Keyboard Controller

[James Steele]

If there was such a policy I can't remember it now. Everyone knows who Behringer is. They're that company whose R&D division is called "Mackie."

[MIDI Life Crisis]

No politics. No religion. No Behringer.

All hail Casio. All hail Mattel.

(No ticki, no shirtie)

[HCMarkus]

If there was such a policy I can't remember it now. Everyone knows who Behringer is. They're that company whose R&D division is called "Mackie."

LOL James!

Thats why the name has "ringer" in the middle... like "deadringer" as in "indistinguishable." Look at the company logo; you'll see a bell. And early ads emphasized the pronunciation.

Its all a joke folks. At Mackie's expense.

[mhschmieder]

They now have the Akai MPK88 at the Guitar Center in Concord CA, so I tried it out tonight for feel. It wasn't hooked up to anything, so I'm unable to provide a complete picture of how its action feels in the context of triggering piano patches or whatever.

Just playing the keybed silently, it has some heft to it and a good amount of springiness and escapement. Also, the keys are textured for confident fingering, vs. slick. It is VERY well-built, but without being able to play it with some sounds being triggered, it is hard for me to say if it is a step above Yamaha's under-$1000 Digital Pianos and/or S90/MOTIF series, or even a step above the Studiologic VMK188plus.

One thing is for certain though: this is currently the most full-featured and easy to use 88-key weighted keybed MIDI controller on the market today, and one of the two or three best-built as well. The trigger pads, sliders, and rotary knobs are a great addition also.

[zed]

Also, the keys are textured for confident fingering, vs. slick.

That's interesting. What kind of texture? Are we talking about something like matte versus finish? Or is there actually some kind of pattern on the surface of the keys?

It sounds undesirable, but I suppose it might feel good and probably serves certain playing styles well.

[mhschmieder]

I mean vs. slick, which is slippery and unlike a piano or even organ or harpsichord. There are several ways this might be done, so I'm not sure how they did it.

Yamaha's new MOTIF XF 8 also has textured keys (and a different keybed and action than the ES . Competition is good; more vendors are moving to textured keys as they realize they could lose sales on that point alone.

Someone on the keyboard forum pointed out that the Akai MPK-88 doesn't have zones, unfortunately, which is also the fatal flaw of the Studiologic VMK188plus that I sold when I got the Kurzweil PC3x.

So, it seems this is more designed for the studio than live use. But I would say other than for having just a single MIDI zone, it is the best 88-key controller on the market right now, by a long shot, due to ergonomics, construction, software integration, and keybed.

[erikjamesmusic]

+1 for Kurz PC3-x

I, like many, have tried every last 88-note weighted board out there, and in terms of true piano Sound/feel, Kurzweil pc2-x/3x are the best. I've had the pc2x for 10 years, it's the centerpiece of my studio and my live rig. As soon as I have an extra $2k I'm buying the 3x. You won't better a better piano sample other than heavy VIs.

Also, I've NEVER had a problem with my kurzweil. It's been dropped more times than I can describe and lived in a terrible moldy basement for a few years.