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Comparison Arturia MiniLab MKII vs Akai MPK Mini mkII

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Arturia MiniLab MKII
Akai MPK Mini mkII
Arturia MiniLab MKIIAkai MPK Mini mkII
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Main
Free integration with Arturia Analog Lab, Ableton Lite and UVI Grand Piano Model D.
Joystick for pitch and modulation control. Note repeat. Built-in arpeggiator.
Keys25 шт25 шт
Key sizesmall-sizedsmall-sized
Mechanicsactive (dynamic)active (dynamic)
Rigiditysemi-weightedunweighted
Control
Pitch controller
Modulation controller
Octave shift
Arpeggiator
Transport control
Pads88
Regulators (encoders)168
Connections
USB to host (type B)
Connectable pedals1 шт1 шт
General
Programming function
Dimensions (WxHxD)355x50x220 mm318x44x181 mm
Weight1.5 kg0.75 kg
Color
Added to E-Catalogfebruary 2018february 2018

Rigidity

The hardness of the keys on a keyboard is the amount of resistance they provide when pressed.

Unweighted. Very low rigidity: the keys literally "fail" under the fingers. Found mostly in entry-level keyboards; this is due to the fact that unweighted mechanics are inexpensive, but the low pressure resistance makes it difficult to select the optimal pressure and control the dynamics of the sound.

— Semi- weighted. Keyboards with medium resistance — not as high as on weighted keys, but noticeably higher than on unweighted ones. This option is considered optimal for active keyboards (see "Mechanics"): at a low cost, it gives quite good responsiveness and, with a minimum skill, allows you to accurately control the pressing force.

Weighted. Keyboards with high resistance, which is comparable to the resistance of classical piano keys. Note that high effort in this case is an advantage: it allows you to bring the response of the keyboard as close as possible to the response of a classical piano and makes it easier to control the pressure and dynamics of the sound. Actually, by definition, all hammer-action models are made weighted (see "Mechanics"), but among active keyboards this option is rare — due to complexity and high cost.

Arpeggiator

The presence of an arpeggiator in the keyboard.

The name of this function comes from "arpeggio" — a technique for playing chords, in which notes are not played all at once, but in turn. Accordingly, the arpeggiator is a function that allows you to play a taken chord in the arpeggio technique: the musician presses all the keys at once, and the keyboard plays them in turn. This effect can also be achieved manually, but in some cases the arpeggiator turns out to be more convenient: it plays notes at a clearly defined speed and interval, can accompany them with various effects, and provides other additional features. These features vary depending on the model, but some instruments allow you to create entire songs with the arpeggiator by simply pressing a sequence of chords.

Transport control

The presence in the keyboard of the transport control function.

In this case, we are usually talking about support for the MIDI Machine Control standard, designed to control external recording and playback equipment. Such support actually turns the keyboard into an external remote control, allowing you to give commands from it to "Play", "Stop", "Pause", "Rewind" (forward and backward) and "Record". To do this, the design provides a separate panel with a set of appropriate buttons.

Regulators (encoders)

The number of encoder controlsprovided in the design of the keyboard.

Such a knob looks like a rotary knob, with which you can control various functions of the device to which the keyboard is connected — for example, turn the virtual knobs in the programme for recording and sound processing. At the same time, we note that a full-fledged encoder is capable of rotating 360 ° and turning to any angle in any direction, however, keyboards can also contain knobs with a limited rotation sector — they can also be called encoders. None of these options has a clear advantage: in some cases, an unlimited turning sector is more convenient, in others, a limited one.
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