AKAI Professional MPK mini Play MK3 Reviews

A Blast

I did not buy the MPK mini Play MK3 for professional use, not saying that it has no place there. I purchased the MPK mini Play MK3 for my young son to give him the opportunity to learn and appreciate creating music. This unit does what I intended it to do, and most importantly we have quality time together and he is having a blast learning how to make music. This Akai has ample features which are not too difficult to learn, even for a 3 year old.

My first and I like it.

Great addition to rig

Bought this for 2 reasons , it followed my purchase of an RC600 looper and with it provided me with - 1) a handy keyboard to develop my low ability keyboard skills - one handed chord accompaniments - it has a usable selection of inbuilt sounds to use, - but more significantly, 2) it provided a finger drum pad to generate my own backing drum patterns on the looper. It also has a USB interface which I havent bothered using yet - the basic audio output into PA is perfectly adequate for my needs - all this for a little more than 100€. - and on batteries you can sit on the sofa to work ideas out!

Very good value for the price

I needed a keyboard with built in sounds, for DAWless setup. This thing does it at all for the price of a single PO.

- Built in sounds need some tweaking to sound right, only 4 parameters. But it is enough to allow you to get good sounds

- 127 sounds covering lot of genre's, 10 kits.

- Plastic build but cannot complaint at this price. Well built otherwise.

- 3.5 mm out.

- Modulation using joystick is good, though small and lacking fine control.

I cannot comment on the midi features, since I did not buy it for that.

Super fun little synth!

As a midi controller, it's OK.

But as a modern professional equivalent of an 80's Casio kid's keyboard, this thing is A BLAST!

Built-in speakers, arpeggiator with octaves and hold function with really professional quality instruments!

All at a very cheap price. This thing is super fun!

The only thing I miss is a way to transpose an already playing arpeggio. If it had that, this keyboard could dethrone the Arturia Keystep.

Sadly, it doesn't, so the Keystep is still king as a midi controller.

But honestly, as all in one mini synth with speakers, this is the best there is.

Good for what it is, compact and fun

I got this more as something you can chuck in a bag (fits nicely, smaller than my 13" laptop, if thicker) and jam with or doodle ideas outside/on the go - think old Casiotone keyboards, just with a bit more functionality.

I wish AKAI had put a little effort into the sounds (it's the same old miditones familiar from every other beginner keyboard since at least the 80's), but being able to change the attack and release, in addition to the onboard reverb and chorus really save a lot and bring a lot of welcome mileage to the sounds. Those really save this keyboard as a keyboard.

Build quality seems fair, although the ball the modulation joystick is made out of this weird, scratchy foam that honestly looks like it's meant to stay in a prototype. I wish they'd gone with a 1/4" jack for the headphone jack, seems like a weird decision to go with 3.5mm jack on music equipment in this day and age.

The keys are fine, they can seem a bit stiff if you're used to other minikeys, but personally I like these. The velocity settings are fine and get better if you twiddle with them a bit to suit your preference, but out of all the minikeys I've tried these have a great response. If you can stand mini keys this'll do just nicely, they're quite plastic, but that's to be expected.

Overall, for a mini keyboard, it's good for what it is. If you have no need for the onboard sounds, definitely go for the regular MPK mini as it has better knobs (infinite vs. the 270° ones this has because of the features) and no real estate is lost to the speaker - plus you get other colors! I wish these were available in the different colors the regular MPK mini - I really don't like the color of this thing and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna paint the plastic case.

This thing would be great if AKAI gave the possibility to actually change the sounds or just went for better sounds. There's a lot of very usable, good sounds, but it's not exactly going to blow your mind. If they'd slap a sequencer or something on this thing to quickly whip up some ideas (chords + lead + drums) remotely, this would be a really awesome little beast. Maybe some day.

awesome

awesome keyboard i love it! small and portable but with a great outcome

Cool tool for beginners

As someone who never played music, it is very nice to be able to jam on it with the integrated speaker or use it with virtual instruments to learn about music making

Amazing toy, and serious tool for pro

Great solution for small room owners, mobile, compact. Internal sounds are great for this prise, and useful when you create something. Highly recommend for everybody!

A great musical device to enhance creativity & learn theory

Creating music at times can seem daunting but this little keyboard is perfect for all levels of creation.

The best part about it is the fact that it can be used without a DAW, while the speaker isn't the best, the fact that you can plug your headphones in is perfect.

I first bought the midi keyboard to practice music theory on the go and now the greatest thing about it is that I can easily advance to using it onto a DAW.

Jamming keyboard

Good quality. You can use effect processor and loop pedal whith this keyboard for live performance. Speaker just for fun.

Amazing little device

Wanted something for lessons with my 3 year old niece... Got this delivered a few days ago, amazed with quality of it... put in some batteries to try out the standalone feature first, great sounds actually... and it controls my ableton well