Without warning and only one week before NAMM (why oh why?), Akai Professional just blasted out a new product microsite showcasing their new keyboards: the Advance series. They come in 25, 49 and 61-key flavours with 8 big rotary encoders as well as 8 RGB-backlit pads and – since apparently every new controller gains some kind of added value from this – feature built-in 4.3-inch colour screens that look similar to the ones found on NI’s Maschine Studio and Traktor S8. From the photo and video material alone, it’s hard to tell how good these are going to actually be. They do look promising, but we’ll have to wait until NAMM to do a side-by-side comparison.
Here’s the official promo video featuring several musicians trying their best to get excited:
You don’t get any information here, except that those keyboards are going to forever change the way you work with your software instruments while also magically boosting your creativity all because you can now look at a small screen instead of a big screen. Ahem. Show, don’t tell!
That being said, what we get from the much more detailed press release sounds pretty interesting:
Akai Professional Announces Advance Keyboard Series
Artists can now load, play and control all their virtual instrument plugins directly from their keyboard. New keyboards deliver optimum hands-on performance features with seamless software integration for playing and controlling today’s hottest VST instruments and DAWs.
Ash Vale, UK (January 12, 2014)—Akai Professional (akaipro.com), a leading manufacturer of keyboards for performers and recording artists, today announced the introduction of their Advance Keyboard series. Available in 25-, 49-, and 61-key sizes, the Advance 25, Advance 49, and Advance 61 provide unprecedented playability and advanced manipulation of any virtual instrument via an interactive, full-colour display complemented by performance friendly hardware controls.
Designed to fuse the power of software instruments with the live playability of a keyboard workstation, the Advance Keyboard series transforms computer-based plugins into an entirely hands-on playing experience. The keyboard surface features an integrated high- resolution full-colour 4.3-inch display, providing real-time control and feedback of any and all virtual instrument parameters. The screen instantly adapts itself to the selected plugin’s controls, delivering immediate 1:1 access to the instrument and various editable functions. Better yet, the Advance Keyboard series works with any VSTi virtual instrument. Using the Advance Keyboard’s custom designed Virtual Instrument Player (VIP) software application, your entire VSTi library can be controlled in one application. VIP can operate as a plugin inside any major digital audio workstation (DAW) or as a stand-alone application on both Mac and Windows operating systems.
Dedicated physical controls are thoughtfully included, with Akai Professional’s hallmark RGB backlit, velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads integrated into each keyboard surface. Rubberised pitch and modulation wheels deliver player-preferred note manipulation with highly musical action. Large, continuously-variable endless knobs invite frequent use, letting the user make parameter adjustments with granular or dramatic effect. A custom semi- weighted, velocity-sensitive keybed—another Akai Professional specialty—supports aftertouch, making it an elite keyboard for seasoned live performers and studio producers alike.
“The Advance Keyboard series represents a giant leap forward for keyboard players,” says Dan Gill, Product Manager for Akai Professional. “Until now, software-based instruments leaned heavily on computer interaction, which caused creative and logistical bottlenecks, especially during live performances. We’re combining the processing power of your computer, the flexibility of your virtual instrument collection, and the hands-on immediacy of a traditional keyboard workstation. The result is a powerful and inspiring user experience.”
Included with each Advance Keyboard is the Virtual Instrument Player (VIP) application. VIP gives Advance Keyboard users access any virtual instrument in their collection with or without a DAW—a powerful way to play virtual instruments live or integrate them into a recording session. VIP software users can also create setlists that provide on-demand access to user- curated instruments for stage performance and studio work. With a single button press on an Advance Keyboard, the player can adapt to song changes as the live performance progresses—without ever reaching for the computer. Performers of all types will welcome VIP’s facilities for hyper-fast instrument and patch browsing, key zone splitting, layering of up to 8 instruments per VIP instance, expansive custom mapping capabilities, and support for any VSTi plugin. Advance Keyboard users may run as many instances of the Virtual Instrument Player as their computer allows. VIP runs as a VSTi, AU, RTAS or AAX plugin, allowing you access to VSTi’s in virtually any DAW, such as Pro Tool, Logic Pro X and Ableton Live.
