AKAI MPD218 SETUP WITH MPC BEATS (MIDI MAPPING)

Akai MPD218 Setup With MPC Beats
Are you having difficulty mapping your Akai MPD218 Midi controller to MPC Beats?
I wanted to create a video for those of you having a difficult time getting the MPD218 Midi controller to work inside of MPC Beats just like me.
I’ll show you how to use the factory mapping script for the MPD218 and how to create your own MIDI mapping script/preset that will control the Pads and Q-Links inside MPC Beats.
I forgot to mention that the MPD218 Midi controller needs to be on (program 5) for this to work as well. Press the [PROG SELECT] button then press Pad 5. The name of the program is MPC_Pads. This will put the controller onto the correct program to control MPC Beats software.
Download MPC Beats for FREE: www.akaipro.com/mpc-beats
#AkaiMPD218MidiPadController #MPD218 #Midimapping

[@Soksara]

Just press and hold "PROG SELECT" then press "PAD 4" It will bring the mapping for MPD218, without need to re-map it all. Nice video, thanks!

[@knowtheledger444]

You the Goat for this!!!!

[@namkrowz]

Thank you for clearly explaining how to clean up the mapping issue and enhance the MPD218's potential. I gave up on this unit a year ago until I came across your tutorial today. Gratitude!!!

[@SonicScholar]

Thanks a lot for this. I almost returned the MPD 218 but definitely keeping it now. This combo is dope!

[@user-ih4om2ep7j]

thx for this!!!!! you r awesome, the most clearest demonstration ive ever seen explaining the mpd218, very thx

[@brianlewis5088]

Thank you so much! This helped me get started and sort out my mapping issues.

[@BABA-is8kv]

Brotha! Thank you soooo much, I bought this for my daughter and she want to learn how to make lofi beats. We been struggling with the mapping, but your video has really helped us! Wish you nothing but Peace Love and Blessings!

[@Keemo727]

this is literally the only video that helped me compared to the others with millions of views. Thank you, you saved my brain from being fried

[@doctorned]

Thanks a lot!!! No answers from the great support of Akai... You solve my issue!!!

[@reddonispimpin]

This is the best midi mapping video I've seen Thank you!!

[@Seabrodi]

the tutorial gods always deliver

[@fraaaaaaaaay]

Dude. Another grateful soul here. Thank you.

[@margateswede]

Someone who gives clear instructions at a normal speaking speed. Thank you.

[@TemporaryGames]

Thank you so much. I was really confused as my Akai was terribly mapped. This helped me so much.

[@lordreleopard820]

Thank you. I was searching the trick for Maschines MK2...Its works! Merci

[@slambamthankugirlpoogieboo1369]

Great video 💯👍 I’ve waisted coffee on my 218 and lost one pad. So I went on Amazon and ordered the mpd226 but didn’t realize that you were supposed to do what your doing in order to get all the knobs working in q-link now I know 👍💯 thanks a Million

[@slambamthankugirlpoogieboo1369]

P.S. with the MPD226 you can edit all Parameters that’s what I like about it, being a little more advanced then the MPD218

[@arn0ld]

Life saver! I thought my MPD218 was broken. Gonna map it out using MPC Beats now

[@arn0ld]

Damn actually my shit still double triggers after mapping. You think it’s a hardware issue?

[@mikalbland3310]

Absolute legend🔥 thank u

[@Testamento_Produce]

Thank You bro!! Peace and love..from Colombia

[@sportguy17]

Awesome vid my dude save me alot of time and fustration . this vid was like a relief to my headache. thanks a million

[@renwyckstation3326]

Thank you sir!! Well done!

[@KWiEt__]

My God this helped so much my man. Thank you 🙏🏽 I thought this was only my stuff that was tripping lol

[@factsNcomments-imho]

Same here lol tripping, tripping is that it goes out like that

[@josecienfuegos2332]

Thanks a lot bro . Peace from the Bronx

[@othatsbiskets1130]

You got a friend in me I just subbed to you. You are a life saver

[@popdewiller7900]

you helped a lot. Thanks sir

[@JRODB1978]

thank you for this, solved my brain from exploding

[@johnnylee6435]

I just wanted to say thank you 🙏🏿

[@midnightmusic5650]

you my friend are an absolute staaaaaaaaaaaaaar thank you so much

[@Bruno-fm7jc]

nice video, congrats from brazil

[@jcullitan3241]

Just got this pad. Thank you for the vid. I'm having an issue where I hit pad 4 and it clears my work and moves to a different part

[@claysmith746]

I ran into this issue and another person commented on this video and said "Now press (and hold) the PROG SELECT button and hit PAD 5. This will put the MPD218 into MPC mode." The next thing I did was follow the instructions in here to reset the default prog 5 mapping in the mpd218 hardware. kzbin.info/www/bejne/g6bchJVnotakiLc then I set the mapping to MPD226 instead of MPD218 and it seems like it works now.

