So, I recently bought an Akai MPK49..

dlooks

I was going to use it as a controller for my iPad and all the great synths within. I did try it out in the store and really liked the feel of the knobs, keys and sliders before looking for a used one online.

Found a seller and then bought the keyboard after a few minutes of testing and fiddling with it connected to Logic. When I came home I immedietly connected it to my iPad with the CCK and got the error message that the power was too low.

Ok, no worries there I didn't have an AC adapter and thought I'd just pick one up tomorrow..

Cooked some dinner and suddenly got the bright idea to power the MPK with the usb and then connect the ipad with a usb midi cable, (one i have tested my MPC with before and that worked). But soon after realized it was not working. Later read that the MPK won't send midi while it's connected with an usb interface?!

Thing is, I really have no idea what I'm doing. But still, if it sends midi on midi channel 1 and i have a working interface receiving midi in on channel 1, and all my apps recognizing USB MIDI as an input, why wont me pressing the keys send anything to the iPad? Please help me I'm really looking forward to let loose with this beast but seriously have no way of wrapping my head around this.

Lastly, english is not my native language so excuse all the horrible grammar. I also hope that me posting this here is no problem even if it's not Audiobus related. This is probably the largest iOS community around nowadays.

Dubhausdisco

Hello!
What you need to do is this-
Plug in your akai with the power adapter so it gets enough power.
Connect a USB cable from the keyboard to the camera connect kit and into the iPad.
You should be good to go. If I understood you right you maybe tried to plug both the iPad and the akai keyboard into a powered USB hub?
Anyway, what akai means regarding USB connection and midi is that once a USB connection is made, the akai won't send or receive midi through the hardware (DIN) ports on the back of the keyboard.
Anything else, just feel free to ask.

dlooks

Hey Dubhausdisco thank you for the answer!

I do exactly as you say. I plug in the power (from a AC adapter) to the MPK so it lights up, then I connect the usb cable to the camera connection kit, I then get the message that the device is not drawing enough power and it doesn't send anything to the iPad if I press any keys.

If I connect a USB to midi cable it recognizes it in both Magellan and Animoog but still sends no messages..

Dubhausdisco

Hmmm... I'm not sure what's going on there... Anyone else have an MPK?

dlooks

Thanks for the help Dubhausdisco but I'm totally stumped on why it isn't working.

Do you have a MPK49 and it's working for you? I'm on a iPad 2 with iOS 5.1 if that is any help.

Dubhausdisco

No, I've got an MPD32. I remember it worked fine with a power adapter through the cck....
This may sound silly, but are you attaching the camera connection kit to the USB cable before plugging in to the iPad? Some USB gear is weird like that...

ChrisG

I think Tim over at discchord.com have a MPK49 hooked into an iPad 2. If all fails try asking him how his setup looks like. He did a YouTube vid showing it while waiting for Akais iPad keyboard,..

dlooks

ChrisG, Tim is already on the case and helping me which I of course am very grateful for.

Dubhausdisco, I have tried connecting it in a matter of ways. First iPad via CCK/USB, then power the MPK. iPad via midi cable and CCK, then power the MPK. First power the MPK, then USB or midi cable. Power the MPK, connecting the CCK to the iPad then USB etc.

I will try to get a hold of a powered USB Hub from work on monday and try that but I would really like to hear from someone that has a MPK 49 and controlling the iPad synths from it. I'm beginning to suspect it's not possible..

rrcopter

Here's how I got it to work with my Akai MPK 25, iPad 2, CCK, a USB hub, and latest iOS:

• Power the MPK with an external power supply
• With the iPad active, attach the CCK

• Plug the USB Hub into the CCK (just as if you were plugging the hub into a computer).
  Note that the hub does NOT have to be powered separately!

• Plug the (powered) MPK into the hub.

The MPK should now show up to your apps.
You'll probably have to go into the MIDI settings of each specific app and enable the MPK as an input.

Animoog, Alchemy, and iMini lists it as "Akai MPK25 Port x".

Magellan and Sunrizer just lists it as "Port x"

Works fine! : )

BTW -

The iO Dock from Alesis is pretty cheap now, and since your MPK has MIDI DIN, you might want to give it some thought.

MIDI over DIN and USB (to a computer), onboard headphone amp, standard 1/4" and XLR stereo audio In/Out, AND it charges the iPad while it's in use.

I have a couple dozen audio and MIDI-related apps I use with mine in my "hobby studio", and they all work great with my iPad 2 and the iO Dock with latest firmware and iOS updates!!

Randy

dlooks

Hey everyone!

Once again a huge thank you to those who helped out. Got it to work today on the first try with a, as some of you recommended, a powered USB-Hub.

Also, you don't really need to power the MPK with a power supply, the only thing you need is a powered USB hub, two USB cables and the camera connection kit. I feel a litte bit misled by Akai as they first said the only thing you needed was a external power source but now really happy with the purchase of my MPK49!

Dkorg

So... I was reading this and realise that need some help. I did all that you said... Got the power supply for Akai mpk61 and hub USB powered to charge the ipad and... WORK!

