Akai's new standalone MPC looks awesome

Dham

@sonicreef said:

@Dham said:

@Thomas said:
So... how may iPad pros will I go thru during the lifespan of the mpcX? How many audio interfaces will I invest in and f^(I< around with instead of making music during that time? Yeah, I'm beginning to think I can justify it.

Just to play Devil's Advocate, lifespan of recent MPC products has not been their strong suit. Akai has been notoriously bad at maintaining even their flagship products. MPC 5000 users are still waiting for bug fixes that Akai promised over 3 years ago.

Akai has focused all their efforts on the software line, and has continuously updated the software.
The new hardware MPCs are based off the software, so they'll be updated for years to come.

I hope so. Since they moved into the software arena it seems as if they have not invested in the necessary software development resources to keep up. Dan Gill remarked at a recent NAMM that Akai was the "biggest little" company in the world. Their staff at the time consisted of a couple of project managers, 5 software engineers and 1 hardware engineer. Their tech. support staff is woefully small as well. It is a tough market and I would like to see them do well. Competition benefits us all.

sonicreef

@Dham said:

@sonicreef said:

@Dham said:

@Thomas said:
So... how may iPad pros will I go thru during the lifespan of the mpcX? How many audio interfaces will I invest in and f^(I< around with instead of making music during that time? Yeah, I'm beginning to think I can justify it.

Just to play Devil's Advocate, lifespan of recent MPC products has not been their strong suit. Akai has been notoriously bad at maintaining even their flagship products. MPC 5000 users are still waiting for bug fixes that Akai promised over 3 years ago.

Akai has focused all their efforts on the software line, and has continuously updated the software.
The new hardware MPCs are based off the software, so they'll be updated for years to come.

I hope so. Since they moved into the software arena it seems as if they have not invested in the necessary software development resources to keep up. Dan Gill remarked at a recent NAMM that Akai was the "biggest little" company in the world. Their staff at the time consisted of a couple of project managers, 5 software engineers and 1 hardware engineer. Their tech. support staff is woefully small as well. It is a tough market and I would like to see them do well. Competition benefits us all.

I used to work in that team, it was indeed small. Exceptional engineers though.

Shazamm

"Impressive Most Impressive"
Don’t be too proud of this technological terror they’ve constructed. The ability to deploy a touch MPC is insignificant next to the power of the iPad Pro.

kobamoto

@5pinlink said:

@kobamoto said:
what laptop do you know of that has a bunch of cv outs?

Any laptop, in fact any laptop can also have sample accurate MIDI outputs, the Akai can not.
Does this mean the Akai is not useful, no, it just means that each has its own advantages, as you put it, there is a lot of butt hurt, but on both sides of the fence.

what laptop has 8 cv outs, the people who have disdain for akai are who is butthurt, what's the other side you're talking about?

Tommygun

What I like about the touch MPCs is the fact that it combines best of both worlds.

I tested the Pioneer Toraiz last year and was impressed with the integration of the touchscreen in conjunction with the knobs and pads. Ultrafast workflow, a tactile dream.
And compared to the MPC Touch the screen was very responsive and readable

"Touch" isn't everything, you can't beat knobs and sliders.

kobamoto

spent some time with one as well those things are dope, at first I wasn't to keen on it cause the filters are global but I'm saving a nice little spot for a used one once it hits my range later on this year.

alecsbuga

@kobamoto said:
spent some time with one as well those things are dope, at first I wasn't to keen on it cause the filters are global but I'm saving a nice little spot for a used one once it hits my range later on this year.

I was interested too until I saw that you can only sequence stuff on the grid (a la Korg electribe) and it doesn't support playing chords with a sample which is a bummer. Not even the Octatrack did this. And these are expensive machines we're talking about (Toraiz & Octatrack)

supadom

@mireko_2 said:
Btw mpc live is $30 cheaper than iPad Pro 128gb wifi with pencil and Smart Cover in Australia. Interesting..

...and even cheaper than a MacBook Pro. So justifying a mega purchase is as easy as comparing it to something even more expensive!

kobamoto

@5pinlink said:

@kobamoto said:

@5pinlink said:

@kobamoto said:
what laptop do you know of that has a bunch of cv outs?

Any laptop, in fact any laptop can also have sample accurate MIDI outputs, the Akai can not.
Does this mean the Akai is not useful, no, it just means that each has its own advantages, as you put it, there is a lot of butt hurt, but on both sides of the fence.

what laptop has 8 cv outs, the people who have disdain for akai are who is butthurt, what's the other side you're talking about?

Any laptop has 8 CV outs, you just add a CV out interface, the correct interface will be sample accurate in any DAW too (Expert sleepers) I have no idea why you would think a laptop can't do CVs.

thats not what I said, and we weren't talking about adding cv out interfaces. I have no idea who you're quoting.

kobamoto

@alecsbuga said:

@kobamoto said:
spent some time with one as well those things are dope, at first I wasn't to keen on it cause the filters are global but I'm saving a nice little spot for a used one once it hits my range later on this year.

