Akai Miniak with Layout Not Controlling Parameters

Question

MIDI Target Manufacturer(s): Akai

Hi, I was thrilled to find a way to control the Akai Miniak from an iPad Pro with this template by Landschall:

http://mididesigner.com/community/midi-controller-for-akai-miniak-and-alesis-micron/

But I can't get it to control the synth; moving the controls in MDP2 doesn't have any effect. The iPad midi connection is working, as I can play soft synths on the iPad with the Miniak's keyboard and pitch/mod wheels. The Miniak's config menu is set to ALL midi channels, Program change send/receive is ON, Store Protect is OFF. It seems there was never a firmware update from Akai; it's running the original (and only) version 1.0.

I'm using a "cheap" USB-to-din midi interface (with the Apple CCK, of course). Maybe that's the problem?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ACGMOA6/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The interface is likely the problem.

Wish I would have seen this sooner.  

I've used this same template using a Yamaha MD-BT01.  It's awesome!  My only wish was that when I'd change a patch on the Miniak, the controls on MDP2 would update all parameter positons, but other than that it worked for me.  

On the KVR website, user MKDR started a post describing the sorry state of MIDI interfaces back in 2013.  I was surprised to see that there were MIDI interfaces out there that only worked with MIDI note data.  Though some also did work with SYSEX, or even RPN/NRPN.  Without being able to reference a good old-fashioned MIDI Implementation Chart, you really don't know what you're getting.  Miniak uses NRPN for most of its controls, you so definitely want to verify your interface will work with NRPNs.

Answer 2

The interface is likely the problem.

Wish I would have seen this sooner.  

I've used this same template using a Yamaha MD-BT01.  It's awesome!  My only wish was that when I'd change a patch on the Miniak, the controls on MDP2 would update all parameter positons, but other than that it worked for me.  

On the KVR website, user MKDR started a post describing the sorry state of MIDI interfaces back in 2013.  I was surprised to see that there were MIDI interfaces out there that only worked with MIDI note data.  Though some also did work with SYSEX, or even RPN/NRPN.  Without being able to reference a good old-fashioned MIDI Implementation Chart, you really don't know what you're getting.  Miniak uses NRPN for most of its controls, you so definitely want to verify your interface will work with NRPNs.