When it comes to making music I tend to be fairly 'old school' in that I play traditional instruments like guitar and drums. I appreciate that a lot of music these days is made digitally using computers and either physical synthesizers or virtual ones. I wanted to experiment with that world so I got myself this little keyboard. You can read a review on Music Radar. I actually have an old Casio keyboard with basic sounds, but this is a more powerful device.
I am old enough to remember when the MIDI interface revolutionised music by allowing you to connect various instruments together. I have experimented with it a little before, but things keep moving on. Before I needed a separate interface to link my old keyboard to the PC, but now you can just hook up a USB cable that also powers the keyboard.
The MPK Mini has a two octave keyboard, eight drum pads and eight rotary controllers. It is very programmable so you can make it work with whatever intruments you have. There are user presets to store these configuratations. The previous version had some software you would use on the PC to set this up, but the new one can do it all without a computer as they added a tiny screen so you can see what you are doing.
It can control instruments either over USB or using the original five pin serial cable. I was having issues getting the latter working until I read that it needed to be powered with a mains adaptor rather than from a PC USB port for that to work. I assume it needs extra power for that, but it means you cannot be interfacing to an instrument and a PC at the same time. I will look into that as it seems like a strange limitation.
I was plugged into my Yamaha DD-65 electronic drums that does have lots of sounds if I can only work out how to select them. I need to read the MPK Mini manual more deeply. There are plenty of videos about it including some tutorials from Akai.
Included with the MPK Mini you get access to some software that gives you loads of instruments, but I cannot use that as I run Linux rather than Windows or Apple. I am not too worried about that as I am just playing around and I do have access to a lot of free music apps on Linux.
I am already impressed with this gadget and I will be looking to use it for future recordings.
Rock on!
▶️ 3Speak
That’s a great purchase, I actually could do with one for events, as my other keys are bigger and less portable. These are very backpack friendly. I look forward to more posts about it.
I think it will do all I really need. I have the big Casio if I wanted to try 'proper' piano playing, but I'm not much good at that. Combining the MPK with something like the SEQTrak makes a very portable setup.
Wow, that is pretty cool! It's amazing how much technology and music integration has advanced over the years!
The MIDI stuff has been around for ages, but you can do much more with software these days. I'd like to learn the basics of putting a song together so need to find some tutorials. It can be different to what I am used to.
There's gotta be a bunch of open source alternatives to Garage Band by now I would think. That was kind of game changing when Apple released it back in the day.
I've never used Garage Band, but I've heard it's good. The main app I use is Ardour. One of the photos on their site is of a friend's studio. Linux has a cool audio system that lets you connect apps to make and process sound. I just need to learn more about how to use it.
I played around with Garage Band when it first came out, but I didn't know what I was doing enough to really create anything.
These days you can just prompt an AI to create a song, but that does not really interest me. You have to work on the skills to out it together.
Very true, though some of the AI stuff out there has fooled even me.
So cool, @steevc. An arpeggiator?
What a fun new toy! 🎹
It's a new world for me, but I know there are a few Hive people who use this sort of thing all the time. I'm tempted to build up a portable rig. A lot of this gear is pretty cheap these days.
i remember playing with MIDI on the Amiga 500 , later on PC some good sound cards and the roland sc55 sound canvas :)
I think I had a MIDI interface for my Amiga, but didn't do much with it. I'm catching up on these things now. There are plenty of options and some of the gear is pretty cheap.
It's surprising that you also play the keyboard in addition to the drums. Casio is an excellent brand. I remember when I was a child my mother bought me a Yamaha keyboard, but then in my adolescence I lost interest in it.
I don't really play it, but I had some lessons years ago. The MPK Mini is a tool to get music into the computer really. My Casio must be at least 20 years old and was not that special back then. I don't have space to have everything set up so I can practice.
really hope you enjoy all your instruments.
Oh I do. Just don't have enough time to play them.