Can't get any sound out of my Akai MPK249

[GabryRox33]

I purchased an Akai MPK249 a few months back and over the holidays, I finally had a chance to "try" to set it up, configuring for use with Live 9 Lite. Unfortunately, despite following the exact instructions on this Akai page (http://www.akaipro.com/kb/article/1594), I have been unable to get any sound out of the 249.

These are the steps I have followed:
1- Set the 249 to Live
2- Set the GLobal Clock on the 249 to External
3- In Live's Midi Settings, set the Control Surface to MPK49 with Input and Output as MPK249 per instructions
4- In the Midi ports section, turned Track/Synch/Remote all to ON for both Input & Output MKP249

I know that Live is recognizing the MPK because when I unplug it from my PC, nothing appears in the Midi ports section of preferences. When I plug it back in, the settings re-appear as I set them in #4 above.

Now, here's where I think I must be missing something. I have a few VSTs (Soft Synth plugins) installed and working correctly through Live. So, when I open up Sylenth-1 (demo) for instance, the VST pops up and I can get sound by using my mouse to click on the the keys (within the sylenth popup).

However, playing any of the keys on the MKP249 does not result in any sound at all. I am totally missing something here? I assumed that if I set it up as intsructed and launched a softsynth from within Live, that I would be able to play whatever patch i have selected in sylenth on the MKP249.

I am probably missing something really obvious but this is totally new to me so thought I would reach out to see if anyone could help me with this.

BTW, I am just running the MPK into a USB port on my PC and using my Bose PC speakers for now. I will be getting a sound interface to set up with my KRK V6's soon. I doubt this is the cause of this particular problem with the MPK but thought I would mention it anyway.

[yur2die4]

Try arming the midi channel.

Also, make sure you don't have Any keys midi mapped in midi map mode.

[Fanu]

It probably comes with a software that lets you re-configure the pads if need be.
Does the midi light flash on the top right corner when you play the pads?

[GabryRox33]

Still no luck...

I verified that the midi track Sylenth1 is on is indeed armed. Also, when i play a key or hit a pad on the MPK, nothing on the Live screen indicates any movement, including the MIDI button in the upper right corner.

Again, this is plugged directly into my PC via USB port... not through an audio interface. Could this be the issue? I read on another thread about someone trying to use a MicroKorg and experiencing a similar issue and the advice was that it can only be done through an audio interface sicne the Korg's USB connection on transmits MIDI data and not audio. But, surely this cannot be the case for the MPK, right? Because that would mean that every person wanting to use a MIDI controller with Live would also have to have an audio interface and that just doesn't seem right.

Another thing to note: when I activate the keyboard icon in the upper right of the screen, and press keys on my computer keyboard, I get sound and the yellow MIDI light in the upper right corner lights up. But, with this button active or not, I still get nothing (no sound or MIDI indicator) in Live. It seems like this might be the crux of the issue but I don't know how to fix it. I know Live is recognizing the MPK because it shows up in the settings when turned on, but it Live does not appear to be getting the MIDI-in signal from the MPK.


Anyway, I will continue to search for a solution but would appreciate any further recommendations.

[yur2die4]

Temporarily, I'd suggest setting control surface to None, and turning off the 'Sync' buttons in Live's preferences.

Next, look at the I/O of the midi channel which has your synth on it, and make sure it is receiving all devices on all channels.

For Monitoring, set it to In or Auto (I usually use auto), and have the channel armed again.

Also, make sure all other software is closed. If you have a midi editor or anything open outside of Live, or any other daws, close them. (After you close them, see if any more midi devices pop up).

You shouldn't need an audio interface for your controller to work. If it shows up in midi preferences, and its listed name is not highlighted in Orange, it should function properly as long as the Track buttons are on in prefs.

[GabryRox33]

thanks yur, I really appreciate you taking to the time to help! unfortunately, I still can't get sound out of the MPK and I think I have tried all of what you recommend in your post and a few other things too.

Here is where I am at now with this:

Preferences in Live:
1- Control Surface = None
2- Input = MKP249
3- Output = MPK249

MIDI Ports:
- Input: MPK249 = Track button ON, Sync & Remote buttons OFF
- Output: MPK249 = Track button ON, Sync & Remote buttons OFF

This is what it is set at now but i have also tried pretty much every combination of on/off, as well as even trying the other ports (2, 3, & 4) but still nothing.

I did want to mention though that in the ports section, the lettering of the 2 MPK lines is actually Orange... not highlighted in orange, but orange letters.

Another thing that I wanted to mention... on the Akai setup page, it actually recommends setting the Control Surface to MPK49, not 249. I have tried both ways, but always with MPK249 selected as input and output. However, when I have MPK49 selected as CS, the Dump button to the right activates. I clicked it but it says something about overwriting your MIDI controller's settings so I aborted. This is also shown on that Akai page but it doesn't say anything about dumping.

Now on my MIDI track that I have sylenth1 loaded on:
- MIDI From = All Ins & All Channels
- Monitor = Auto (but I tried In as well)
- Audio to = Master
- Channel is armed (red button at very bottom of track layout)

So, all of this is set but still cannot get audio out of the MPK. The MIDI light in the upper right hand corner only registers when I have the keyboard icon clicked and hit a key on my PC keyboard. Whether that button is on or off, i get nothing from the MPK.

Another thing that crossed my mind is the Audio driver type i am using. I have it at the default which is MME/DirectX and then my PC speakers chosen. I do have ASIO4ALL v2 installed and available as an option, but when I select this, I cannot get sound out of anything. When clicking the softsynth keys and PC keyboard, the green sound bar registers on the MIDI track in Live and the yellow MIDI light goes on, but no actual sound comes out. And still nothing either way from the MPK.

This is really baffling to me. Not sure whats going on at all.

[yur2die4]

Orange usually means it is being used by a different program, or is unavailable.

You don't have any kind of editor open? No daws? No other standalone synths? You should have everything closed of possible except Live.

Also, maybe try changing the preset on your controller from Live, to any other preset.

But the main thing is, the letters should now show up orange at all.

[GabryRox33]

Ah OK... good to know about the orange lettering. On my last try, I didn't have any other DAW or VST opened and even closed by regular audio player. But I guess it's possible that something could have been running in the background, so I am going to try a fresh reboot later and only open Live and then load Sylenth and see what happens. Thanks again.

[GabryRox33]

Finally! Success!! After reading your comments on what the orange text meant, I did some googling and found a few other similar cases where the issue was actually a USB port/driver issue. Apparently, windows sometimes assigns USB ports incorrectly or locks them or something, which has the effect of rendering certain ports unusable for a MIDI device such as the MPK. Recommendations to solve this are to unplug all USB devices and re-install of the USB/MIDI hardware drivers. I didn't want to do this so I simply freed up another port after rebooting, plugged the MPK into the different port and just like that, it shows up in Live in black text (not orange), and as a result, I finally have sound coming from my MPK!

Thanks again for all your help on this! I really appreciate it and hope that others having this issue will find this thread useful.

[dabrams2021]

I am having similar issues with the MPK261. The input/out for the MPK261 does not show up except randomly. It worked fine out of the box. Then it stopped working. I read the AKAI support recommendation of going to GLOBAL setting and set it to EXTERNAL. I saved the changes. It worked fine. THen when I left the music room and came back, it stopped working. I've have cold booted several times, etc. It still is DOA.