I was interested too until I saw that you can only sequence stuff on the grid (a la Korg electribe) and it doesn't support playing chords with a sample which is a bummer. Not even the Octatrack did this. And these are expensive machines we're talking about (Toraiz & Octatrack)

still though I like that it's different than the mpc paradigm, I wouldn't buy it new but I think it's going to be cheap used by the end of the year.

alecsbuga

@kobamoto said:
still though I like that it's different than the mpc paradigm, I wouldn't buy it new but I think it's going to be cheap used by the end of the year.

Toraiz? It's nice but it's made for playing stuff along CDJs while you DJ at Ibiza not for making songs. But I salute their decision to make such a bold product.

kobamoto

yep Toraiz... It was nice of pioneer to get the ball rolling, you never know they might end up addressing everyones wishes about the filters and the grid too, they certainly have the money to do it.

kobamoto

if roland dropped a bomb at namm that would be so sweet, I love the lo-fi fx they put on their beat machines. I used to run everything through an sp-808 and an e-mix studio and the textures were always interesting

AndyPlankton

@Dham said:

@AndyPlankton said:
I have just read this thread with great interest......I cannot afford either of the Akai units, so am firmly entrenched in the iOS world, but its promised capabilities do look impressive, and to have all of that in one place with no need for any messing about....Yes Please.....
If you are making money from your music then this thing would pay for itself in no time just in setup time saving alone.....and that is where its value would come from, you would be saving time each time you used it.
I guess only time will tell if it fully delivers on its promises....

iOS still wins from the "throw it in your pocket and use it anywhere" point of view though

If money were no object then I'd have both my iPad and an Akai and use both at different times....Variety is the Spice and all that

Alternatively, the MPC Touch will have 90% of the capabilities of the new MPCs since the 2.0 update will be given to Touch users at no charge. With the recent price drop to $599 for a new MPC Touch and the official announcement of the shiney new models the "old" MPC Touch can be bought on Ebay for less than $500.

Hmmm, good info...I guess it runs with Mac or PC.......any iOS support for it ?

Thomas

@supadom said:

@mireko_2 said:
Btw mpc live is $30 cheaper than iPad Pro 128gb wifi with pencil and Smart Cover in Australia. Interesting..

...and even cheaper than a MacBook Pro. So justifying a mega purchase is as easy as comparing it to something even more expensive!

LOL
love this!

Will

@Tommygun said:
What I like about the touch MPCs is the fact that it combines best of both worlds.

I tested the Pioneer Toraiz last year and was impressed with the integration of the touchscreen in conjunction with the knobs and pads. Ultrafast workflow, a tactile dream.
And compared to the MPC Touch the screen was very responsive and readable

"Touch" isn't everything, you can't beat knobs and sliders.

Yep. I'm a little worried about being iPad-screen spoiled and hating the MPC screen's responsiveness.

Will

Oh wait, it's a PC. $10 says you can swap out the screen. Price may start to get silly at that point.

Icepulse

Ok. 5 pages in, here is my 2¢.

I'm in w/ both feet for the MPC Live. I've never rocked as organic and varied drums on an iPad, regardless of app, as I have on an MPC. 3rd party controllers and iPad apps have been More cumbersome than useful, and by the time I get the configurations lined up w/ a controller and the CCK, my inspiration is often halved. Then there's other irritations like no line-out monitoring when using an iOS friendly audio interface (depending on the app, naturally).

With all its limitations, I turn to my OP-1 for everything now, simply because I turn it on and go. One workflow, mastered. The iPad is an excellent device for, as someone already said, fodder. Make a nice little beat or synth run, but making it all work together inside the iPad is a giant pain in my ***.

Some musicians favor the technical, programming side of the art. For them, exporting and merging disparate, syncopated clips is part of the joy.

Not for me. I like to hit a switch, plug in my sources and go.

alecsbuga

@Icepulse said:
Ok. 5 pages in, here is my 2¢.
3rd party controllers and iPad apps have been More cumbersome than useful, and by the time I get the configurations lined up w/ a controller and the CCK, my inspiration is often halved.

THIS!

MichaelLawrence

@alecsbuga said:

@Icepulse said:
Ok. 5 pages in, here is my 2¢.
3rd party controllers and iPad apps have been More cumbersome than useful, and by the time I get the configurations lined up w/ a controller and the CCK, my inspiration is often halved.

THIS!

+1. I'm in the same boat.

Icepulse

Of course, I'm deeply immersed in golden age hip hop, and the sound of stuff exclusively performed on old MPC's just about defines what I strive for. To me, this sounds best. So I'm biased.

Stuff like my man Wizdumb generates.

kobamoto

@5pinlink said:

@kobamoto said:

@5pinlink said:

@kobamoto said:

@5pinlink said:

@kobamoto said:
what laptop do you know of that has a bunch of cv outs?

Any laptop, in fact any laptop can also have sample accurate MIDI outputs, the Akai can not.
Does this mean the Akai is not useful, no, it just means that each has its own advantages, as you put it, there is a lot of butt hurt, but on both sides of the fence.

what laptop has 8 cv outs, the people who have disdain for akai are who is butthurt, what's the other side you're talking about?

