A MINIAK review in three parts
by Rob Sandall

Part One

Reviewing the AKAI MINIAK has been both a humbling experience and sobering lesson, really - even before I figure out if its any good, its at the very least food for thought.It stems from the fact that my head has been awash with synth-related information lately. Because its one of my favourite instruments, I tend to covet and hoard anything that comes in, and then lose myself for days in LFOs and envelopes.

I am as guilty as anyone, though, of spending too much time with the higher-priced models. I get so excited by the fact that Im allowed to try out all the new and expensive gear that I forget that I, like a lot of people, cant actually afford to buy it.

Its not a bad idea, then, to take a look at synths which just about anyone can find a budget for, because its wrong to assume that you can only get into the realms of the professional with half a grand or more. The MINIAk is a particularly good example of this, in fact.

If you already know Akai and Alesis - who partnered in the creation of this little gem - youll already be expecting a particularly high attention to detail and long-lasting construction. In fact, this unit has been created by taking positives from the MPD, MPK and APC ranges and adding in digital signal processing, all in an effort to give those on a budget a high-quality, polyphonic, synthesized sound.

Its a 37 key model, which are of course semi-weighted and velocity-sensitive (as any synth claiming to be professional should be). Wandering into more specific specs, youve got eight separate voices, each of which are defined by three oscillators. These can be either tweaked to personal taste (with 1000 save slots, no less!) or you can shuffle through 600 presets and pick some suitable sounds out.

Speaking of storage, the MINIAK is also a sequencer, capable of both step and real-time arrangement, and comes with a drum machine built in. Holding its hand as youd expect from this kind of setup are of course arpeggiation options.

The synth side of things is particularly comprehensive for such a little guy, though - two multi-mode filters, three envelope generators two LFOs and stereo digital FX can all be manipulated for patch creation. Ins and outs are specced at 24-bit balanced quarter-inchers, and functionality is increased by both a vocoder setup that can again default to either user or preset patches and a MIDI connection that can provide source synthesis for your keyboard, software or MPC. Like I said: comprehensive.

Thats your basic readout, and while it might be everything you were expecting, remember were looking at a fearsome price - youd expect to see a lot of these appointments on more expensive models, and Im happy to say its not all there is, either.

In Part Two, well be looking at the specifics of some unusual extra features on the control panel - namely the XY and Z controls and wheel and pedal incorporation - and weighing up the pros and cons.

Part Two

Off I go with the Akai Miniak then. The fidget in me will always default to looking at the patches first; while cycling through every sound is hardly a substitute for long-term playing experience, you can at least get a more solid idea of who the keyboard is really aimed at. Shifting through pulsing bass lines, pads and leads - there are 600 presets in total - I cant help but decide that the core demographic here will be those into their house and electro arrangements. Dubsteb too - some of the fatter bass patches in particular will appeal here. This suspected lean towards dance is backed up even further by the way the sequencer works, by the way, but were not discussing that yet.

There are also patches covering strings, brass and some particularly impressive 808-style drum sounds, so my perceived bias might be a little out assuming that the user is open-minded.

Its likely that 99 per cent of users, i.e. those thinking with a dance sensibility, are going to stick to the presets and add effects on top of that to fine-tune their tones. The sound quality is excellent, and its worth adding that a lot of the sounds available are relatively unique, although its clear that this model takes a huge number of cues and edits from the Alesis Micron (indeed, Alesis worked with Akai on the Miniak). One friend described some of the patches as 70s horror film sounds, and therere a great deal of ambient tones too. Theres less in the way of growl or more abrasive sounds, sure, but again I think the dance producers out there wont be too phased by that. Besides, this is a cheap enough keyboard to pick it up alongside another unit to do that job - well talk about that in part three.

Theres facility for conjuring up other familiar sounds too, thanks to the Miniaks almost-analog design when it comes to synthesis control. Filter types can shuffle you through the stylings of Moog, Jupiter, ARP and others, and while theyre not dead on emulations, dropping them into a mix might well fool the masses. Either way, the three oscillators, two LFOs and decent bank of effects will make for a pleasing and varied array of synth sounds to add to the mammoth bank of presets.