[@jcullitan3241]

@@claysmith746 Thank you i did just do that the other day, then i fucked up and my pads are swapped under the new prog. lol so i need to factory reset or re teach it

[@Kyle_P2022]

@@claysmith746 Bro tysm u saved me so much time

[@DayDay360]

God Bless you sir

[@BillyWrightLive]

@3kbeatz this was super helpful. Thank you so much

[@juanvazquez23]

Thank you!

[@DJ_TideWave]

Thanks for this! Helped a lot! I can’t understand why Akai didn’t fixed this by a patch or something.

[@ales8412]

nice video bro thanks. it was very helpful Can you explain please how I can repeat single "pads" and add them in a row? thanks a lot

[@warpwav]

appreciate the vid man! very curious though, are you able to change the pad sensitivity/threshold through mpc beats? theres and option but its faded out when I open up preferences. ive been stressing over this because there is no info online that i have found about it lol. thanks again for the vid!

[@bluespill]

MAN! thank U! I was about to send my Akai back!

[@albgoode2u2]

Man, I was not doing the setup right. With your video, I am set to making million-dollar beats.. Thanks a million for your skills and knowledge. It truly has helped me.

[@Dchapah]

Thank you sir!

[@sinister4lyf]

Thanks a lot bro.

[@vancleef4327]

Thank you kind gent

[@thedailydavid]

Thank you so much..

[@grizzlyb.2694]

Muchas gracias 😊

[@mikemantra1744]

Thanks dawg some reason the mapping for my q links won’t work tho :/ but I have an mpc one on the way so I guess I ain’t gonna trip about it

[@mpcblkryn7751]

Great video, struggling to use PAD Bank B and C. I have mapped everything else...

[@clayjeffries3901]

Thank You . Mine was switching to pad set D each time i hit pad#4

[@bavery2007]

how did you fix this? Mine is doing the same thing

[@DVTOM]

Is there anyway to factory reset the setting and pads on the MPD218 itself? I could not do the Learn procedure for the pads. If I press Pad 1, Pad 2 lights up and so on. pads are lighting up the wrong pad in the program. No matter what I do I can't change them. It is so hard to find things on this product. Thanks. Great video!

[@rammys]

Thank you.

[@DopamineOverload]

I love how you're getting buggy behavior around 5:30 with the pads... this is the Akai way. That's the stuff that royally pisses me off with them. As much as I dig MPC Beats and my MPC One, Beats is FULL of bugs. Absolutely overflowing with them.

[@campar1043]

What if u have one of the old mpds that aren’t on the list? Also can you learn the rotary knobs to truncate the start and end point of samples?

[@forsale313]

Question, how do you set the Q-links knobs so they don't jump forward as soon as you touch one (then you have to turn it back) for it to start registering. On the MPC Studio they go the direction you turn them w/o the initial jump. They also do the jump forward thing on the MPD226 just like the MPD 218. Thank you in advance if you have any info on how to resolve the jump forward issue.

[@AndrewJilin]

Thanks for the information! Do you know how to map mpd218 or any other controller to MPC sequences or play mpd218 in song mode in MPC?

[@nighthawkgaming1962]

is there a way of getting a float/int reading for each of the analogue controls on the left for programming purposes or no?

[@freethinkers-inc.]

I love the SW but this part of it is really buggy or the full concept behind is only known by the developer itself ;-). Even with your good explanations it took me more than one hour to make sense out of it how the concept behind was supposed to work. I learned similar like you showed in your video that the three buttons in the midi/sync settings play a bigger role in it. With the Track-Button still active, I was after a successful mapping to midi able to hear overlapping sounds. One from the original HW-configurations and the new SW mapped ones. Disabling this button made it work for me at the end.

[@3kbeatz]

The fact that you had to go through all of that is ridiculous isn't it? You'd think by now they would have this midi mapping thing down to just a few buttons or so. They just didn't want it to be that easy.

[@hatdownlowofficial]

Does anybody know how to make the pads light up on playback on Logic Pro?

[@electronicperformer1]

Ive got everything setup like you explained but im not getting any playback sound...

[@theartoflivingoutloud888]

Anybody know why I don’t have the preference button? Never mind command comma. You just showed me how to make the pads work. Thank You!

[@Grolboy]

for some reason it did not give me the option to bind correctly in program 5 because the id of 8 and 12 were both 44 so how i fixed that issue is to bind everything correctly to program 1 instead

[@HardyyzzOfficial]

man i don't know why zoomx1 knob not found aswell, if i use my mpk mini i can move zoom x1, but when i'm using mpd zoom x1 moves starts to 39000, how can i fix that? forry for my bad english

[@lepetitboutdecitron4159]

I lose the binding interface in the middle of the screen and i can't find how to reopen it... help...

