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Author Topic: Akai MX76 (1989) "master" midi keyboard  (Read 3008 times)

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Offline chrisNova777

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Akai MX76 (1989) "master" midi keyboard
« on: October 25, 2016, 08:44:15 AM »
Akai MX76
http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/akai-mx76/70



https://www.google.ca/search?q=Akai+MX76&num=30&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiggNmF_vXPAhUIMz4KHRxLBtYQ_AUICCgB&biw=1920&bih=950

Quote
THERE'S NO DOUBT about it, the master keyboard refuses to lie down. Most recent entries onto the market are Roland's A50 and A80, Cheetah's Master Series 7P and Akai's MX76.

Akai's keyboard is a sort of "big brother" to their earlier MX73. It's a solidly-constructed instrument, finished in Akai's familiar light grey, with a 76-note "piano-touch" keyboard (E-G) which can transmit attack and release velocity and channel aftertouch (but not poly aftertouch). It's a bouncy keyboard, but at the same time the keys have a deep travel and seem to bottom out quite suddenly, which can be a bit hard on the fingertips.

The front panel offers four assignable MIDI slide controllers and four assignable MIDI switches, MIDI Start and Stop/Cont buttons together with a tempo control slider for remote control of a sequencer or drum machine, an Edit button and a numeric keypad. The display "centrepiece" of the MX76's front panel is a generous 40-character, 8-line backlit LCD window with adjustable contrast, underneath which are four "softkeys" for selecting functions which differ with each page display. It's good to see these "new generation" LCD windows becoming increasingly common on MIDI keyboard instruments and expanders, as they allow a much more intelligently-structured and accessible user interface.

When you switch in the MX76's Edit button, pressing any one of the bottom 18 white notes on the keyboard will select its associated Edit page in the LCD window (no note value will be sent over MIDI, of course). The page associated with each key is clearly labelled on the front panel immediately next to that key. As soon as you press one of these 8 white notes, the page select function is cancelled and the keyboard reverts to its normal play status. It's a clever system because it's so simple, and because it gets you doing what you feel most comfortable with: playing notes on a keyboard. Additionally, the MX76's black keys can be used as a means of entering alphanumeric characters for names, which again proves to be a quick method of entry.

On the MX76's rear panel you'll find one MIDI In and two MIDI Outs, four footswitch and four footpedal inputs, a dedicated sustain pedal input, Library inc/dec footswitch input (you'll be discovering plenty about libraries soon) and a slot for an Akai BR16 RAM card. A MIDI In on a keyboard instrument which makes no noises of its own might seem odd at first glance, but it has two uses: one is to receive SysEx data dumps of its memories which you have previously dumped to, say, a sequencer; the other is to receive MIDI data from, say, another MIDI instrument, merge it with notes played on the MX76's keyboard and send the result via the MIDI Outs. In a live situation you could have a shoulder-slung remote keyboard plugged in on a long MIDI lead and make occasional forays to the front of the stage. Or in the studio, say, you could have another MIDI musician (guitarist/wind player/percussionist) plugged in and record duets into a sequencer.

The two MIDI Outs are independently addressable. This allows you to route a merged signal and to send start/stop/continue and tempo information (for remote sequencer control) via one or the other or both MIDI Outs. A neat practical feature is the inclusion of back-panel clips for each MIDI socket, allowing you to secure your MIDI cables and not worry about them being pulled loose.