Akai Professional MPK Mini vs Novation Launchkey Mini

Buttons will light up when pressed, resulting in better visibility to users.

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The octave buttons are used to shift the keyboard up or down in one octave increments. This extends the range of the keyboard in either direction, which lets you play notes that lie outside the number of keys available.

The more buttons the device has, the more complex the input can be.

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The button is used to select independent banks of continuous controllers. Effectively, this allows you to control more independent parameters with the knobs, faders and buttons. The bank selector button is used to switch among the available banks.

Navigation buttons allows users to navigate through their files/data.

A feature on some MIDI devices that allows to adjust tempo in real time based on an external input or by “tapping” a button on the device itself. It is used to allow musicians the flexibility of playing at any desired tempo based on their musical input.

The arpeggiator is the main tool used by computer musicians to generate looped material. An arpeggiator is simply a generator of signals that controls the tempo, pitch, velocity, gate, and other parameters of the sound.

The pads section is ideal to trigger loops and samples, using your finger drum skills.

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The amount of keys the controller has on the keyboard.

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Velocity sensitive keys are just spring loaded keys that sound out louder the harder you hit them. If you "lightly" press a key, the sound will be quiet; the harder you press, the louder it gets.

A synth-action keyboard feels more like an electronic organ. The spring-loaded keys are light and capable of being moved very quickly. They also tend to return to their resting position much more quickly. Synth-action keys are perfect for musicians who aren’t pianists by nature, such as guitarists wanting to add MIDI functionality to their setup.

The device is set up and ready to be used with the included software.

It is compatible with a range of iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch.

Devices can communicate in both directions with each other without any additional MIDI interface. The biggest advantage is that the USB connection can be used for everything; power supply, MIDI-in and MIDI-out. This means you need less cables.

It is compatible with PCs and laptops running the Windows operating system.

Users can map, set and regulate the entire midi controller giving different functionalities to all different buttons, knobs and faders. The device could be also set up with different softwares.

It is compatible with Mac OS X devices such as MacBooks and iMacs.