Akai Professional, the name synonymous with music production, will be showcasing new products at Musikmesse.
The MINIAK is the first synthesizer from Akai Professional developed in partnership with the world-renowned Alesis synthesis team. The MINIAK brings together Akai Professional’s excellent control feel with powerful DSP sound-generation technology. The MINIAK is a perfect synthesizer for producers in the studio and live performers on stage because, while it is extremely compact and portable, it is also a powerful instrument for creating sounds for performance and production.
The MINIAK enables users to create programs with up to eight multi-timbral voices, each with three oscillators. The user can create interesting and unique sounds and take advantage of the synthesizer’s more-than-600 preset sounds. Users can create complex and refined sounds using the MINIAK’s two multimode filters, three envelope generators, two LFOs, stereo effects and 40-band vocoder with gooseneck microphone. The MINIAK also has a comprehensive sequencer with step and dynamic real time phrase sequencing, a drum machine/rhythm sequencer and an arpeggiator.
Users will appreciate the MINIAK’s high-resolution, 24-bit balanced quarter-inch inputs and outputs for excellent sound quality. The MINIAK has a 37-key semi-weighted keyboard with velocity sensitivity for all-in-one performance. It can also be used as a sound source for MPCs, computer software and keyboards via MIDI.
The MPD18 is the smallest-sized model in Akai Professional’s line of MPD pad controllers. DJs, programmers, producers and other musicians will find this MIDI-over-USB controller to be perfect for triggering samples, controlling software, and a variety of other applications. Its small footprint makes the MPD18 easy to integrate into any setup for stage performance, studio production or musical creation on the go.
The heart of the MPD18 is its bank of 16 velocity and pressure-sensitive genuine MPC pads, an Akai Professional exclusive. Users can access three different banks of sounds from the pads for a total of 48 sounds at once. The MPD18 also borrows the MPC series’ assignable Q-Link controllers, enabling users to control nearly any parameters in their software in real time on an assignable Q-Link fader and an assignable Q-Link button.
Users will find the MPD18 to be convenient, sending MIDI information over its plug-and-play USB interface for use with Mac or PC without installing any drivers. The USB connection also powers the MPD18 so musicians can use the controller with no power supply. The MPD18 can control nearly any MIDI software, as well as MIDI hardware, such as synths, sound modules, samplers, sequencers, drum machines and more.
The new MPK88 draws on the design of its siblings in the MPK series. The MPK49 and MPK25 each combine a MIDI-over-USB keyboard controller with genuine MPC pads and a sampling of the technologies that have made Akai Professional’s MPC series such an iconic music-production tool. The MPK88 brings the utility and creative control of its siblings to more dedicated piano and keyboard players, thanks to its fully-weighted, hammer-action keyboard with assignable keyboard split and aftertouch. Akai Professional designed this performance keyboard controller to specifically deliver the feel that serious keyboardists demand in a high-quality instrument.
In addition to the premium keybed, the MPK88 gives the player 16 MPC pads that are velocity and pressure sensitive and can access four banks of sounds each, for access to 64 sounds at any time. The MPC pads are the most recognizable feature of the MPC series, which has been among the most influential devices in the creation and production of music for the last two decades. The MPK88 also puts the player in command of their software with assignable Q-Link faders, knobs and buttons. The user can assign any Q-Link to control nearly any parameter in their software for hands-on, mouse-free performance. The MPK88 also has two assignable footswitch inputs and an expression pedal input.
The MPK25 and MPK88 come 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.
All three new products will be available from musical instrument and professional audio retailers Q3, 2009.