Review: Akai Professional LPK25 (25-Key MIDI Controller)

I thought tuning my piano would be like tuning a guitar just with a hundred strings. I was wrong.

Long story short, I had trouble with the tuning software, got frustrated, and gave up. But then I found this great MIDI controller.

I realized I have a really nice piano plugin (called Addictive Keys) that would let me record real piano with a keyboard. So I bought an Akai Professional LPK25 25-key MIDI controller for about $80.

And I love it.

The keys are smaller than regular keys, but still a good size for my fingers (which some have called “fat”). And you get two octaves at once with the option of shifting the octaves up and down the piano.

There is a sustain button that works like a sustain pedal, but it has taken practice working it with my pinky so I can play chords and the bass note(s).

This controller plugs into my computer via USB, and one thing I noticed is that the playback method you use affects the latency.

So if I plug headphones right into my laptop, there’s a good amount of latency, which makes it nearly impossible to use the controller. But when I plug my headphones into my audio interface and use that for playback, there’s zero latency.

I’ve been recording all of the piano for my new album on this little thing. So far, it’s going awesomely.