Akai MPD26 manual

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1 KEY FEATURES • 16 pressure and velocity-sensitive MPC pads with four banks each • MPC technologies include Note Repeat, Swing, 16 Level , Full Level, and Tap Tempo • 12 assignable Q-Link knobs and fader s • Dedicated transport controls transmit MMC, MIDI Clock or MIDI CC messages to DAW and sequencing applications • MIDI output over USB[...]

2 TOP PANEL OVERVIEW 11 1 2 8 45 6 73 14 15 13 10 9 16 17 18 12 1. LCD – The display is used for navigating menus, displa ying data, and affecting change on MPD26’s options and parameters. 2. [VALUE] (Push to Enter) – This dial is used to in crement and decrement Pres ets, parameter values and settings. This dial also functions as an [ENTER] [...]

3 103 111 119 127 71 79 87 95 39 47 55 63 7 15 23 31 9. TRANSPORT CONTROL BUTTONS – These five buttons are dedicated buttons for sending transport control commands. The transport c ontrol buttons can be set to trans mit either MMC (MIDI Machine Control), MMC/MIDI Clock, MIDI START/STOP or pre-assigned MIDI CC values. 10. 6 ASSIGNABLE KNOBS – Ea[...]

4 MIDI PORT AND CHANNEL NOTE INDICATOR NOTE VELOCITY VELOCITY IS ALSO DI SPLAYED WITH BAR METER. MIDI NOTE NUMBER PAD BANK AFTERTOUCH VALUE AFTERTOUCH VALUE IS ALSO DISPLAYED WITH BAR METER MIDI PORT AND CHANNEL CONTROL CHANGE INDICATOR CONTROL CHANGE VALUE VALUE IS ALSO DISPLAYED WITH BAR METER. CONTROL CHANGE NUMBER PAD BANK AFTERTOUCH VALUE VALU[...]

5 CONTROL CHANGE NUMBER NEW VALUE NEW VALUE LAST VALUE SENT LAST VALUE SENT MIDI MACHINE CONTROL (MMC) MIDI MACHINE CONTROL (MMC) is commonly used to send transport control messages to hardware record or playback machines. For example, pressing [PLAY] on the MPD26 sends an MMCPLAY message to a connected multi-track recorder, which begins playing. W[...]

6 ABOUT MODES The MPD26 has four different modes of op erati on. Each mode can be accessed by pressing the corresponding button on the MPD26. Followi ng is a short description of each mode: Preset Mode This mode allows you to load, save and copy Presets. A Preset is a collection of information about how differen t faders, knobs, and pads will behav[...]

7 ENTER PRES ET NAME IN THIS FIELD PRESET NAME PRESET NUMBER PRESET M ODE The MPD26 features different Pres et banks which you can load and write to. When you turn on the MPD26, it will automatically go into Preset Mode and Preset 1 wi ll be displayed on the screen. You can also press the [PRESET] button at any time to call up this mode. In Preset [...]

8 FIELD 1 FIELD 2 FIELD 3 FIELD 4 NAVIGATING EDIT MODE 1. Press [EDIT] to enter Edit Mode. 2. To select the controll er you wish to edit, simply engage it – this will prompt the screen to display the available e vent types for the particul ar controller (Page 1). 3. If there are multipl e event types for the selected controller, t urn the [VALUE][...]

9 What is a Note Message ? A Note Message is a MIDI message that tells an instrument to play a note. More generally, thi s means that Note Messages are used to start an d stop sounds. When you press one of the pads, a ‘Note On’ message is sent to you r DAW or external device. This toggles a note or sample. When you release the pad, a ‘N ote O[...]

10 NOTE FIELD PLAY MODE FIELD PLAY MODE FIELD PRESSURE FIEL D NOTE PARAMETERS MIDI CHANNEL FIELD This field sets the MIDI Port and Channel which the pad will use to transmit 1. Press [<] to messages. You can assi gn pads to one of two MIDI Ports, A or B, and to one of 16 M IDI Channels on each port (i.e. B11). You may also assign the pad to the [...]

11 MIDI PORT/CHANNEL FIELD PROGRAM CHANGE FIELD BANK M FIE LD BANK L FIE LD Note: You can also configure pads t o send Program Cha nge messages only, without specifying Bank M an d Bank L. While editin g Bank M and Bank L fields of a pad, u se [VALUE] dial to s et Bank M and Bank L to ‘OFF’ (beyond 000). This will ca use the pad to transmit o n[...]

12 What is Control Change ? Control Change refers to the use of MIDI Continuous Controller data. Continuous Controller (CC) data are MIDI messages capable o f transmitting a range of values, usually 0-127. CC's are commonly used for controlling volu me, pan, and other parameters on your DAW or sound module. What is Aftertouch ? Aftertouch refe[...]

13 MIDI PORT/CHANNEL FIELD CONTROL CHANGE FIELD MINIMUM RANGE FIELD MAXIMUM RANGE F IELD CONTROL CHAN GE PARAMETERS The following list of parameters c an be accessed if the event type fo r the knob or fader is set to Control Change . MIDI CHANNEL FIELD This field sets the MIDI Port and Channel which the knob or fader will use to transmit messages. [...]

14 MINIMUM RANGE FIELD MAXIMUM RANGE F IELD MIDI PORT/CHANNEL FIELD AFTERTOUCH PAR AMETERS For some applications, you might wish to use the faders or knobs as Aftertouch cont rollers. In this scenario, the knob or fader will transmit A ftertouch information whic h could be used to control, say, vibrato or tremolo . The following list of parameters [...]

