Akai MPK 49 Quick start guide

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 1
FIRMWARE UPGRADE PDF
Welcome to the Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF. This is the very first release of the software, so please
remember to check back at the Akai Professional website (www.akaipro.com) for updates to the program and
to this document.
What are the minimum requirements?
PC Windows XP and Vista. The program can also be adapted to run on Windows 2000 (see the
program’s README.TXT) but this is not an officially supported platform and any modifications to
their Windows 2000 installation are exclusively the user’s responsibility. P4 equivalent Processor
and up, 32-bit color graphics and 1024x768 or larger display.
MAC OSX 10.4 and Up, Power PC G4, G5 and all Intel Processors. 1024x768 or larger display.
Why do I need to upgrade my MPK49 firmware?
Periodically, Akai Professional’s engineers come across ways to improve their products: This can be in
response to feature requests, it could be in performance enhancements or it could also be to apply bug fixes.
When this occurs, the updated firmware is released from the Akai Professional website in the form of a
downloadable archive that users unpack and download to their instrument according to the instructions
supplied with the firmware file. When you update your product’s firmware to the latest version you get the
best possible feature-set coupled with the most stable and reliable operation, so it’s almost always a good
idea to upgrade your product’s firmware when a new release becomes available.
You can find out your current MPK49 firmware by pressing the ‘GLOBAL’ button on MPK49’s front panel and
then the ‘>’ key 11 times until you see ‘Ver X.XX’ in the LCD display. As of the writing of this document, the
current MPK49 version is 1.00, and this is the version that Vyzex MPK49 is certified to work with.
If you do not find any greater revision of the MPK49 firmware available from the Akai Professional website,
don’t worry: This simply means you don’t need to upgrade your firmware and can forget about this PDF
document until such time as a new MPK49 firmware version is released.
How do I upgrade my MPK49 firmware?
First you should ensure that Vyzex MPK49 is correctly installed and working without issues to edit your
MPK49. Although you can use third party tools1to upgrade MPK49’s firmware, the Vyzex MPK49 program has
the facility to download firmware upgrades to your MPK49: This is the procedure covered in this
document.You should quit any MIDI port using music software you have running before you launch Vyzex
MPK49 to begin the upgrade process – This will avoid any possible conflicts between Vyzex and your other
MIDI software.
1like Jamie O’Connell’s MIDI OX on Windows XP/Vista or SNOIZE’s SysEx Librarian on Mac OSX…

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 2
STEP 1: Changing Vyzex MPK49’s Preferences
By default, Vyzex MPK49 will open every MIDI In and MIDI Out port on your computer and conduct a
thorough search for your MPK49: When MPK49 has been found, Vyzex will set the MIDI IN and MIDI OUT
ports it needs in order to communicate with MPK49 automatically.
Also by default, Vyzex will request your MPK49’s current preset, global settings and user preset bank on
start-up, and if this particular option is turned off, Vyzex also has an option that automatically opens the last
SET file you were working on before closing the program the last time you had it open. While these options
are great when you are editing presets, they can interfere with the firmware update procedure, so they
should be disabled temporarily before you begin the firmware update procedure to ensure the smoothest
operation.
Let’s begin by opening the Vyzex MPK49 PREFERENCES menu, which is launched from the
Options->Preferences menu on Windows, or from the Vyzex MPK49->Preferences menu on Mac OSX:
The Instrument Setup tab is where this dialog starts up at, but you’ll see that there’s nothing much to
change here. The relevant tabs to open are Studio and then Paths/Misc.

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 3
THE PREFERENCES : STUDIO TAB
There are two checked options here: The first enables auto-detection of MPK49’s MIDI Ports every time the
program starts up, and the second forces the program to request valid data from MPK49 every time you
create a blank SET file from scratch. These features cause Vyzex MPK49 to send MIDI messages to MPK49 on
startup, which can interfere with the firmware upgrade procedure you are about to perform. Please uncheck
both of these features and step to the Paths/Misc tab.
THE PREFERENCES : PATHS/MISC TAB
Please uncheck the ‘AutoSave and Reload Session’ option shown here and click OK to apply the changes.

