Akai MINIAK

[Gianni]

i hope it was an april fools joke

I hope it's not, but I'm not totally convinced it isn't. This looks cute and cool enough for me to get one. If it is cheap enough, I'd buy it just because I feel the need for more black modern keyboards, stop it with the green/yellow/grey/pink case +blue/red/yellow lights!

[Hair]

i hope it was an april fools joke

I hope it's not, but I'm not totally convinced it isn't. This looks cute and cool enough for me to get one. If it is cheap enough, I'd buy it just because I feel the need for more black modern keyboards, stop it with the green/yellow/grey/pink case +blue/red/yellow lights!

What about the R3? Those can be had for decent prices if you poke around - when all was said and done I got mine for $350 after rebate, coupon to GC and taxes

R3 seems to have a better interface than the Miniak, but all those wheels sure are tantalizing

[Gianni]

i hope it was an april fools joke

I hope it's not, but I'm not totally convinced it isn't. This looks cute and cool enough for me to get one. If it is cheap enough, I'd buy it just because I feel the need for more black modern keyboards, stop it with the green/yellow/grey/pink case +blue/red/yellow lights!

What about the R3? Those can be had for decent prices if you poke around - when all was said and done I got mine for $350 after rebate, coupon to GC and taxes

R3 seems to have a better interface than the Miniak, but all those wheels sure are tantalizing

I tried it, but at the time, the sound didn't appeal to what I needed. I felt more close to the Ion/Micron sound [sounded better to my ears...]

And in case this is real, Akai already made an entry for it on their site with features, specifications and the usual: http://www.akaipro.com/miniak

[tallowwaters]

Akai stuff has a reputation for working

But how long has Numark owned Akai? My old Alesis gear if friggin nuke proof, but the SR18 feels much flimsier and even has audio bleed, which doesn't bother me, but I am sure it would disqualify it from a profession rig outright.


Now if only they would reissue those old ModFX boxes...

[shoontz]

According to wikipedia Numark acquired Alesis in 2001 and Akai in 2004.

I wish Bret Victor would chime in about this. He designed the Micron and would probably have some interesting insight into this newest Akai incarnation of his work.

[polardark]

Talk about exploiting a brand. At least it is programmable - even though you only have three knobs and a tiny alphanumeric LCD to squint at. Welcome to the eighties where minimalist pushbutton interfaces are all the rage. (oh no wait.. what year is it again?)

Looking at the demo video from Sonicstate.com and i'm pretty underwhelmed:

Basically, it's your perfect synthesizer for guys who may not be a complete player or ones that are but really want to add a lot of sonic presence with some virtual analog synthesis on whatever you're adding.

My guess is - if you're reading this here - this instrument will not interest you.


Anyone else stricken by the fact that programming this synth is very similar to programming a miniature yamaha toy keyboard from the eighties?

[...] you don't have a large interface so this makes it easy to actually get to some of the parameters you normally want to edit [...]

You'd think the emergence of "boutique" synthesizers would have hinted to the big companies that there is a market for more controls - not less.

I'm tired of companies trying to reinvent the microKorg and leaving out all the stuff that made the microKorg good. The price of the miniak is low, i'll admit but at a 500 euro price point you can certainly do better.

[masstronaut]

The Micron is/was pretty good, not that much fun to program it's true but they did try with the shortcut things.

By the looks of this video Akai have basically added an extra knob, and an extra wheel.

[Stab Frenzy]

[...] you don't have a large interface so this makes it easy to actually get to some of the parameters you normally want to edit [...]

You'd think the emergence of "boutique" synthesizers would have hinted to the big companies that there is a market for more controls - not less.

I'm tired of companies trying to reinvent the microKorg and leaving out all the stuff that made the microKorg good. The price of the miniak is low, i'll admit but at a 500 euro price point you can certainly do better.

Dude, check out how many boutique synths are selling and then compare it to the probably hundreds of thousands of Microkorgs sold. The big market isn't for more controls, it's for low cost synths that teenagers think look cool. If you want lots of controls buy a Radias or a PolyEvolver or something.

[polardark]

Dude, check out how many boutique synths are selling and then compare it to the probably hundreds of thousands of Microkorgs sold. The big market isn't for more controls, it's for low cost synths that teenagers think look cool. If you want lots of controls buy a Radias or a PolyEvolver or something.

That's what Akai/Alesis seems to think anyway...

The microKorg is a special case. It was the first of the popular mini VAs and it also happened to be pretty usable with the front panel edit matrix. It even looked stylish with retro moog style knobs and wood sides. Before the microKorg none of the big companies would have made a synth like this. Akai will get nowhere by simply repackaging their flawed interpretation of another company's innovation.

[Computer Controlled]

MicroKorg innovative? Hardly. The Micron is a far superior synth. Period. The Korg just happen to hit big with all the whiny girl pant wearing emo hipster crowd.

Anyway, the Miniak isn't anything close to the MK. It's simply just a Micron slightly altered. Korg themselves reinvented the MicroKorg with the MKxl.

[tallowwaters]

Does the micron have all the parallel filters and FX that this new one is boasting?

I have to say, the 2 mod wheels are pretty sweet. Hopefully they improved the vocoder (not just on paper either)

[masstronaut]

The voice architecture, effects, sequencer, arp etc. all seem identical. On the Micron those two wheels are/were sliders instead. Still seems like the vocoder is c**p for vocal stuff by the looks of that video up thread. You can use it internally as an effect for processing two sounds in a multi-setup and I've had some good results with that.

[MPS]

Should we at least wait and HEAR one before pronouncing judgement?

[masstronaut]

Who's passing judgement? It seems very likely that this is going to be a repackaged Micron with some new presets. The specs are identical. So we have heard it.

Look at the Akai page - http://www.akaipro.com/miniak

Listen to lickle demo on SonicState - http://www.sonicstate.com/news/2009/04/ ... der-synth/

The Micron is a a pretty good synth anyway (judgement). Aren't most posts on this thread discussing the look and the fact that it's being relaunched as an Akai?

[MitchK1989]

Does the micron have all the parallel filters and FX that this new one is boasting?

I have to say, the 2 mod wheels are pretty sweet. Hopefully they improved the vocoder (not just on paper either)

Yes, the micron has two filters that can be used serially, in parallel, or a mix of the two, and also has all of those effects.

The MiniAK is literally just a micron in a new case, which I find to be less attractive looking but probably built better.