One thing I will say is that those looking to go further than that and edit hundreds of their own user patches on the Miniak are in for a steep learning curve and a lot time used up. Theres no computer editing software offered by Akai to do it, so everything is onboard and therefore, with the greatest will in the world, quite difficult to do quickly - each parameter needs to be cycled back and forth as you change its value, and while I made a few of my own patches I generally ended up not bothering . Fortunately the sheer number of them meant I didnt have too much of a reason to make new ones anyway.

The X, Y and Z parameter knobs are endless, which is a good or bad thing depending on your ability and preference - some people wont be too sure about not being able to see exactly where values are set physically on the control panel, others going by ear will have an easier time. Note that the values displayed on the LED panel are only visible while the knobs are being turned, so actually the latter approach of simply listening to whats happening and adjusting to taste is a much better one to take.

There are two modulation wheels (one more than you usually see on synths of this price) alongside a pitch wheel, and the velocity-sensitive keys feel good, not plasticy. In terms of general comfort in playing, in fact, the one thing I would change is the flat-to-the-control panel angle of the LED readout. Stood up youre fine; sat down its hard to see (although not impossible to be fair), so I can imagine the producer nipping over to add bits and bobs in to an arrangement or indeed a live player will fare best here.

Its a quirky little devil, then, but already its clear that theres a lot to be discovered for anyone who has the time to properly explore it. In Part Three Im going to have a go with the vocoder and the sequencer - which, according to the manual, is capable of a great deal - as well as discussing the ins and outs and general purchasing potential. Ive also heard tell of a third-party editor created for the Akai Miniak, and I want to find it and use it before I pass on any recommendations.

Part Three

On the home straight for the Akai Miniak review, something quite odd has happened. Just as I was ready to wax further lyrical about this little synth - which really has impressed me throughout testing.

Weve already established that theres a comprehensive bank of sounds, which as I mentioned before are going to utterly thrill your dance/electro-inclined players and producers, and the faux-analog design of the synth means that presets can extend to some familiar tones - Jupiter, Moog etc.

But equally impressive is something we havent touched on yet - an all-singing, all-dancing sequencer, with real-time and step possibilities.

The latter in particular benefits from a strikingly easy setup, ARP-style, which means that each separate key press is stored as the next step in the sequence. When youre happy with your results, the entire sequence is then fixed as a time- and pitch-editable sequence - itll transpose the entire run of notes, depending on the key youre holding down to trigger it.If you prefer your real-time editing, then phrases that you record and store on the Miniak can be immediately quantized to fit in with your step or BPM-specific rhythms. Any automation is also recorded in the phrase - if youre twiddling with your filters and your LFOs to add dynamism to your riffs, then that one perfect take can be locked in. This is notable, mainly because there are a heap of new synths appearing on the market that are trumpeting this feature. For something thats now even less money than Id originally thought it was selling for, thats something worth thinking about!

The stored riff can again be transposed dependent on your key presses, and simply continues to loop as youre messing around with it. I think youll probably already have figured out how easy a process its going to be for a dance producer to create a full arrangement, as they transpose the ongoing loop to the first, fourth and fifth of the scale.Theres also an 808-style drum sequencer - the sort of punchy, compressed sounds that some will love and some will hate - which you can trigger separately from the step sequences, so combined youve pretty much got a production suite sat in your synth. I mentioned last time the lack of editing software, and Ive had a look at third party possibilities that Im not too sure of, but then again if you put all of this keyboards functionality into an editable computer program youre actually coming close to a DAW, so I think AKAI can be forgiven for simply focusing on the hardware aspects here. Think analog with a lot more, rather than digital with less.

Its a synth thats very playable indeed - especially if youre using the presets rather than going through the slightly long process of editing sounds - and the sequencing options can be used confidently with a superbly slight learning curve. Theres a lot of functionality here that the modern and more expensive models out there share, so its even more of a steal. I suspect youll already be considering joining me in the purchase of an Akai Miniak.

Review courtesy of DV247.com.