Akai's MPC 3.10 and MPK Mini Plus II: a $170 keyboard that leads back to the MPC

Akai Professional has launched the MPK Mini Plus II, a 37-key update to its keyboard controller. A day later it shipped MPC 3.10, a free software update that connects the new keyboard to standalone MPCs and MPC Desktop. Each release is minor on its own. Put together, they show where Akai is steering producers who buy a cheap controller: towards its own software.

Akai's own product pages did not load any product details when we checked them, so we have not verified these specs directly with Akai. The details below come from MusicTech and Gearnews' launch coverage.

What is the MPK Mini Plus II?

According to MusicTech, it is a 37-key mini keyboard with redesigned pitch and modulation wheels, eight velocity- and pressure-sensitive RGB MPC pads and a new full-colour display. The design is brought closer to the MPK Mini IV, which came out a year earlier. For connections it has USB-C power, a full-size five-pin MIDI output, three CV/Gate outputs for external synths and modular gear, and a quarter-inch sustain pedal input.

On the creative side, Akai has added Glitch, Mutate, Strum, Freeze, Chords and Follow, and expanded its Arpeggiator, Chord Creator and Note Repeat modes. Andy Mac, Akai Professional's Executive Manager of Content, Artist Relations and Business Development, said in Akai's announcement, as quoted by MusicTech, that the MPK Mini "has introduced a lot of creators to hands-on making music" and that the Plus II is built for the next step.

The listed price is $169.99 / £134.99 / €159.99, and it is on sale now. It comes with a Studio Instrument Collection of more than 1,000 sounds from AIR Music Technology, Moog Music and Akai.

What does MPC 3.10 add?

The update is free, according to Gearnews. (It's "3.ten", following 3.9, not 3.1.0.) According to Gearnews, it:

• adds integration with the MPK Mini Plus II and the MPK Mini IV, on standalone MPCs and on the desktop software;
• improves Arranger mode with new Marquee, Track and Arrangement selection modes;
• brings 8×8 Notes and Clip Launch modes to the MPCe pads on the MPC Live III and MPC XL;
• adds 16 Levels scale support, Arp Latch feedback and better pad-mode shortcuts on Akai's Force;
• takes MPC 3 desktop out of beta;
• adds an activation option that brings the MPC 3 workflow to users of the free MPC Beats.

Is it locked to Akai?

No. MusicTech says the controller has dedicated integration with Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Cubase and FL Studio, plus full NKS support for Native Instruments' Komplete Kontrol ecosystem. It also works without a computer through its MIDI and CV outputs. Nothing stops a Logic user from buying one and never opening MPC software.

What we think

The interesting part is the last two items on the 3.10 list, not the keyboard. Mini controllers are a crowded, low-margin category. They are also the first piece of hardware many beginners buy. A cheap keyboard with MPC pads and an MPC workflow, MPC Beats now able to unlock the MPC 3 workflow, and MPC 3 desktop out of beta: together they make a route from a $170 purchase to the same software that runs on Akai's standalone machines. We covered the top of that range earlier this year, when Akai launched the $2,899 MPC XL and the $399 MPC Sample, both feeding the same MPC 3 platform. The MPK Mini Plus II is now the bottom rung.

This is the opposite of the Novation approach, and that's a good thing for buyers. Novation's new FLpad only works with FL Studio. Akai is trying to win on the strength of its own workflow while keeping the keyboard useful in every major DAW. The pull towards MPC is real, but the hardware isn't held hostage to it. If you produce in Ableton or Logic, the CV outputs and NKS support matter more to you than MPC 3.10.

The NKS line is the one to watch. inMusic, Akai's parent, agreed to buy Native Instruments this year. A controller that speaks both MPC and Komplete Kontrol is what a merged ecosystem looks like at entry level. Neither company has said how the two software platforms will fit together. Our advice to producers: buy this keyboard for what it does today in the software you already use. Don't buy it on the assumption that it will tie together MPC and NI later.