Akai MINIAK

[madrasputin]

All in all, the Miniak sounded to me like just a beat machine in keyboard form that you could use vocording over. Not that impressive and yeah, it's kind of like (except for having a vocoder) the Micron.

Micron has the vocoder. The Miniak is a Micron for all intents and purposes, AFAIK.

I wouldn't call it a beat machine though, although it does have a drum map mode. It's not a bad little VA you know, and the step sequencer is surprisingly flexible.

My bad, Masstronaut is right my Micron does have vocording. I am in agreement though about it basically being the same as the Miniak. And, I will agree also on the step sequencer being very flexible. Good points Mass, I totally spaced on the vocorder ability on the Alesis!

[loungedumore]

um...

*looks at Micron*

This one has shortcuts too...

has sequencer types and drum maps too...

Only 4 way multitimbral, but not like the miniAK has any more voices to actually *use* those extra timbres.

um...
got me on the shortcuts .
8 part multitimbral = more expand sequencing more voices or not .

As for the " has sequencer types and drum maps too " um... never said it didn't .

Seriously though way dose everybody have their sand in their jockeys about this and micron being the same synth engine . Don't get me wrong I'm no Akai fanboy , but why aren't there 50 threads about roland and korg doing the same thing ?
because they have .

[loungedumore]

um...

*looks at Micron*

This one has shortcuts too...

has sequencer types and drum maps too...

Only 4 way multitimbral, but not like the miniAK has any more voices to actually *use* those extra timbres.

um...
got me on the shortcuts .
8 part multitimbral = more expand sequencing more voices or not .

As for the " has sequencer types and drum maps too " um... never said it didn't .

Seriously though way dose everybody have their sand in their jockeys about this and micron being the same synth engine . Don't get me wrong I'm no Akai fanboy , but why aren't there 50 threads about roland and korg doing the same thing ?
because they have .

[Ashe37]

I'd love and even consider the MiniAK if they had doubled the polyphony as well. Of course if they want to 'modernize' it, they shoulda put USB on the back and shipped it with a editor/librarian...

[masstronaut]

I totally agree that it did start it's life as an ion/micron engine .... no doubt about that , however it has 3 additions that make it a better solution than a used version of it's birth right : 8 part multi , MPK keyboard keys , and the keyboard short cuts .

The Micron allows 8 part multi as well, actually more I think, although obviously that's quite limited by the eight voices.

Seriously, other than the keyboard / wheels and possibly the presets I doubt there is any difference at all.

[masstronaut]

Seriously though way dose everybody have their sand in their jockeys about this and micron being the same synth engine .

I don't think anyone's upset about it, it's just for the sake of getting the facts straight. And if you were to buy one you'd know what you were getting. Plus in the UK at least you can still pick up Microns for quite a bit less than one of these.

[masstronaut]

Good points Mass, I totally spaced on the vocorder ability on the Alesis!

To be fair it is quite rubbish as a traditional voice / synth vocoder. Can be a useful effect though still. If Akai have improved that it would be nice.

[Ashe37]

Seriously though way dose everybody have their sand in their jockeys about this and micron being the same synth engine .

I don't think anyone's upset about it, it's just for the sake of getting the facts straight. And if you were to buy one you know what you'd be getting. Plus in the UK at least you can still pick up Microns for quite a bit less than one of these.

In the US, novamusik has new microns for $319

[loungedumore]

Seriously though way dose everybody have their sand in their jockeys about this and micron being the same synth engine .

I don't think anyone's upset about it, it's just for the sake of getting the facts straight. And if you were to buy one you'd know what you were getting. Plus in the UK at least you can still pick up Microns for quite a bit less than one of these.

Good point ... I've just seen a lot of negative blurbs even prior to it's release . Guess I'm just burned out on intraweb trashing of things before they even happen ( not limited to this thread) .I mean a little smart a$$ed snarkyness is cool from time to time , but some people just spew ignorance in hate for nothing (again not limited to this thread ) .

To be honest Id rather get a couple more cheap used poly analogs , but something about using a poly800 & alphajuno2 live make me cringe in fear of the Murphy's Law Gods that be .

[Ashe37]

Before i used an old poly analog live I'd be tempted to get a spare...

[man-009]

I just picked one up today and this synth is a BEAST! I heard that Alesis helped in making this synh. It even says ION a few times in the manual...lol. Not sure if they cut and pasted info or what in the manual or if they were type-o's but that was strange seeing that. I believe this is close to an ION but i am no expert. The drum sounds are killer as well as the pads and i can use everything in this BEAST except the BRASS in my industrial / gothic music. Glad i returned the Korg microsampler witch the control functions BLOW on it! Bad knobs that should have been up and down buttons. what a nightmare to control! The Akai MINIAK was a perfect buy for me. This board is well built with heavy duty plastic and metal and has a great feel to it with the knobs and wheels. The vocoder is excellent! I like it better then my microkorg. My next new buy is the TETRA!

[Zarith]

Thanks for sharing your impressions man-009

I heard that Alesis helped in making this synth

... is an understatement. Alesis made this synth. It's a Micron in a different package.

[Mr Knesh]

To be honest Id rather get a couple more cheap used poly analogs , but something about using a poly800 & alphajuno2 live make me cringe in fear of the Murphy's Law Gods that be .

Has it been your experience that A-junos are unreliable? I understand the poly800, I have a broken one sitting in my living room. But I have owned three different alphas in each of their forms and found them to be very stable and reliable. Difference in experience.

As far as the MiniAK (I think Mini -ak sounds cool) I played on in GC today. Sounds almost identical to the micron. But the keyboard is way better, the case is way better, the vocoder mic is rather nice, the pitchbend/modwheels are way easier to use than any korg in the same price range. I thought it was rather fun to play.

[man-009]

i like it better all around then the micron myself.

[redchapterjubilee]

One thing is for certain. The appearance of the MiniAK has brought Micron prices way down. You can get a new Micron for $300 now and with patience you can get a good one 2nd hand for less than $200. That's an awful lot of synth for such a low price.