This layout allows the pads on the MPK to be larger than those offered by the MiniLab, despite the MPK’s smaller overall footprint. The MiniLab lays all eight pads out in a single row, while the MPK prefers a 4 x 2 layout. Given all the other problems, I wasn't interested in doing this.Controller-wise, both keyboards offer the same amount of drum pads – eight in all, assignable in two banks for a total of sixteen – but in different layouts. Seriously, it would need someone to open it up, compress the spring, and apply solder to shorten the spring. That is, if you don't mind the keyboard.įinally, the battery bay spring is way too long, causing major problems. But for $140, if you just want pads for church, it's hard to complain. This keyboard doesn't offer a lot of that, the patches aren't so good, and the keyboard isn't very good. I want a keyboard with a bunch of knobs, just like my guitar processor (Boss ME-70, lots of knobs). I am not judging anyone if they are, but it's just not me (due to other factors). But the keyboard was so bad that I can't even justify using it as a MIDI controller. So playing live, it was like playing on eggshells.Īll in all, sure, I can't complain too much about a $140 keyboard. If you hit it any harder (forte), most patches (and especially, depressingly, the pads, which is why I bought it) take on a nasal quality. Basically, it doesn't even register your fingers until you hit it medium hard (mezzoforte). What's more, it has the worst acceleration response of any keyboard I've used. The Mini Play keyboard is both too small AND too stiff. I can tolerate the Yamaha "I want to feel like a piano" action of some of their keyboards, even though (to be honest) it sucks a lot in terms of being too stiff. I can tolerate full size keyboards with no feel, like some older synths. (Dang those things are perfect, by the way.) But my big fingers mean I need to take non-ergonomic poses and/or reach over (with an electric guitar strapped to me) with both hands and assume a weird two-notes-per-hand policy. To be fair, I'm not at all expecting the Mini Play to feel like a real piano, much less a Steinway. I have sausage fingers, which means a real piano (like I trained on for years) works, but miniature keyboards do not. The keyboard is really what annoyed me the most. As I added keys, I could still hear the ones I had previously pressed, which makes me think this might not be a synthesizer internally, but instead more of a "recorded audio but with the ability to filter" kind of setup. I doubted that, so I tried holding down keys and sure enough it wasn't a lie, that I could tell. Interestingly, this thing has complete 128 polyphony as advertised. I couldn't figure out how to get the knob positions to be transmitted over MIDI, but all the keys work fine. However, you don't have the level of control you would have with a real synth.Īs a MIDI controller, it works as advertised. I found 8 user presets to be more than enough. Now you can do a lot of cool modifications to the patches it contains and save those to presets. Or maybe the onboard electronics aren't of sufficient complexity to be able to handle it. The rest, focusing on simulating real acoustic instruments like flutes, guitars, etc, aren't worth using in my opinion because it's like they're trying to hard to simulate the real instrument but their budget doesn't match the level of complexity required to simulate it. Of the 128 factory presets, really the only ones that are usable for live music are about a dozen of them. Out of the box, it has a good electric piano factory preset, as well as a couple decent pad, string, and bass presets. It's time for me to have my own way to help. I did so because, even though I am primarily an electric guitarist at this stage in my life, I have dabbled in pads to help my church improve its sound. So when I saw how cheap this is, I decided to buy it. A little background: I went to college primarily for piano for 3.5 years and accomplished a good junior piano recital.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |