MPK mini problems

[Airr]

I bought an Akai Mpk MIni the other day and the keys work fine, the pads and knobs however don't. I have tried getting them to work in Ableton, Fl studio AND Reason to no avail. I was reluctant to come on here as I know how much you guys hate newbies but I have run out of ideas. Also, the MPK editor that came with it just confuses me, I've tried downloading different presets around the net but they do nothing for the pads/knobs. So if anyone owns this product or knows anything that can help me please tell me because I'm getting way too angry at something that should be so simple.

[hasezwei]

I was reluctant to come on here as I know how much you guys hate newbies but I have run out of ideas.

dontcha worrie, we don't hate newbies (hell i'm still one i suppose) we just hate dumb questions ("what program will make me the next superstar and where can i pirate it?", closely followed by "hey could you guys do all the work for me?").
yours isn't dumb, and while i can't help you myself i'm interested too as i'm looking forward to buying a MPK mini and don't want any troubles with it.

welcome to DSF

[dubmatters]

Do the pads light up when you tap them?

[Airr]

I was reluctant to come on here as I know how much you guys hate newbies but I have run out of ideas.

dontcha worrie, we don't hate newbies (hell i'm still one i suppose) we just hate dumb questions ("what program will make me the next superstar and where can i pirate it?", closely followed by "hey could you guys do all the work for me?").
yours isn't dumb, and while i can't help you myself i'm interested too as i'm looking forward to buying a MPK mini and don't want any troubles with it.

welcome to DSF

Thanks >.< I've had troubles with it but this is my first midi controller so it may just be my lack of experience.

EDIT: and @Dubmatters yes they do, when i tap them in massive they play what I think is the lowest note. They all play the same. In ableton they just won't work in the drum rack.

[Airr]

bump :S

[Cegor]

Hey man dont even worry, everywhere starts somewhere. I own the MPK Mini and I actually use it for Ableton Suite 8. The knobs can be midi mapped in vst's that enable midi mapping.

example: midi mapping a knob to the filter cut off or the lfo.

The "drum pads" how ever are a bit more tricky. I personally have not found a way to midi map them due to the fact that they act just like keys. If you open a new midi track and throw in a drum rack, the top 8 pads will work with whatever samples you throw in them. You can also switch it to Pad Bank 2 and you should have access to 8 more.. I could be wrong though.

Hope it helps

[Airr]

Hey man dont even worry, everywhere starts somewhere. I own the MPK Mini and I actually use it for Ableton Suite 8. The knobs can be midi mapped in vst's that enable midi mapping.

example: midi mapping a knob to the filter cut off or the lfo.

The "drum pads" how ever are a bit more tricky. I personally have not found a way to midi map them due to the fact that they act just like keys. If you open a new midi track and throw in a drum rack, the top 8 pads will work with whatever samples you throw in them. You can also switch it to Pad Bank 2 and you should have access to 8 more.. I could be wrong though.

Hope it helps

Thanks Unfortunately, my problem isn't the mapping it's more the fact that the program doesn't detect the inputs from the knobs or pads.

[just-the-tip]

I've had the same issues with my M-audio piece of shit...
Don't know if this will help, but...
As far as the drum pads go, open up a drum rack and hammer on your pads. The slot that each pad activates should highlight itself, and often times the activated slots on the grid are not displayed. I've had no luck trying to re-map the pads themselves, so I just tap my pad and drop a sampler in the space that highlights. Looks a bit messy on the grid but the list view shouldn't be affected.

[diphen]

It seems as though the factory settings for the MPK mini are jacked up. I was having issues getting the knobs to assign in ableton or massive, but I think I've figured it out.

When I popped open the MPK mini editor, all the controls were set to the same thing: Pads were set to Note# C-2, CC# 0, PC# 0. Knobs were set to CC# 0 with High and Low both at zero. I set each knob to a unique CC# (0 thru 7), left all lows at 0 and set highs to 127. I then set all pads to a unique note# (C-2 thru D#-1) and gave them all a unique CC# and PC# (0 thru 16). I then saved the preset, and hit the upload button. Pressing upload is important, as it saves the settings to the device, I believe.

My setup looks like this:


After the above, I was able to map in massive with no problems, but it still wouldn't work in ableton. In order to get mapping working in ableton you need to open up Options -> Preferences -> Midi Sync and set "Remote" to "ON" in the MPK Mini input row. After doing so, you should be able to map in ableton just fine.

[mattdesl]

This should solve your troubles with Ableton:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 8#p1231928

[metallicker]

Was literally coming on here to ask exactly the same question!

Thanks for the replies everyone - I will try this when I am home and post about what happens

[metallicker]

Was literally coming on here to ask exactly the same question!

Thanks for the replies everyone - I will try this when I am home and post about what happens

[dmaze]

This should solve your troubles with Ableton:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 8#p1231928

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How would I do this in windows??? I am having problems getting ANYTHING to play or map from my mini........

[Cymatic Kicks]

I have an MPK Mini that I use with windows & Ableton/Massive/Sylenth. I am at work now, and my gear is at home. I'd be happy to troubleshoot some things with you later

- jeff@cymatickicks.com

[dmaze]

Thanks that would be awesome
- d_maze@hotmail.com

[Cymatic Kicks]

I can be home in about 3 1/2 hours to help, I'll respond to an email around then if you send one, then we can get on IM or something. It'll probably be one of those, "well, have you tried this...?" "well, give this a shot..." Wait, how is this part of this software set up on yours?", etc... And as long as nothing is broken we'll figure it out and post the results here.

[dmaze]

I can't wait around all night man haha. I got some stuff to do. If you could just email me your settings and step by step of how to set it up that would be great - thnx

[mattdesl]

This should solve your troubles with Ableton:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... 8#p1231928

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How would I do this in windows??? I am having problems getting ANYTHING to play or map from my mini........

Google is your friend. The only difference with windows is the path:
[Windows boot drive] > Users > [User Name] > AppData > Roaming > Ableton > Live 8.04 [or your version] > Preferences > User Remote Scripts

I've mapped my MPK mini with these steps on both my Mac OSX and Windows Vista -- no problems. If you've followed the steps to a tee and still have problems, post back.

P.S. Your preferences will ultimately look like this:

[hudson]

I'm buying one of these tomorrow, I'm really glad this thread popped up inc ase I have the same problem

[dmaze]

I entered the UserConfiguration.txt file into my created MPK mini folder in the Remote Scripts folder of Ableton and it still does absolutely nothing. I can choose the MPK mini under control surfaces and selected it for input and output - I have track and remote on for both below. but something strange is that I do not get the MPK Editor 1 and MPK mini Editor 2 inouts below.... This is frustrating to say the least. I entered all the correct CC's and everything and still nothing (yes I uploaded it). I am beginning to hate this controller and am thinking about just sending it back unless someone gives me a miracle cure soon.