My son was excited to open this Christmas morning but the only way to use it is to register the product with Akai, then after than download the software to run the MPK Mini.

Bought this to help my son who had a stroke gain interest in using both hands

Son was super excited to use it , but when it came down to downloading the software online

I was going to return it, but my son discovered that it works well with garage band on my mac mini

This small, portable MIDI controller was just what I needed

It's a cool midi keyboard but just the installation they

If you are just looking for a somewhat cheap Midi keyboard and you're just starting out in making music, go with this product

Conclusion: if you are just starting out and want a fun, cheap, small midi controller, the MPK

This thing right here is a great midi keyboard for the size and price

I wish the keys were weighted and not just velocity sensitive, but the small size is great for most workspaces

The keys dont feel as good as on a full size keyboard but still very good for the price, good for travelling

also, the size is nice and doesn't dominate my workspace.

all the features performed well, but i didn't like the small key size, so i ended up getting one with full size keys.

keys bounce nice and are in my opinion the perfect size for mini keys

Was expecting a bit better keys but for the cheap price it's still a great deal

Very versatile and great price, the DAW I use is FL Studio and the mpk works perfectly with it

Not only did it look pretty cool but the price wasn't too bad

I think that it's very good, but the price is unreasonable

Really great price for a Christmas gift for my boyfriend

Great small controller but the software can be ALOT BETTER!

the controller its very cool, however the featured programs to download from akai.com are confusing about their installation and use on MAC

This small, portable MIDI controller was just what I needed

There are cheaper controllers out there, so if you're looking at this one because it comes with a bunch of

The keys feel pretty good for a small portable midi controller

The keys are nice, the pads are great quality and it was so easy to get set up

Well i had a very hard starting point with the software included but after that midi is pretty cool and learning curve is slow for me as a

The quality of the akaipro is great but cannot use it!!!

This is a common problem, and no amount of super glue has been able to keep them on with such pathetic design quality

It's unclear whether this is fraud/theft or simply poor quality in the manufacturing and logistics processes.

Though someone who is use to the wheel style control might not like this feature

Well i had a very hard starting point with the software included but after that midi is pretty cool and learning curve is slow for me as a

the mini keyboard is great with more than enough functionality..it is a ton of fun once the setup is complete, but, dont be discouraged..it will more than likely be usable when you first plug it in..more complexed features will require you to install free downloadable software that comes with the machine

all the features performed well, but i didn't like the small key size, so i ended up getting one with full size keys.

Great controller, lots of nice features, small footprint

The product came damage, which is unfortunate because I wanted to give it as a Christmas present.

Great product, very light and portable, and also very good looking up close

At first I didn't really enjoy the product that much, but it has grown on me

It's a pretty small gripe for an overall great product.

Terrible!!!!Bought this product for my son for Christmas

I use the MPK Mini MKII for producing hip-hop, rap, R&B, and funky music

It sounded like it would be something really cool for a beginner like me to use to record some cool music

I highly recommend it for beginners getting started with music production like myself

My teen son is a beginner with making music and loves it!

Don't get me wrong, I like electronic music and getting to hit flashing pads as much as the other guy, but that was the

Considering the price, the keyboard is not that bad, for what it is.

But it bothered me that I wanted a cool Midi Controller, and because of that, I only have a little stupid keyboard.

Great keyboard, the pads have great velocity/sensitivity as do the keys.

keyboard is great but software is too complicate to install

this keyboard is terrible, the software is terrible, and its more expensive than a lot of MIDI controllers, the keys wont last you more than a year of producing music without snapping off and feel awful, its not that they arent weighted its like there are springs underneath constantly pushing the keys up its terrible

Really though, especially on this, the pads are generally unnecessary.

While I have enjoyed using this, my one pet peeve is the how hard the pads are which can extremely irritating when you are live looping however all in all its pretty cool and affordable

But once I finally got the controller to produce sound, the pads had incredible latency.

Great quality controller with nicely responsive keys and pads.

The keys are easy to play and the pads are great as well

Well i had a very hard starting point with the software included but after that midi is pretty cool and learning curve is slow for me as a

the excruciating software installation makes it not worth dealing with.

The keyboard keys feel a bit springy but the drum pads are awesome!I will need some time to figure out how to program it but out of the box it works fine with Garage Band as well as with it's own suite of software

We love it but having a problem finding a good DAW on Windows as we use GarageBand on my Mac Laptop.

The keyboard keys feel a bit springy but the drum pads are awesome!I will need some time to figure out how to program it but out of the box it works fine with Garage Band as well as with it's own suite of software

After getting a few cheap connectors this thing is awesome.

The program that comes with it is possibly the most frustrating thing I have ever dealt with

This Is the best Thing I have bought from amazon for my music productionsthank you[...]

