Talking of the pads, they can’t be faulted. A sturdy metal chassis would not have gone amiss here, particularly since it’s intentionally designed to slip into a backpack and travel with you – but, that said, it feels solid and reliable, with firm knobs and robust drum pads. With a lightweight (though new and improved) 25-key mini keyboard and bright red flanks, it’s a little light and plasticky to the touch. Physically, the Mini Play feels about as inexpensive as it is. the effects do not apply to any of the drum sounds, despite many of them playing back with pre-loaded reverb. It’s usefully possible to save any voice (complete with effects settings and respective drum kit selection) to any of eight Favourites slots, as represented by the eight drum pads. It’s better to think of the MPK Mini’s soundbank as a nicely uncomplicated compositional tool, augmented by a simple set of parameters including reverb, chorus, a two-stage envelope and two-stage EQ. Nevertheless, we get the sense that when it comes to the built-in sounds, ideas are the name of the game here and not the faithful replication of a grand piano or orchestral percussion section.
One wonders if Akai, with its rich history of beat-making and sampling (let’s not forget that Roger Linn himself designed the MPC60) has missed a trick here by including such a conventional choice of voices and drums. READ MORE: The Big Review: Even at lower specs, Apple’s Mac Studio is an immense machine for creative prosīeginning with the primary point of departure from the conventional MPK Mini range, the Mini Play’s internal sounds consist of 128 rudimentary but passable instrument emulations and 10 slightly more substantial drum kits all rendered positively Casio-ish by the Mini Play MK3’s improved but very small speaker that, while punchy, can start to distort at high levels.The Mini Play has proven popular and now sees a third iteration in the MPK Mini Play MK3. With an emphasis on portability and class-compliant out-of-the-box playability – not to mention affordability – the series has also given way to the MPK Mini Play line, which offers a combination of USB MIDI control and standalone functionality with onboard sounds, effects and even a built-in speaker.
Having laid claim to the mantle of “the world’s best selling keyboard controller” with the MPK Mini, Akai has clearly struck a chord with its MPK range of compact keyboard controllers.
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