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AKAI MPK25 & External Arpeggiator
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 2:22 pm
by Friendly Editing
Hello there,
I've got an AKAI MPK25 connected to my set up via USB. I also have an old Roland Grovvebox with a nice built in arpeggiator which always is my starting point for building beats. Now here's the problem:
I want to connect the Groovebox with the MPK via MIDI to get the MIDI signal from the arpeggiator on the MPK when I play it. ATM I have to change the MIDI interface in Ableton every time I want to record some arpeggios.
Any help would be highly appreciated!

Re: AKAI MPK25 & External Arpeggiator
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:26 pm
by fragments
Roland MIDI OUT > Akai MIDI IN > Akai MIDI OUT > Interface MIDI IN I'd totally skip the USB connectivity if I were doing this.
Or flip flop the position of the Roland and Akai. That's assuming the Akai will accept the Arp signal from the Roland. One of those setups would be a starting point though. Otherwise you are going to have do some crazy internal MIDI routing in Ableton.
Honestly, the manual for both devices would be a great starting place for this. I know, crazy fucking suggestion, but having dealt with way crazier MIDI issues than this the manual and a little trial and error sorted me 90% of the time.
Re: AKAI MPK25 & External Arpeggiator
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 5:13 pm
by Friendly Editing
Thanks fragments,
I assume without the USB it would probably work that way but I don't have a power plug for the AKAI to check at the moment. Besides I also like the automatic fader assignment of the AKAI via USB so it would be great to connect both with the USB in place. Maybe somebody else has a clue off the top of their head, otherwise I will end up with the reading tip.

Re: AKAI MPK25 & External Arpeggiator
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 5:38 pm
by fragments
I mean, you could probably do Roland MIDI OUT>Akai MIDI IN>Akai USB>Computer.
Re: AKAI MPK25 & External Arpeggiator
Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:06 pm
by Friendly Editing
I did it this way by now:
MPK (+ USB) MIDI OUT > ROLAND MIDI IN > ROLAND MIDI OUT > MPK MIDI IN + some additional tweaking in Abelton's MIDI settings.
This way I still can't play the arpeggiator via the MPK but I can use the Groovebox's keyboard for the arp and the MIDI goes through the MPK into the DAW. That's good enough for me for the moment and the automatic fader assignment is not affected.

Re: AKAI MPK25 & External Arpeggiator
Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 2:17 pm
by fragments
Friendly Editing wrote:I did it this way by now:
MPK (+ USB) MIDI OUT > ROLAND MIDI IN > ROLAND MIDI OUT > MPK MIDI IN + some additional tweaking in Abelton's MIDI settings.
This way I still can't play the arpeggiator via the MPK but I can use the Groovebox's keyboard for the arp and the MIDI goes through the MPK into the DAW. That's good enough for me for the moment and the automatic fader assignment is not affected.

Oh cool man. I wouldn't have thought that! Nice fix.