Lets review professional MIDI keyboard Akai MPK88 Hammer-Action. It has full spectrum of functions for music playing and DAW control. Following modules are integrated into it : 88 velocity-sensitive keys with Aftertouch function; 16 velocity-sensitive drumpads, which also react on pressure strength and have access to 4 samples banks; pitch-bend and modulation control wheels; 8 knobs, 8 buttons and 8 sliders with assignable functions, together they can control 72 parameters with use of Q-Link technology; 6 transport control buttons; Key Split function, which allows to play 2 sounds simultaneously from 1 keyboard; MPC Note Repeat, MPC Swing and arpreggiator modules; MPC Full Level, MPC 16-Level, Tap Tempo and Time Division units; inputs for optional pedals; USB port, through which it is powered and communicates with computer; and MIDI input-output. Keyboard works in Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and newer and Mac OS X 10.4.11 and newer operating systems without need of additional drivers installation via Plug and Play technology and tightly integrates with modern DAWs, their instruments and VST plugins : Steinberg Cubase, FL Studio, Cackewalk Sonar, REAPER, Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live and others.
MIDI is bundled with DAW Ableton Live Lite Akai Pro Edition and is optimized for work with AIR Ignite software. Its sizes are 1.31 ( width ) x 0.38 ( depth ) x 0.13 ( height ) m, and mass is 30.4 kg. Package contains : MIDI keyboard Akai MPK88 Hammer-Action itself, USB cable, optical disks with software and user’s guide. It is very good keyboard with wide range of functions and controllers and corresponding price.
