A 37-key, eight-pad mini MIDI controller, around $169, aimed at portable computer- and hardware-based production. Reviewers broadly agree on what makes it special: it is the rare mini controller with real 5-pin MIDI DIN in/out plus CV/Gate and Sync, so it drives outboard and modular gear directly, and it backs that with an onboard 2-track sequencer, an arpeggiator, MPC-style pads and beginner-friendly Chords and Scales modes. Three octaves and real pitch/mod wheels give it more range and expression than 25-key minis, and it stays genuinely portable and bus-powered, with a starter software bundle (MPC Beats plus a Native Instruments Komplete Select package). Two things split opinion. The Gen-2 keybed reads as an unusually expressive set of mini keys to some reviewers and as still-small, unweighted, no-aftertouch keys unfit for piano playing to others. And getting it fully configured divides people: knobs and keys are close to plug-and-play, but a meaningful cohort hit setup friction — transport controls that need a 'set the control surface to MPK49' workaround in several DAWs, a steep learning curve, and MPC Beats offering no two-way feedback. Two agreed caveats temper the connectivity win: the cable is still USB-B, not USB-C, and the onboard sequencer won't reliably send MIDI clock to slave external hardware on its own. Build is solid for plastic (the assignable joystick is the one part reviewers call fragile), and the value case is strong for the feature set, with the Novation Launchkey Mini 37 MK4 and Arturia MiniLab 3 named as the alternatives to weigh.
About this product
The 37-key MPK Mini Plus (released October 2022), the biggest and most connected member of the MPK Mini family. Unlike the 25-key MPK Mini MK3 / MK4 (MPK Mini IV) and the speaker-equipped MPK Mini Play, it adds three octaves of keys, real 5-pin MIDI DIN in/out, CV/Gate and Sync I/O, an onboard polyphonic 2-track step/live sequencer with arpeggiator, and both an assignable X/Y joystick and separate pitch/modulation wheels. Not the 49/61-key full MPK line.
Akai's MPK Mini Plus is the biggest member of the best-selling MPK Mini family — 37 mini keys where the standard Mini has 25, plus eight MPC-style pads, eight endless knobs, an assignable joystick, real pitch and modulation wheels and a small screen, all in a bus-powered slab that still slips into a backpack.
What sets it apart from every other mini controller is the back panel. Full-size 5-pin MIDI in and out, CV/Gate and clock I/O, and an onboard 2-track sequencer and arpeggiator mean it can drive modular and hardware synths with no computer at all. It launched in October 2022 at $169 and has become a default answer for producers who want one small keyboard that bridges the software and hardware worlds — a reputation that comes with a couple of persistent asterisks.
