Akai MPK mini & Reason

Update 2nd October 2011 - version 0.0.2 appears to work fine in Reason 6 (OSX).

Update 30th September 2011 - version 0.0.2 released, see below for details.

I picked up the Akai MPK mini, a "laptop production keyboard" clearly focused on portability.

(image sourced from http://www.akaipro.com/mpkmini)

I haven't used it enough to write a proper review yet, but there was one thing that did annoy me about it right out-of-the-box - it doesn't have any dedicated MIDI support in Reason or Record!

I should explain. MIDI controllers communicate with Reason & Record via a "codec" and a "remote map". The codec translates and associates incoming MIDI messages to specific 'control items', and the remote map is used to map these 'control items' to different Reason device controls.

But what makes your controller really useful is that a properly supported controller will auto-map its controls onto specific Reason device controls as you change devices.

For example, you can have a knob that maps to the first Combinator knob when a Combinator has MIDI focus, but then maps to the LPF frequency slider when you change to a Subtractor. The mapping is device-dependent and Reason takes care of it for you. You can also customise this mapping yourself.

Almost any MIDI controller will work with Reason as there are several 'generic' codecs that simply map keys, wheels, knobs, pads and sliders to generic 'controls'. But sadly if you are forced to use these codecs then you lose the auto-mapping feature - now your control simply generates a MIDI CC message on a fixed channel and this may correspond to... anything.

(Note that you can always use the 'remote map override' feature to assign any control to any Reason control - this can be useful occasionally but it's tedious to set up and does not scale to a full controller).

To cut a long story short, I have created suitable Lua Codec and Map files for the Akai MPK mini. If you use these, you will be able to make almost full use of the device, and the knobs and pads will map to sensible controls on each Reason device. If you wish to customise the per-device mapping, simply edit the .remotemap file and add your own rules.

The latest version supports:

• Kong pads - turn off CC and PROG CHANGE, then Pad Bank 1 maps to Kong pads 1-8, Pad Bank 2 maps to pads 9-16.
• Switches - turn on CC and each pad will act as a switch. Pad Bank 1 maps to switches 1-8, Pad Bank 2 maps to switches 9-16. Note that 'toggle' mode for the switches does not work correctly, and probably never will, so the pad lights will not stay lit.
• Prog Change - turn on PROG CHANGE and each pad will generate push-button events. Currently these are set up to send Transport messages:
• 1 - rewind
• 2 - ffwd
• 3 - stop
• 4 - play
• 5 - record
• 7 - change to previous sequencer track
• 8 - change to next sequencer track
• Knobs - eight knobs that are mapped to 'sensible' Reason controls.

I used the Akai LPD8 lua codec and MPK49 remotemap files that ships with Reason as the basis for this project. I used an image of the MPK mini from Akai's website for the device picture. Akai's support page is here.


Installation

The latest version is available here. It is a zip file. The files in the Remote directory should be copied into your user's Remote directory:

• OSX: Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Remote
• Windows XP: C:/Documents and Settings/Application Data/Propellerhead Software/Remote/
• Windows Vista: C:/Documents and Settings/Program Data/Propellerhead Software/Remote/
• Windows 7: C:/ProgramData/Propellerhead Software/Remote

Copy these files, maintaining this directory structure:

• Remote/Codecs/Lua Codecs/Akai/AkaiMPKmini.luacodec
• Remote/Codecs/Lua Codecs/Akai/AkaiMPKmini.lua
• Remote/Codecs/Lua Codecs/Akai/AkaiMPKmini.png
• Remote/Maps/Akai/AkaiMPKmini.remotemap

Now restart Reason so that it sees the new files. Go into Preferences and select your new MIDI controller - you can tell Reason to try and auto-detect the MPK mini, or you can add it manually.


You must set up the MPK mini to generate the correct MIDI messages. To do this, run the "Akai MPK MINI Editor" (on the CD provided with your controller, or downloadable from Akai's product support page) and load a preset from the Presets directory into the bank you want to use. I have provided preset files for all four presets so that you can choose which one you want to use.

• Profiles/AkaiMPKmini.preset1
• Profiles/AkaiMPKmini.preset2
• Profiles/AkaiMPKmini.preset3
• Profiles/AkaiMPKmini.preset4
  

In the latest version these presets are identically configured.


Customisation

Because the Lua Codec maps almost every control on the controller to a 'control item', you can customise the device mappings however you want. Simply edit the AkaiMPKmini.remotemap file to associate the MPK mini's controls with whatever Reason device controls you want. More information can be found here.

The available control items are:

• Keyboard
• Knob 1-8
• Pad Button 1-16
• Prog Change 1-16

Release History

Version 0.0.2 - 20110930

• Added support for Transport controls in Record 1.5.

Version 0.0.1 - 20110926

• Initial release, supports AutoDetect, Kong pads, CC pads (switches), Prog pads (transport), and knobs. All four presets are identical.
• Tested in Reason 5 on OSX only.

Disclaimer


I am not affiliated or associated in any way with Akai or Propellerhead. I have created these files myself with the files and programs legally available to me. 

You download and use these files entirely at your own risk!





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand License.