I am too a beginner, and the negative thing I can say about this product is the software it comes with

Only thing I don't like is how springy the keys feel when you push them

We love it but having a problem finding a good DAW on Windows as we use GarageBand on my Mac Laptop.

The keyboard keys feel a bit springy but the drum pads are awesome!I will need some time to figure out how to program it but out of the box it works fine with Garage Band as well as with it's own suite of software

I use this for a few midi type digital drums and beats, as well as for piano parts when recording

Well i had a very hard starting point with the software included but after that midi is pretty cool and learning curve is slow for me as a

If you are new you EDM or any electronic music making DO NOT buy this you will be smashing your head on the wall and cursing the Akai folks, and it might just kill your desire to create

im playin is it a connection problem or what i highly doubt the problem is the speakers due to the fact i can hear anything else i do with the studio or even the computer in general please help

Worked well until the C, D and A keys on the lower octave all stopped working across all platforms

Cold connections, grease and Flux never cleaned off the PC board

I purchased this because every time I used my workstation as a MIDI controller I would lose midi connection while I was working on music and it will cause my programs the freeze up and

Worked well until the C, D and A keys on the lower octave all stopped working across all platforms

We love it but having a problem finding a good DAW on Windows as we use GarageBand on my Mac Laptop.

I see many comments in these reviews talking about the painful registration process

From what I'm told they keep getting a lot of invalid code or invalid registration number messages

but i like it, easy to set up, even though it will take some time learning, it works like a charm when you get it all set up to your liking!

but i like it, easy to set up, even though it will take some time learning, it works like a charm when you get it all set up to your liking!

Nice N portable

but i like it, easy to set up, even though it will take some time learning, it works like a charm when you get it all set up to your liking!

Worked well until the C, D and A keys on the lower octave all stopped working across all platforms

I also considered Akai's new MPX 16, even though its more a sampler than midi-controller, but all the reports of MIDI problems and sync issues convinced me to stay away from it (at least for now)

Arepeggiator issues (most likely a DAW sync issue)Had a couple issues with mapping the knobs (probably the VST itself)Joystick was a little jerky at first, but it works in pretty quicklyI still can't believe that I only paid $100 for this

We love it but having a problem finding a good DAW on Windows as we use GarageBand on my Mac Laptop.

Flimsily keys, feels like cheap plastic but overal it performs well but still Would be nice if the keys felt a bit more secure

The keys dont feel as good as on a full size keyboard but still very good for the price, good for travelling

But it's hard plastic, and it makes a really loud click against the edge of the joystick circle - even without force - when pushing it to one edge or another for pitch bends and modulation

I use this for a few midi type digital drums and beats, as well as for piano parts when recording

The software that comes with this sucks but the keyboard is nice.

I download the software issue free with registering the product.

The software it comes with is useless, it doesn't work.

The software that comes with this is incredible as well enough to get you started and more.

And the included software is just a pain and NOT at all beginner friendly

Nice N portable

I lost interest.

so I lost total interest in using it

but i like it, easy to set up, even though it will take some time learning, it works like a charm when you get it all set up to your liking!

An unruly toy, that you will lose interest in long before you can figure out how to load it's drivers or set it up in Cubase

I entered the serial number of the product, but that number was rejected.

The portability is excellent and I still primarily use this controller for recording — even at home — instead of my larger and better M-Audio controllers

I downloaded the MPC essentials program off of the Akai website and the serial number they provided me was incorrect

My freaking serial number won't work on the mpc essentials software WHY!?

Find the right registration number, under (blah blah blah) section, and type that in

A nice bit of gear easy to set up fits in a back pack when yer on the go and if the mood strikes u ..small enough to bang out a beat with yer ipad or laptop etc looks great and keys are nice pads are kool

Also, the beat pads are (to me) the slightest bit un-responsive

Key action a bit "squishy" but works well for composing, etc.

I deducted a star because the highest key is a bit loose and sits lower than the other keys.

The software security is way over the top and a bit crazy

Normally this isn't such a terrible thing, but the website has been unreachable for nearly 20 hours right now for me.

Website for essential MANDATORY drivers is not available

This product is okay as is, but the software needed to fine tune it is no longer available as Akai's website is dead.

The website to download the software isn't available

Initially the website wasn't accessible and then once they fixed whatever issues they were having, we were never able to download the software to our laptop

Setting up the software is rather difficult, which has left me and others with dead activation codes for the software.

The codes never seem to be valid, and the plugins fail to download constantly!..and the 2nd party applications you need like iLok just make things even more difficult

The code they gave me doesn’t seem to work for unlocking the full use of this

Worked well until the C, D and A keys on the lower octave all stopped working across all platforms

Downloading the mountains of software only to get an invalid serial code upon trying to register this thing for the fiftieth time is brutal