AKAI MPK Mini MK3 - Before you buy it, watch this | MPK Mini MK3 Review

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This is my first hands-on video about the Akai MPK Mini Mk3 keyboard. The Akai MPK Mini Mk3 is a small, light, and cheap keyboard that Akai makes. I discuss the features, the size, the feel, and demo some sounds included with the MPK Mini MK3 keyboard. The Akai MPK Mini Mk3 has lots of features including an arpeggiator, note repeat, drum pads, encoder knobs, and more. This midi controller keyboard is light and easy to carry around. However, the Akai MPK Mini Mk3 is missing some features that other keyboards in this price range have. Watch and find out!

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[ajmartinez]

Thank you for keeping it honest and not feeding into the hype like other videos do, love the comparisons to other keyboards

[OneStepToday]

I love the fact how you did a comparative analysis of many features w other keyboards. It helps understand things into context.

[ZachCotton]

I thought he was about to start spittin' bars at 0:30

[kidthorazine]

I went with this one over the minilab and launchkey mini. The pads fully configurable joystick and built in repeat/arpegiator are what sold me. It helped that I already have a decent 61 key controller. But really the note repeat and pressure sensitive pads are pretty indispensable for me.

[amandaschisler]

I'm a newbie to music this seems ok to use for now but love how honest you are and how things could improve love your videos

[alxkeda]

Sanjay's doing self sponsors... At least it's an actually good product being advertised though. The library looks amazing! Looking forward to purchasing

[doknox]

I've realized when it comes to midi controllers it doesn't really matter between brand and price. I use m-audio midi controllers and they are great. Pretty cheap, well made, and they just work!

[alexchapman]

As a simple, inexpensive, mobile bit of kit it’s very good.
One problem I had was matching the pads to impack on studio one. For some reason they are all an octave different bar one pad. Other than that it serves it’s purpose well.

[siddharthanburajan]

I think this doesn't get said as much: the production quality of Sanjay's videos are on another level 🔥

[Xueyou]

I just brought this yesterday & you're not really complaining I agree with you. Like there's some lack of stuff in it but it's good for its price. Really glad this showed up in my recommendations

[SecGoat]

I've used quite a few budget controllers, Akai, Arturia, Nektar. they all have there pluses and minuses. Arturia has the best build quality and feels the best. Nektar has the best DAW integration with all the major DAWs the MPK mini for me is the best of both worlds, the keys are all right, better than the Nektar, it has decent DAW integration (with ableton) But why its the winner for me is literally size, the other ones were so big even the 25 key models thats I had no room for anything else on my tiny desk. this on fits nicely with a launchpad and I am loving it!

Oh and any one who had trouble like me looking for the "manual" and the editor software. you have to download the software manager that comes with it, and you can find the manual under help or settings and under settings enable Advanced software to find the program editor for the MKIII

[nicholassapphire]

I live in a van down by the river and I'm contemplating between buying the MPK Mini and the MPK 261. I love the layout of the 261, reviews look good, price is extremely fair, but since I live in a van down by the river, I think the MPK Mini would be more practical. With that being said, I'm currently recording my music in a storage unit. So I'm thinking I could work around the potential space/theft issue by storing my 261 in my storage unit when I'm not using it. After watching this review I think I'm just gonna give it a full send and buy the 261. If you (or any other youtuber) thinks there's a more appropriate keyboard that I should check out before I spend my money I'd greatly appreciate your input.

Also don't hit me with this "If you live in a van down by the river, you shouldn't be spending money on a keyboard" talk, sound like my fuckin dad. We all gotta die, I'm just tryna conjure up some fire ass music before I go out.

[prod.byvanz]

So what I’m getting from this is, if you have the MK2, the upgrade isn’t worth it, but if you don’t then the MK3 is the best option

[JimmiG]

Nice, detailed and unbiased overview of this controller. Personally I think it looks like a decent upgrade. They've kept the price almost the same, while improving on some of the weakest areas of the Mk II, like the keybed.
I don't see current Mk II owners as the intended target for this, since people don't typically upgrade to the latest MIDI controller all the time. My main controller is still an MPK61 from 2009, with the Mini Mk II as a small secondary keyboard that I can keep on my computer desk.

[Engineeer]

Akai improved exactly what they needed to improve. Foremost the much needed endless encoders. I do not like the drum pads of my MK1. So, the improvement of the drum pads is also great. I take an improvement of the key feel, too. I don't care much about that little screen and DAW modes. I do not expect MIDI out, but if I would have a choice, I would take that over that little screen. Overall, it's pretty close to the perfect mini keyboard for on the go. I don't worry too much about the knob mapping in Ableton, though. The 8 knobs of my MK1 always mapped automatically to the racks I use for mapping everything anyways. I think, that I may sell my MK1 to get the MK3. The improvements are significant.

[JoshCooper]

I don't know how your production is so good, it's a on a whole other level

[unexpected]

Oh O! I already bought it!! I mean the software you get with it is INCREDIBLE. All three plugins (especially Mini Grand) are suuper high quality and you can do a lot with them)

[djeliasR]

I actually have the Arturia Minilab MK2 I actually have to disagree with your thoughts on that one. The Arturia one has a fatal flaw with the push down encoder knobs that hasn't been mentioned much by Arturia but a huge number of users complaining about. They go bad after a short time and just stop working correctly when trying to control plugin parameters with the knobs. they skip, jump or simply dont work... specifically the push down encoder knobs. I have had 2 different units with the same exact issue and they were units brand new out of the box. although the keys do feel good the rest of it isn't really worth it. it also seems that for the price the Akai has a bit more features like the arpeggiator and LCD screen.

[maddiferrinton]

I am so glad i looked into this before purchasing. Thank you so much for your review on it, it helped me in making my decision for first starting out with producing musics lol

[milododds]

Thank you Sanjay C., you have provided me some additional information I hadn't gotten in other videos. BTW you also helped me pick which of the three color choices, I am going with the white with the black keys over the red or pure black one. Right now I am a total newbie to digital music creation but I have a video editing background so some of these things are not foreign and very comfortable with timeline editing. So what got me into all of this was being part of the Artiphon Orba Kickstarter. I fell in love with the Orba then started working with Garage Band for the past 3 weeks. I am going to give the MPC Beats a try since it comes with the keyboard and give that a go, however in time I will work my way up to Ableton Live perhaps by Christmas? Ok time to go watch more of your videos.