Donner DMK-25 Pro Design
The DMK-25 Pro is all-black, very sleek, and very compact.
However, despite the light weight, it doesn’t move around in use.
The rubber feet are secure enough to let you bash away at the pads without concern.
Several elements around the controller light up, though this doesn’t extend to the keys themselves, sadly.
The LED color of various mode keys indicates which of the three key/pad/slider banks are currently active.
Rather a lot, actually.
The most obvious feature is the 25 velocity-sensitive keyboard keys.
Then you have eight velocity-sensitive pads, which light up when hit.
you could also adjust the velocity curve for both the pads and the keys.
Not by Garageband though, as I found out.
On the far left are touch-based pitch and modulation bend controls.
Uniquely, these feature some white LED arrays next to them to give instant visual feedback.
The most helpful user interface feature is a small OLED display, situated on the left of the sliders.
Underneath this is a set of configuration buttons for things like transpose or changing octave.
These are also used to start the built-in chord mode and arpeggiator.
Finally, on the top right, you have four customizable sliders and four customizable endless control dials.
In this case, only the S-bank key changes color; the sliders and dials themselves are not lit.
The Software; or Lack Thereof
Are there any downsides to the DMK-25 Pro?
But if you’re not in that set either, you’ll be equally as bereft as we are.
I have aMelodicssubscription anyway, so I mostly used that to test out the various features.
Melodics is a guided learning system for keys, pads, and electronic drumkits.
Outside of Melodics, you’re mostly on your own.
I tested with Garageband for MacOS, which is free.
Are there any other downsides other than lack of software support?
There’s no Bluetooth nor internal battery, so the DMK-25 Pro is strictly a wired machine.
If you want to use with your iPad or smartphone, you’ll need a USB MIDI connection kit.
That lacks assignable faders, as well as dedicated transport buttons.
It also has a slightly different pitch and modulation bend using a single joystick instead.
However, the Akai MPG Mini does include some software.
You might also compare the DMK-25 Pro to the Novation Launchkey Mini.
The biggest difference is that it features 16 pads compared to the 8 on the DMK-25.
Is the DMK-25 Pro the Mini MIDI Controller Youve Been Looking For?
One thing I discovered after using this: I probably don’t need keys at all.
I don’t need to learn music theory if the correct scales can be mapped to the pads!
(But more pads would be nice).
It features only keys, but each key lights up and integrates with a full learning environment.