15 MIDI PORT/CHANNEL FIELD INCREMENT/DECREMENT PA RAMETERS (knobs only) The endless knobs on the MPD26 may also be used as an increment/decrement NRPN f unction. This allows you to use the knob to increment and decrement through parame ters as opposed to sending an absolute value. Please note that the implementation o f NRPN functions depends stric[...]

16 PRESS ENTE R TO EDIT SELECT PROP ERTY Please note: For the Gate effect to be perceived, the sounds you are triggering need to have a long decay. EDITING NOTE REPEAT The MPD26 features the Note R epeat function, which can be found on our legendary Music Production Center (MPC) models. With Note Re peat enabled, you can repeatedly trigger a soun d[...]

17 BUTTON MODE GATE FIELD SWING FIE LD NOTE REPEAT BUTTON MODE The following screen will appear if you select “TOGGL-MOTRY ” on Page 1. In this field, you can select whether the [NOTE REPEAT] button will behave in a momentary (MTY) fashion, where pressing the button turns on the Note Repeat function and releasing it turns it off, or in a toggle[...]

18 EDITING TIME DIVISION The Time Division feature works in conjunction with Note Repeat. When Note Repeat is enabled and a pad is held down, the MPD26 will output notes at a rate equ ivalent to the Time Division setting. To change to a new Time Division setting, press and hold [TIME DIV ISI ON] and select a new rate by pressing one of Pads 8- 16 ([...]

19 PRESS ENTER TO EDIT TRANSPORT CONTROL MESSAGE FOR MAT PRESS ENTER TO EDIT PRESS ENTE R TO EDIT EDITING TRANSPORT CONTROL The MPD26 can be configured to s end transport control information in a variety of ways: MMC (MIDI Machine Control), MMC/MIDI, MIDI, or CTRL. Some applications and dev ices have dedi cated MMC functions and will only respond t[...]

20 NAVIGATING GLOBAL MODE 1. Press [GLOBAL] to enter Global Mode. 2. Use [<] and [>] to navigate th rough the available pages of options (shown below). 3. Use the [VALUE] di al to change settings, values or select a message on the selected page. 4. Press [ENTER] to acc ept the change or send a message or press [<] to cancel. GLOBAL MODE In[...]

21 MIDI COMMON CHANNEL FIELD LCD CONTRAST PAD SENSITIVIT Y FIELD KILL MIDI – Page1 KILL MIDI allows you to send either an ALL NOTES OFF message on each MIDI Channel or a RESET ALL CONTROLLERS command. ALL NOTES OFF is a special MIDI message used to turn off any notes that might be playing on the MPD26. It is often used to recover from erroneous s[...]

22 PAD VELOCIT Y CURVE FI ELD MIDI VELOCITY WEAK STRENGTH OF HITTING PAD STRONG MIDI CLOCK FI ELD PAD THRESHO LD FIELD PAD VELOCITY CURVE – Page 5 A PAD VELOCITY CURVE describes how the pads on the MPD26 are outputting MIDI velocities, based on a ce rtain ratio o f the input / output velocity that characterizes the partic ular curve. The Pad Velo[...]

23 PRESS ENTER TO TRANFER TAP TEMPO AVERAGE – Page 8 When using [TAP TEMPO] button to set the tempo, the MPD26 averages a number of taps in order to determine the tempo. You can set the number of taps used to de termine the TAP TEMPO AVERAGE in this field. 1. While in Global Mode, use [>] bu tton to scroll to Tap AVG (page 8). 2. Turn [VALUE] [...]

24 NAVIGATING PROGRAM CHA NGE MODE 1. Press the [PROGRAM CHANGE] button. 2. On Page 1, use the [VALUE] dial to select a Prog Change or Prog+Bank message on and press [ENTER]. 3. On Page 2, use the [<] and [>] buttons to move through the different options and use the {VALUE] dial to change them. 4. Press [ENTER] to send the message . PROGRAM C[...]

25 RESETTING FACTORY DEFAULTS If you ever would like to res tore all the presets to the factory default, do the following: 1. Press [>] - this will open the SAVE screen. 2. Press [>] again - This will open the PRESET NAME screen. 3. Press [>] to move past each letter in the current program's name until the last charac ter is reached. [...]

26 FREQUENTLY ASKED QU ESTIONS Question: Can the MPD26 be synced to external devices? Answer: Yes, the MPD26 can receive MIDI Clock through bo th the USB and the MIDI IN connection. This means that you can synchronize the tempo-bas ed Note Repeat to an external source. T o synchronize the MPD26 to an external MIDI Cl ock source, please enter Global[...]

27 TROUBLESHOOTING PROBLEM CAUSE SOLUTION Please make sure that the MPD26 i s connected to your computer and that the compu ter is powered on. The display does not light up. No power. If using a power adapter, please m ake sure that the adapter is plugged into a live power outlet. Check your computer’s USB connec tion to confirm that the MPD26 is[...]

28 TECHNICAL SPECI FICATIONS GENERAL Display custom LCD w/ backli ght Dimensions (WxDxH) 314mm x 289mm x 70mm Weight 2.2kg Power ~100mA, 5V DC via USB ~1A, 6V DC via external adaptor Number of Presets 30 MIDI output channels over USB 48 (16 channels x 3 po rts) MIDI output channels from 5-pin MIDI 16 Drum pads 16 (velocity and pressure se nsitive) [...]

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