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 4
OK – Preferences changed… Now What?
Now you can proceed with the firmware upgrade. Unzip the downloaded firmware update to your computer’s
desktop and confirm there is a SYX file inside. Always read the accompanying doc or text file for special
information regarding the new firmware, and if everything is in order you can proceed with the update.
MPK49 now must ERASE its current firmware and be put in a special upgrade mode: This will
shut down the normal USB MIDI Ports that MPK49 presents to your computer’s operating
system and will open up a specialized USB MIDI Port to receive the update from Vyzex.
If you have the Vyzex editor software open while performing the firmware erase and restart,
Vyzex will not be able to track the change in USB MIDI ports and you will not be able to
proceed. Always close the software before proceeding with the MPK49 erase and restart
procedure!
MPK49’s Erase & Restart Procedure
Now that the Vyzex application has been closed down, we’ll unplug MPK49’s USB cable and reconnect it with
three of the five front panel transport bar buttons held down at the same time.
The buttons to hold down are <<, STOP, & REC as shown here:
MPK49 will now power-up displaying the following on its front panel LCD display:
Upgrade
ERASE OK?
PRESS
ENTER
This is your last chance to change your mind about upgrading the firmware: Once you press MPK49’s front
panel rotary encoder ENTER button, your MPK49 won’t have any firmware at all until you load the new
version, so be sure you are ready before proceeding.
When you press ENTER, MPK49 will display ‘ERASING OS’ momentarily and then will inform you it is ready
to proceed with the update by displaying the following on its front panel display:
Upgrade
00 SEND SYSEX
Now it’s time to re-open the Vyzex MPK49 editor program and use it to download the new firmware file.

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 5
1. Enable The MIDI Monitor
Vyzex MPK49 has the ability to download any standard SYX file to your instrument. While this feature is
normally used to restore preset backups made with other third-party MIDI utilities such as Midi OX or SysEx
Librarian, it also works to send firmware updates to MPK49 that are packaged as SYX files.
MPK49’s typical firmware file is quite large by SYX standards, and will take some time for your computer to
send to the instrument: Once Vyzex transmits the file, you should monitor the download progress on both
MPK49’s front panel display and through the Vyzex application. This requires that you go to the Vyzex
Options menu and enable the MIDI Monitor as shown here:
If you are following along with your MPK49, you are now ready to choose the firmware file.

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 6
2. Open the MIDI->Transmit MIDIX (.SYX) File Dialog
When you select the MIDI->Transmit MIDIX (.SYX) item from the application’s menu, a file dialog will
open prompting you to select the firmware SYX file. Navigate to this file through the dialog’s controls and
click on it to select it as shown.
Is MPK49 still asking you to SEND SYX? Good.
Click the Choose MIDIX File to Send? Dialog’s ‘Open’ button (shown above) to proceed!

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 7
3. Witness the Upgrade in Progress
This illustration has the non-essential parts of the Vyzex GUI ‘ghosted’ out to point out what you should look
for in the Vyzex GUI when the upgrade is in progress.
First there is the activity icon associated with the MIDI Out Port connected to MPK49: In the Windows XP
screen capture above it is shown as USB Audio Device, but Vista and Mac OSX will display this port as
MPK49 MIDI Port 1. While the firmware SYX file is downloading the activity icon (a little grey MIDI plug)
will appear.
Secondly you’ll see the firmware’s SysEx message fill up the monitor area as shown above: This message will
not go scrolling by as you might expect, however. Since the firmware update is one single SysEx message, it
will appear in the monitor all at once as soon as Vyzex sends it through the MIDI Out Port.
Once Vyzex has sent the firmware message out however, your computer’s OS takes over the task of piping
the data into MPK49. Unfortunately Vyzex does not get any feedback from the OS when this happens so
there is no status bar to display in the software’s GUI. Not to worry: This is what MPK49’s front panel LCD is
for.

Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF 8
Now turn your attention to MPK49’s LCD display: It should be actively spinning along, reporting the current
status of the update. When the download completes successfully you will see the following message on
MPK49’s front panel display:
Upgrade
XX DONE
PRESS
ENTER
Where XX could be any number depending on your firmware upgrade level. Before you press the ENTER
button on MPK49’s front panel, however you should restore Vyzex MPK49’s preferences to normal, turn off
the MIDI Monitor view and close the program. This last step is important since MPK49’s update USB MIDI
Port will be disconnected as soon as you press enter, and you don’t want Vyzex running when this happens.
If you get any error messages and the firmware upgrade fails, do not worry. You can always
try again from the Erase and Restart step on page 4.
If you still can’t get the firmware upgrade to take, please contact Akai Tech Support for
additional help (http://www.akaipro.com).
4. Reboot MPK49 Then Restart Vyzex
Once you press the ENTER button, your MPK49 will reboot itself with the new firmware. You can now re-
launch the Vyzex MPK49 software and get back to editing presets!
This concludes the Vyzex MPK49 Firmware Upgrade PDF Manual. As mentioned earlier on, it’s a good
idea for you to also read the companion PDF manuals like the Vyzex MPK49 Quick-Start, Vyzex MPK49
User’s Guide and Preset Management with Vyzex MPK49 for a more complete view of how the editor
operates. Just as with this document, these PDFs are also accessible from the program’s Manuals pull down
menu.