Now I need to know how to make my akai work with the ipad and another keyboard. I'm using a korg micro X.

What I want?

Play the akay , controlling both ipad (with the CCK, USB hub and USB cable) and korg micro x (with a standard MIDI cable)

Is it possible?

Thanks.

Ps.: sorry about my poor english. I'm from Brazil and I'm studing yet.

turtledrum13

Dkorg, I've been doing some reading on the AKAI MPK61 today, and I have one myself. I have not tested the scenario you described, but I am pretty sure it cannot be done. My understanding of the way the MPK keyboards work is this:

Power comes from one of two sources, either the 6V AC adapter, or 5V via USB (can come from a computer or powered USB hub). Only need one or the other. Having both will not help, and I assume the MPK will go into USB mode if both are connected.

1. When the MPK is being powered via AC adapter, the MIDI ports on the back behave as traditional MIDI in and out ports. Since you want to control two devices at once, this is not what you're looking for.

2. When the USB cable is powering the MPK, it operates in USB mode, giving it multiple outputs and letting you pass another MIDI device through the unused DIN input on the back. In USB mode, the MPK controller itself sends two outputs of 16 channels (the first on the "A" bank and the second on "B"). It also passes whatever is connected to that DIN input on the back to your host computer. So that totals up to three "outputs" being fed into your host computer at once.
   The MPK also accepts and processes two "inputs" from your host computer. One is for MIDI data being sent from the computer to the MPK, and the second is for data being sent from the computer to some other device you may have attached to the MIDI DIN Out on the back of the MPK. These are good for sending SysEx messages or MIDI sequences you've created on your computer.

HOWEVER, all of this audio routing, though, is done through your DAW or other computer software. I'm not sure if the iPad is capable of doing any such routing like a computer would be able to do. Maybe it can, but regardless...

It sounds like you COULD control both your iPad and micro x keyboard, but not the way you described, as the DIN MIDI out port on the back would only be sending whatever is being routed to "output 3" on your computer. I don't think this can be done with an iPad only; I think you'd need a computer to handle some of the routing of MIDI signals. Look into the iConnectMidi2+. I think it would meet your needs and probably expand your capabilities elsewhere too.

You might be able to get by hooking the MPK directly to your computer, accepting the output from the MPK as an input in your DAW, and then routing that signal to two separate outputs. One would be the iPad with CCK, and the other would be "AKAI MPK Port 2". Then plug the Korg micro x into the DIN MIDI out on your MPK and your should be all set.

Like I said, I don't think there is any solution with the iPad alone, but I could be wrong. The iConnectMIDI line of products is fantastic and would no doubt solve your problem. This thread is getting kind of dated, so I know that information may be too late. Just thought I'd share what I could!

odoyle

No, it's still relevant at least to me. I arrived from a Google search—I'm looking for a way to power my MPK49, and simultaneously be able to STAY connected to both my iPad and my Mac.

Is this possible w/o buying a proper interface/dock? I'm on a tight budget after buying all these music apps, lol.

Context

@odoyle, does your iPad and Mac have Bluetooth LE?

odoyle

ipad yes, natively.
ancient macbook pro: it does now (though it wasn't easy)

Context

If you have Bluetooth LE on both devices, take a look at Apollo Midi-over-Bluetooth:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apollo-midi-over-bluetooth/id720942905?mt=8

Read the description carefully so you know for sure it will work with your setup. If you decide to try it, you'll also need the Mac client which you can download for free at the Mac app store.
I use it with both my CME XKey and Maschine Mikro and it works great!

odoyle

I've got Apollo running already
(it's incredible, btw - I can't get over the speed!)

I don't think I was clear before: I want to have the keyboard plugged into both the iPad and the Mac at the same time, and able to drive either an iOS app or my DAW w/o having to rearrange cables all the time.

...and I can't afford the obvious choice: an iConnect MIDI 2+ or 4+

Context

You should be able to already do that. Keyboard plugged into Mac and keyboard connected to iPad via Bluetooth. Note data and CC data can be sent to either DAW, iPad, or both at the same time. I'm not sure why you need the physical cable connection from keyboard to iPad. If I'm still not understanding or missing something I apologize.

odoyle

How am I getting from the MPK to the iPad? MPK49 > Mac > Apollo > iPad?

What sort of routing do I need to set up in OSX's MIDI manager?

Context

Yes, that device chain you described is correct. Apollo should just work without any software routing other than what you can do within Apollo. The MPK to DAW should just be your typical routing.

So whenever you don't want the keyboard to trigger whatever you have on the iPad, just shut off Apollo. Then turn Apollo back on when you want to go back to iPad mode. Much easier than swapping cables out. Try it, it's simple. If it still doesn't work then we'll try to troubleshoot it.

odoyle

Totally going to try this tonight. You rock!

Context

Did you get it working?

odoyle

Life got in the way
I'll have a go tomorrow after church.

eilert

nevermind

sonosaurus

No, the CCK is needed to make the iPad the host. Otherwise it would only be able to plug in one of the device ports.