[@DJ_TideWave]

How do you get the pad bank switch to work? I can’t figure it out?

[@RIP-B_71]

Selecting program number 4 solves the problem. 👍🏻

[@lvturner]

This should be a higher rated answer - I also created a blank mapping and mapped it from scratch - also worked

[@XxTheGoOfYxX]

My Sync Send and Receive are off should they be on?

[@factsNcomments-imho]

If I do this, everyone says it eventually get garbled again. So it's going back to Cali. Now which is reliable?

[@TheLunarnotes]

can I use this with cakewalk or is that just a bad idea? I want to use a free DAW atm

[@Eric-dd8bk]

I saw a lot of videos criticising the MPD218 itself for double triggering, but it was all the factory mapping that was the problem after all?

[@dgenius-app]

why MPC beats dont recognize my MPD 218 in mini/sync inputs? i made all the config but still not sounds

[@forevershampoo]

Is all this info applicable and the same(virtually) if you are running mpc beats on FL

[@navneet9630]

where do i get the editor software ? im not able to find it on the website

[@lugo175]

Wondering if the mpd16 works with it

[@raulmoralesheartissueclothing]

The set up screen is my problem.. I downloaded but It won't open up?

[@EightToneSpanish]

Can anyone help me? I followed these instructions and now have my pads mapped to the correct notes chromatically. However, the drums are all over the place and even if I try and remap again Pad 1 controls Pad 2 on the screen (and vice versa) the rest of the pads seem to be totally random with most of them being silent and one of them switches the banks "ctrl banks". This stuff is epically unusable.

[@HotBoii91]

How do u factory reset the hardware tho?

[@mattlightbourn]

I put mine into learn mode andI select a pad and hit a pad on my MPD218 and it refuses to learn, pad 1 triggers pad 2, pad 2 triggers pad 7. Driving me mad. I remember when I had essentials (which I preferred by the way) there was a controller configuration tool you loaded which selected a specific patten of the controller to use, I had to do it for essentials to make it all line up. Do I need to do that as well? Thanks

[@mattlightbourn]

figured it out - program select PAD04 configured it properly for me

[@CompadreWannaFly]

U know,how use mpd 32 in this soft?

[@Jazzybreaks]

Shame that they couldn't make it all assigned properly out of the box like Native Instruments did with the Maschine. i was very annoyed that the MPD218 was all out of whack when i plugged it in, still love my 2000xl tho.

[@Jazzybreaks]

And I'm still having that issue with pads 8 and 12 both on 44

[@Eric-dd8bk]

Have you tried out the MPD18? Not the 218 but 18?

[@meynardoboringot1266]

Hi does the Akai mpd 218 have 16 levels?

[@ShawnTheBassist369]

ive tried to map it it wont allow me to

[@cwel68]

2:10 - I found this problem anoying too! in the Setup Instructions they tell you to... >> Now press the PROG SELECT button and hit PAD 5. This will put the MPD218 into MPC mode. (it's for MPC essentials, which was before MPC Beats...) Then with the editor you can see that in this preset, Pad 8 and 12 are the same note: 44 (G#2). Don't know if it's a mistake or a "feature" they want to show... documentation for the product is unfortunately poorly structured, outdated and littered with multiple references :(

[@3kbeatz]

Yep that's what I discovered as well. But AKAI is known for this so its not a surprise to a lot of us old heads. Did any of this help though?

[@TheChameleon2008]

great video but do i understand correctly that you can load 16 presets to the midi controller and then have 3 banks with nobs and pads on each profile?

[@cwel68]

correct ! the editor shows .. the 3x6 nobs in one go , and the 3x16 pads in Bank A, B and C

[@TheChameleon2008]

@@cwel68 sweet and that pretty insane for such a small controller. Hope i get 1 without double triggering notes :)

[@323232blue]

Where did you get the kit from

[@DopamineOverload]

Thanks for the great vid. Sucks that the MPD218 has encoders laid out like that. It doesn't make for intuitive q-link assignments. Especially when MPC Beats goes horizontal and vertical, depending on the mode

[@3kbeatz]

There's so many bugs in this software i just don't want to deal with it sometimes especially when it comes to midi mapping.

[@DopamineOverload]

@@3kbeatz Totally agree (see my other comment). The MIDI-mapping is so, so buggy and weird.. and nothing is remembered, usually.... I set up MPC Studio black as a generic controller, in addition to its hardware/software integration, and although I saved my map for use outside of MPC Beats, it changes several of the encoders and buttons every single time, and I have to re-map them. Closing and re-opening anything just starts the whole process over again. I dig Beats and my One, for sure.... but it's a pain in the ass dealing with the bugs.

