More big MusikMesse news: the very first synth to carry the Akai name has been announced, and it's got its vocoding crosshairs trained right on the MicroKORG XL. The Akai MINIAK is a sleek-looking, compact synth the likes of which you've seen before, but if the success of the company's recent MPK and APC controllers are any indication, Korg should be quaking in their virtual-analog boots.

Developed in conjunction with Alesis (they share a parent company), the MINIAK likely began life as the next generation of the Alesis Micron, a compact synth that never got the attention of, but in many ways was superior to, the original MicroKORG. Branded as an Akai product, the MINIAK shares name-association with the legendary MPC, a name and a concept that has continued basically unsullied for the past 20-plus years.

OK, enough about brand names. What does the MINIAK have to offer, other than the obvious gooseneck mic and MPK-derived good-looks (and keys, hopefully. . . man those were nice keys). According to Akai:

"The MINIAK enables users to create programs with up to eight multi-timbral voices, each with three oscillators. The user can create interesting and unique sounds and take advantage of the synthesizer’s more-than-600 preset sounds. Users can create complex and refined sounds using the MINIAK’s two multimode filters, three envelope generators, two LFOs, stereo effects and 40-band vocoder with gooseneck microphone. The MINIAK also has a comprehensive sequencer with step and dynamic real time phrase sequencing, a drum machine/rhythm sequencer and an arpeggiator."

Akai also plans on outfitting the MINIAK with 24-bit D-A converters for high-fidelity output and 37 semi-weighted keys. The MINIAK will also support MIDI in/out; paired with, say, an MPC1000, you'd have a full-on, Kanye- or T-Pain-approved production suite.

Availability is planned for third-quarter 2009. Pricing is still TBA.