Akai MPK49 Ghosting Issues. Is it really time for a new Keyboard?

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Mistro17
Posts: 310
Joined: 04 Jul 2017
Location: Brooklyn, NY

20 May 2020

I got this keyboard from a friend who had it a very long time. It plays well and I love it but I just figured out why my DrOctoRex, NN-XT, Europa, and anything with complexity that is automatically mapped to the controls (faders and knobs) start bugging out on me every time I use them (mainly suddenly go quiet). Thank goodness most of my instruments are not affected by the ghosting (or so I think). I'm wondering if anyone here dealt with random ghosting issues from your keyboard and did you find a fix for it? I knew this keyboard would get replaced soon but now I really understand why I have to. A couple of my favorite instruments are unusable with this thing. While I'm here, anyone can suggest good brands that rarely have this problem? I did some research and see this problem happens across multiple models over time and don't want to go through this again if I can avoid it. Thanks in advance.

SIlverDogSounds
Posts: 2
Joined: 22 May 2020

22 May 2020

Yes it happend with my M-Audio Axiom. Occasionally it would work properly and load properly (it says 'Reason Control Surface Mapped' on the screen of the keyboard. This would map perfectly and everything would work.

Other times it would just act as a 'dumb surface' and only the keyboard would work. I think its my keyboard because as of tonight the driver dissapeared and keyboard has stopped working. I can't even download the driver because the M-Audio site is down.

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Faastwalker
Posts: 2281
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: NSW, Australia

24 May 2020

I had a lot of trouble with my MPK49. I was getting issues with the knobs sending MIDI data on their own! The pads were not that great either. I never did the mod but it shouldn't have needed modding to work well. The sliders were wobbly as fuck as well. And the buttons started to require a hammer blow to operate. Was initially a very decent controller. But it died spectacularly! :D

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Mistro17
Posts: 310
Joined: 04 Jul 2017
Location: Brooklyn, NY

25 May 2020

Thanks to a suggestion by @selig I have a temporary solution. Placing the affected instruments in a combinator blocks the midi input from the controller avoiding the ghosting signals. So I'm able to use all my instruments for now. Still looking for a new keyboard but no rush now.

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EdwardKiy
Posts: 760
Joined: 02 Oct 2019

25 May 2020

All the companies fill a niche with their instruments and every "affordable" midi controller is a compromise. They all have stronger and weaker sides to them. Decide which aspects you need the most - key beds, knobs, faders or pads and in which order.

Rule of thumb for Reason users would be to check out the Nektar company range of devices first, because their focus is key bed quality and there's also software integration. This will help your workflow with simple things like Reason instrument patch browsing, even if you don't want to invest your time at first to set it up proper. You can later learn to get even more out of it by fiddling with the controls.

MisterHotel
Posts: 1
Joined: 08 Nov 2020

08 Nov 2020

resetting the mpk49 by pushing edit and right key until it says factory reset, then using the generic preset for ableton instead of a pre-mapped one i.e live lite -worked out. If it doesn't help, deactivate the knobs,faders or buttons causing the problem through vyzex by setting the min and max values to 0 then saving it, and get a midi controller interface to support your automation plans.
greetz

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