Akai Professional MPK25 Keyboard USB MIDI Controller  

The Akai Professional MPK25 is a portable keyboard controller with MPC production controls. Based closely on the MPK49, the first keyboard ever to feature MPC pads, the MPK25 scales down the keyboard to 25 keys but retains the utility, capability, and flexibility that made the MPK49 one of the world's hottest keyboards. Its smaller, more portable size makes the MPK25 the perfect travel companion. Its small footprint can fit in your lap on the couch or on a plane, enabling you to create tracks whenever inspiration strikes. All you need is your laptop and the MPK25.

Creative Input
MPK25 combines a 25-key keyboard and 12 genuine MPC pads. The keyboard is semi-weighted and features aftertouch for expressive melodic control. The MPC pads are pressure and velocity-sensitive to capture every nuance of your creative concepts. The pads can access four banks of sounds, so you have 48 samples at your fingertips with the touch of a button.

MPK25 places dedicated transport controls within your reach for easy control of some of the most important tracking and editing controls. The MPK25 has modulation and pitch-bend wheels for expressive musicality, and two assignable footswitch inputs enable you to connect an expression pedal or other continuous controller and a footswitch for momentary controls like patch change or start/stop.

Q-Link Command
One of the most important input devices on an MPC is its Q-Link assignable control section. The MPK25 gives you twelve virtual knobs and four virtual buttons that are assignable to control nearly any software parameter. You can control two different parameters per Q-Link thanks to the knobs' dual-bank selection.

Expressive Engine
Two technologies pioneered in the MPC series and built into the MPK series are MPC Note Repeat and MPC Swing. These note-modifying features can be heard in many of the most popular tracks over the last two decades. MPC Note Repeat is a capability that enables the MPK (or MPC) to automatically play a rhythm pattern, such as 16th notes on a hi-hat, for accuracy and speed of entry. MPC Swing is sometimes referred to as "the heart and soul of hip hop" because it turns perfectly aligned sequences into human feeling time alignments. You can specify exactly the degree and timing of swing you want to apply for the perfect feel.

On top of these MPC technologies, the MPK25 has its own arpeggiator, which enables you to create quick, creative riffs in seconds. MPK25 also has MPC Full Level and MPC 12-Level on its pads, as well as Tap Tempo and Time Division so you can nail the tempo, timing, and dynamics exactly as you hear them in your head.

Complete System
The MPK25 is a MIDI controller that sends its MIDI values over USB. It is bus powered, so all you need to connect and power the MPK25 is the supplied USB cable. Because it is MIDI compliant, the MPK25 works with most MIDI recording, sequencing, and performance software for musical performers from keyboard players to producers to DJs. It's even a great option for VJs.

The MPK25 comes with Ableton Live Lite Akai Edition, one of the most popular and powerful performance and production software 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.