Akai Miniak review part one
By Rob Sandall
| Posted in Music Technology
Reviewing the AKAI MINIAK has been both a humbling experience and sobering lesson, really – even before I figure out if it’s any good, it’s at the very least food for thought.
It stems from the fact that my head has been awash with synth-related information lately. Because it’s 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 I’m allowed to try out all the new and expensive gear that I forget that I, like a lot of people, can’t actually afford to buy it.
It’s not a bad idea, then, to take a look at synths which just about anyone can find a budget for, because it’s 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 – you’ll 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.
It’s 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, you’ve 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 you’d 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.
That’s your basic readout, and while it might be everything you were expecting, remember we’re looking at a fearsome price – you’d expect to see a lot of these appointments on more expensive models, and I’m happy to say it’s not all there is, either.
Next time, we’ll 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. Simultaneously I’ll also be reviewing a price competitor – the Microkorg XL – and when both reviews have been shored up I’ll get some of my pals to weigh in, in a bit of a forum situation. You’ll see. For now stand by for more musings on the Akai MINIAK
Tags: is the miniak synth any good?, miniak synth, using the miniak