However, there’s a trade off in ergonomics: the shortness of the knobs, and their steeply angled sides makes them rather awkward to use. The knobs are small and low profile, reducing the unit’s bulk in a bag and ensuring it won’t get broken while in there. Most of the remainder of the panel is devoted to three rows of eight knobs. The Mutes can be switched to a secondary bank, which is mapped to Solo in Live. Above the faders are two rows of buttons labelled with their default Live functions: Rec Arm and Mute. It appears to share the same shell as the APC Mini, and has the same bank of nine recessed faders. The MIDIMix is really compact, just 24cm wide. It’s also not quite as generic as I first thought, as a Live remote script adds dynamic control features for Ableton users. The MIDIMix retails for less than £60 $100, and is also very small and portable, making it a tempting add-on. Well before I jump to conclusions, there’s the matter of price. But now there are so many intelligent controllers around, with deep software integration, clip launch pads, dynamic mapping and more, is there still a place for a basic MIDI surface like Akai’s new MIDIMix?

Ten years ago or so I really wanted a generic MIDI controller with some faders and whole bunch of assignable knobs that could be mapped to Live and Reason for laptop gigs and the like. Akai’s new controller keeps the design simple and the cost low.

Akai professional midimix fl studio