Gill continues, “Keyboard players have been straddling two worlds for the better part of the decade. A standalone keyboard workstation was only as current as the sounds inside of it, and similarly, virtual instruments were only as good as the best controllers. The Advance Keyboard series delivers uninhibited access to any virtual instrument in your library without losing focus of the instrument in front of you.”
Each Advance Keyboard ships with a 16GB download of over 10,000 sounds from industry- leading developers at AIR Music Technology, SONiVOX, and Prime Loops. Purchased separately, this comprehensive collection of nine plugins is valued at over $1,000.00 USD and provides Advance Keyboard owners with an instant palette of contemporary and coveted sounds for live performance and studio production.
Advance Keyboard Series Highlights:
- Keyboards for advanced virtual instrument performance.
- Integrated 4.3-inch high-resolution full-colour screen with dedicated interface buttons.
- Screen provides 1:1, real-time feedback of plugin parameters.
- Available in 25-, 49-, and 61- key sizes.
- Includes Virtual Instrument Player software for unprecedented virtual instrument pre-set management, control mapping and multi patch creation.
- Premium, semi-weighted velocity-sensitive keybed with aftertouch.
- 8 large, endless and continuously variable control knobs.
- 8 velocity- and pressure-sensitive MPC-style pads with RGB illumination.
- Dedicated pad bank, transport control, octave, and performance buttons.
- Note repeat, time-division, pattern arpeggiator, and tap-tempo buttons.
- Rubberised Pitch and Modulation wheels.
- Expression pedal and footswitch inputs.
- USB and 5-pin MIDI Input/Output for use with any MIDI capable software or hardware.
- Also functions as a standalone controller.
- Includes a 16GB download with more than 10,000 sounds from leading virtual instrument designers including AIR Music Technology, SONiVOX and Prime Loops.
Virtual Instrument Player Software Highlights:
- Plays virtually every VSTi compatible plugin.
- Operates as a standalone virtual instrument player for your computer.
- Also operates as a plugin within any AU, VST, or AAX compatible DAW.
- Organises your plugin collection with intuitive browsing by plugin, artist collection instrument type, timbre, and more.
- Access, edit, and mix up to 8 virtual instruments at one time.
- Setlist feature lets live performers switch between patches from any plugin instantly from the keyboard.
- Extensive key zone splitting, custom mapping, and instrument mixing options.
- Pre-mapped to hundreds of industry-leading virtual instruments.
- Unlimited instances of VIP may be run in a DAW.
Advance 25, Advance 49, and Advance 61 will be available in early 2015 with an MSRP of £299.99, £389.99, and £469.99, respectively.
For more information, visit akaipro.com/advance.
Akai Professional Advance — our take
Besides an impressive lineup of software instruments from Air Music Technology (Loom, Velvet, Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro etc.), the keyboards come with a new piece of software called VIP (Virtual Instrument Player). It can operate both standalone and as a DAW plug-in and is supposed to help you manage your virtual instruments and browse preset sounds easily without having to touch the computer. Obvious comparison? NI’s Kore, AKA the new Komplete Browser that comes with NI’s new S series keyboards. So technically, this is nothing new – but it’s good to have options, and at least the hardware doesn’t have that “my first keyboard” flavour.
The GUI design of VIP looks pretty clean, much better than everything we’ve seen from Akai Professional so far. The tool promises compatibility with most (if not all) of your plug-ins – we’ll put this to a test in due time. VIP users will be able to create keyboard split zones and custom mappings as well as access up to 8 instruments directly for performance control and mixing. The Setlist feature will help live keyboard players to load presets from different plug-ins quickly. The interesting part is, of course, how much of all that information will be available on the screen? Is it going to be customizable and how much can you really do using just your Advance keyboard? Time will tell.
In any case, it seems like 2015 starts off with inMusic and NI going to war no holds barred. We’ll be reporting from the front lines!