[@factsNcomments-imho]

@@DopamineOverload which pad should people get instead? Is the next level just as freaken buggy.

[@DopamineOverload]

@@factsNcomments-imho honestly? Maschine MK3. The midi customization is perfect.

[@factsNcomments-imho]

@@DopamineOverload thx, can you use it outside of native instruments bubble. As in other daws?

[@MrVolcano180]

I can't seem to get in my (Akai account) any advice tips help? any answers would be greatly appreciated, thank you all, and goodnight.

[@cannon6611]

Same here ?!

[@justyouraveragejoejojoohno5757]

the pad 8 and pad 12 keep triggeraing each other

[@Luks-abc]

Heyhey thanks for the Video! my pad still not map the correct way even when i make a ne midisetup the pads 8 and 12 still says 44 what should i do? do you have any advice that could help ? Best regards Lukas

[@mrboogy1]

yeah mine still not mapped. Did you get a solution?

[@Luks-abc]

@@mrboogy1 Nope i gave it to my brother so he can start makin beats i bought an mpc studio and have no problems at all with the map...

[@mrboogy1]

@@Luks-abc I'm considering a studio as well but thought it would be redundant considering it's the same as using the software . Thank u for responding

[@323232blue]

Double trigger it might be cause table is bouncing

[@stannisfranklin3812]

How do yo use 16 levels

[@arranmichaeltaylor]

hello mate, I was wondering if you could help me. On my preferences it doesnt have either a audio or midi/sync option, is there something wrong that I can amend? any advice much appreciated

[@TheChameleon2008]

it does have midi sync but you have to set that in the DAW and then set the midi sync to external

[@Rio-uv1gs]

I have the exact same problem, although I can use the pads by draging sounds in individually....I have no idea why under preferences audio and midi/sync don't show...The first icon is pluggins under preferences on mine.

[@Rio-uv1gs]

Did you end up getting working?

[@Rio-uv1gs]

@@TheChameleon2008 Could you be a little be clearer...I'm new... set midi sync to external in the daw or in mpc beats preferences?

[@jadarozone2507]

hey guys if you select akai MP226 all functionality works, if you continue to use mpd218 it will continue to malfunction.

[@JonTheComedian]

what if my pad is recognized and connected, but when i hit the pad i see no reactiin on the pad list

[@lordofbebidill7332]

its the stuff he doing at about min 3:00 . you have to press on trck and control so both are white. had that problem too, this dude just saved my life

[@Foxiol]

Another day, another noob saying Thank you very very much. ;)

[@jordanreid4512]

Can you sample KZbin samples on the mpd218?

[@3kbeatz]

@Jordan Reid - If you mean , can it record samples from KZbin then the answer is no. This is only a midi controller. It has no other function but to send and receive "midi" signals to a DAW thus controlling or triggering sounds and parameters!

[@KrizzyThaWolf]

I cant even get the email for the download link smh

[@caviarthoughts]

That you for proving why I shouldn't get this product.

[@bangmateo7481]

I tried everything in here and even still my mpd 216 pads aren't in order even when I try to do a new midi mapping and I highlight pad one and press pad 1 pad 2 shows up in the screen in orange. The controller works great in ableton without doing all of this. Akai stinks now

[@RQITEK]

maybe because this is for MPD218 not 216?

[@warpwav]

@@RQITEK pretty sure thats a typo. i dont think theres a 216 version.

[@lordofbebidill7332]

i am just staying at mpd218 and hold "PROG SELECT" and press while holding pad 5.

[@emreselcuk5669]

im an enabler

[@villiamspencer1554]

my apds arent mapped at all? neither are the knobs. pad 1 is like pad 10 on the mpc beats.

[@3kbeatz]

Is your MPD218 set to the correct program select (pad 5)? Did you check on the Pad Banks on the controller? Did you check and make sure the [Control] and [Track] buttons were selected under Preferences?

[@villiamspencer1554]

@@3kbeatz yes everything is correct. I don't know what the problem is but I gave up, my friend gave me the akai mini for Christmas and I tried with that also, same problem. The pads are in completely different octaves, super wierd

[@theartoflivingoutloud888]

There must be something wrong with this software and the controller because I mapped the Q-Links and the Pads the program kicked me out I remapped every it kicked me out. I remapped it it kicked me out. I’m frustrated at this point. Never mind I fixed it.

[@curtrod]

thanks for that 😋

[@jebbylawless]

Akai 218

[@JudeCrosby]

anyone else not getting an email for the download link ?

[@anthonylee37]

Me. I have tried 8 times

[@13GhostZ]

@@anthonylee37 same here?? I registered and everything?

[@riosterling]

@@13GhostZ word man would do you dooo

[@13GhostZ]

They sent me the link to my email

[@riosterling]

@@13GhostZ bro it ain’t on my email man I pressed send link and nothing ever sent