Command-line controller for AKAI MPKmini MK II

Source – CC BY 2.0

Best effort project to overcome the fact that AKAI doesn't seem to be interested in fixing Segmentation faults in their MPKmini Editor. It currently fixes my own itches but I gladly accept feedback!

Note: At this point, I don't own an AKAI MPKmini anymore. This tool was tested for Python 3.9-3.11, which were still supported as of writing. In higher versions, the supported / pinned version of construct becomes a problem, that must be fixed first.

Install

To install via PyPi:

pip install --user akai-mpkmini-mkii-ctrl

Please note that the dependency python-rtmidi requires compilation resources to be present on your system. For Debian-like systems for example you need to install sudo apt-get install libasound2-dev. Refer to the project documentation for details.

To install from source you can use:

• python setup.py install, or
• make install which will run a pipenv including linting, tests, etc.

Usage

akai_mpkmini_mkii_ctrl supports a set of commands to push or pull presets to and from the device. All commands have a common set of options:

-p, --preset NUM     Target preset slot (0 = RAM, 1-4 = Stored preset, default: 0)
-m, --midi-port NUM  MIDI Port on which the device is located (default: 0)
-v, --verbose        Verbose output
--help               Show this message and exit.

Commands

print-preset: Print preset on device in human readable format. In this example it will print the preset stored in slot 1 on the device.

python -m akai_mpkmini_mkii_ctrl \
--preset 1 print-preset

pull-preset: Pull a binary from the device and write to file.

python -m akai_mpkmini_mkii_ctrl \
--preset 0 \
pull-preset \
--output-file ram-preset.mk2

push-preset: Push a local binary preset to the device. This also works with factory binary presets.

python -m akai_mpkmini_mkii_ctrl \
--preset 2 \
push-preset \
--input-file resources/factory-patches/preset1.mk2

push-config-preset: Push a local configuration preset (Example) to the device. Notice that you are able to combine several input files for easier re-use. YAML and JSON format is supported. The configurations are applied in order, e.g., in this case Base-Config.yaml will be extended/overwritten with the properties found in Logic-RetroSynth+Juno.yaml.

python -m akai_mpkmini_mkii_ctrl \
--preset 0 \
push-config-preset \
--input-file resources/config-presets/Base-Config.yaml \
--input-file resources/config-presets/Logic-RetroSynth+Juno.yaml

Development

You can prepare a pipenv-based development environment using:

make clean venv

You can also install the controller to your system using:

make install

To use the local pipenv-based version you can use the following command from where you cloned the repository:

pipenv run python akai_mpkmini_mkii_ctrl

Resources

The implementation is based upon the following resources:

• https://github.com/gljubojevic/akai-mpk-mini-editor
• https://github.com/mungewell/mpd-utils
• https://www.snoize.com/midimonitor/
• https://github.com/gbevin/SendMIDI
• https://github.com/gbevin/ReceiveMIDI
• https://www.akaipro.com/mpk-mini-mkii