like you can download sounds for offline use. Further, instead of a sound effects setting where each key is a different effect, e.g., one for gunshot, helicopter, applause etc., on the Akai often every key on the keyboard duplicates the same effect. There are octave shift buttons, but glaringly there is no way to transpose, except via the PC. I play a lot of ... MoreI was sorry to return the Miniplay today, as I had high hopes it was what I was looking for - a travel-size midi-capable synth with lots of onboard sounds, battery power and programmable pads for a decent price. Well, there are 128 sounds, but some are a waste of space. While the piano sound is almost acceptable, there's no organ selection that sounds anything remotely like a classic Hammond, and it doesn't seem like you can download sounds for offline use. Further, instead of a sound effects setting where each key is a different effect, e.g., one for gunshot, helicopter, applause etc., on the Akai often every key on the keyboard duplicates the same effect. There are octave shift buttons, but glaringly there is no way to transpose, except via the PC. I play a lot of outdoor jams and don't want to have to hook up a laptop just to transpose. Ultimately this and the lack of acceptable sounds rendered this less than useful to me. I'm still on the lookout for a good mini-synth better than the Yamaha A-50 I currently use.

First of all I almost gave this four stars as opposed to five because of the volume key, it could be louder at the maximum level. That being said I can concentrate on all the features of this amazing little machine. There are 22 keynotes in the manual that describes what each button and knob does on the keypad. Each one of these does it’s own particular job, to which there are many. There is a 25-note keyboard that is velocity-sensitive and along with the octave down/up buttons, can control a ten-octave range. Wow! There are so many other things this keyboard can do, you really can create a band at your desktop. I recommend reading through the specs and get to know what this MPK Mini Play can do, it is a phenomenal little machine!

Well, I almost gave up on this mini player keyboard, after hours of trying to download, I kept getting a message, "having a problem with the re-CAPCHA ". I have Microsoft Edge browser, never having had problems with downloading anything prior to this-UNLESS I picked the wrong pictures on a re-capcha. BUT this did not have any pictures you had to pick from. Just create a log in and passcode. Then when doing that I had to answer all types of questions that had to be answered otherwise it would not let you go to the next screen. This went on for quite a while. I finally had everything answered, created a password, and now, it would not direct me to the download which it was suppsed to. Kept getting the same message back regarding the +ReCAPTCHA not working correctly, ... MoreWell, I almost gave up on this mini player keyboard, after hours of trying to download, I kept getting a message, "having a problem with the re-CAPCHA ". I have Microsoft Edge browser, never having had problems with downloading anything prior to this-UNLESS I picked the wrong pictures on a re-capcha. BUT this did not have any pictures you had to pick from. Just create a log in and passcode. Then when doing that I had to answer all types of questions that had to be answered otherwise it would not let you go to the next screen. This went on for quite a while. I finally had everything answered, created a password, and now, it would not direct me to the download which it was suppsed to. Kept getting the same message back regarding the +ReCAPTCHA not working correctly, contact seller. Well offhand and frustrated by such an enormous waste of time-no phone numbers are listed inmy made rush to look for one at least from the manufacture, all you get are pre made answers, that do not have the information you are looking for, finally an area of contacting via email. Not the address, just a form to fill out. Now I happen to fall upon the page that says either use batteries or what I thought was the only way to connect this was by a usb plug in, on the computer.So I chanced it with new batteries we just got. I believe it was 4 AA batteries. Bingo, but not quite yet, did it need warming up or what, then I turned it to its side, and the back, here it was on usb switch, by switching it over...finally it turned on. Well this was some ordeal, but I have to say, once I played around on it for a while, it really was fun. Fun?... but a lot of frustration until I got there for sure. I must say, I can imagine this would be enormous fun, especially if I had it years ago, when all I had to record on was a casette player, which hardly picked up the guitar sounds. Some of us remember how ichy they sounded when you had to wanted to record a song to try to see or better hear what it sounded like. It would have been amazing to have this mini keyboard player to add background of other instruments or beats of a drum, to synthesize, oh there would have been endless hours of fun. To be honest I think this would be a great gift to anyone whose child was musically inclined, or any aspiring musician who's dream maybe to make a demo to send to someone in the field. There are all kinds of possibilities with this little keyboard, to accompany a future recording star!