Any laptop has 8 CV outs, you just add a CV out interface, the correct interface will be sample accurate in any DAW too (Expert sleepers) I have no idea why you would think a laptop can't do CVs.

thats not what I said, and we weren't talking about adding cv out interfaces. I have no idea who you're quoting.

I am quoting you, you said what laptop has 8 cv outs, i replied any laptop, because it can have a CV interface, but sorry for answering your question.

no worries man, we weren't talking about or comparing cv interfaces themselves, we could have made another thread to do that, we were talking about the new mpc units and a laptop... I won't bother you about it anymore peace

Dham

@AndyPlankton said:

@Dham said:

@AndyPlankton said:
I have just read this thread with great interest......I cannot afford either of the Akai units, so am firmly entrenched in the iOS world, but its promised capabilities do look impressive, and to have all of that in one place with no need for any messing about....Yes Please.....
If you are making money from your music then this thing would pay for itself in no time just in setup time saving alone.....and that is where its value would come from, you would be saving time each time you used it.
I guess only time will tell if it fully delivers on its promises....

iOS still wins from the "throw it in your pocket and use it anywhere" point of view though

If money were no object then I'd have both my iPad and an Akai and use both at different times....Variety is the Spice and all that

Alternatively, the MPC Touch will have 90% of the capabilities of the new MPCs since the 2.0 update will be given to Touch users at no charge. With the recent price drop to $599 for a new MPC Touch and the official announcement of the shiney new models the "old" MPC Touch can be bought on Ebay for less than $500.

Hmmm, good info...I guess it runs with Mac or PC.......any iOS support for it ?

Yes it runs on MacOS and Windows. IOS support, indirectly. You can export iMPC projects (kits, samples and sequences), load them up on the desktop and continue working. There is a slight bug with the chopped samples which requires that you manually select each chopped sample then discard ends prior to exporting to the MPC Desktop. Retronyms has been notified of this and hopefully will correct it in the next release. Speaking of which, they are still actively developing iMPC Pro. I received an email this morning with a link to a questionnaire for beta testing of the next release.

Dham

@sonicreef said:

@Dham said:

@sonicreef said:

@Dham said:

@Thomas said:
So... how may iPad pros will I go thru during the lifespan of the mpcX? How many audio interfaces will I invest in and f^(I< around with instead of making music during that time? Yeah, I'm beginning to think I can justify it.

Just to play Devil's Advocate, lifespan of recent MPC products has not been their strong suit. Akai has been notoriously bad at maintaining even their flagship products. MPC 5000 users are still waiting for bug fixes that Akai promised over 3 years ago.

Akai has focused all their efforts on the software line, and has continuously updated the software.
The new hardware MPCs are based off the software, so they'll be updated for years to come.

I hope so. Since they moved into the software arena it seems as if they have not invested in the necessary software development resources to keep up. Dan Gill remarked at a recent NAMM that Akai was the "biggest little" company in the world. Their staff at the time consisted of a couple of project managers, 5 software engineers and 1 hardware engineer. Their tech. support staff is woefully small as well. It is a tough market and I would like to see them do well. Competition benefits us all.

I used to work in that team, it was indeed small. Exceptional engineers though.

Good to know. Sounds like the US Marines, "The Few. The Proud".

Telstar5

Any Yamaha Motif users up in here? Does the have any feature similar to Yamaha's "Loop Remix" where it takes a sample and slices it up automatically and lays it out over the keyboard vis a vis loudness peaks"? I think not. That's an essential feature for me .

kobamoto

@Telstar5 said:
Any Yamaha Motif users up in here? Does the have any feature similar to Yamaha's "Loop Remix" where it takes a sample and slices it up automatically and lays it out over the keyboard vis a vis loudness peaks"? I think not. That's an essential feature for me .

Transient detection?... yes.

MichaelLawrence

@Dham said:

@AndyPlankton said:

@Dham said:

@AndyPlankton said:
I have just read this thread with great interest......I cannot afford either of the Akai units, so am firmly entrenched in the iOS world, but its promised capabilities do look impressive, and to have all of that in one place with no need for any messing about....Yes Please.....
If you are making money from your music then this thing would pay for itself in no time just in setup time saving alone.....and that is where its value would come from, you would be saving time each time you used it.
I guess only time will tell if it fully delivers on its promises....

iOS still wins from the "throw it in your pocket and use it anywhere" point of view though

If money were no object then I'd have both my iPad and an Akai and use both at different times....Variety is the Spice and all that

Alternatively, the MPC Touch will have 90% of the capabilities of the new MPCs since the 2.0 update will be given to Touch users at no charge. With the recent price drop to $599 for a new MPC Touch and the official announcement of the shiney new models the "old" MPC Touch can be bought on Ebay for less than $500.

Hmmm, good info...I guess it runs with Mac or PC.......any iOS support for it ?

Yes it runs on MacOS and Windows. IOS support, indirectly. You can export iMPC projects (kits, samples and sequences), load them up on the desktop and continue working. There is a slight bug with the chopped samples which requires that you manually select each chopped sample then discard ends prior to exporting to the MPC Desktop. Retronyms has been notified of this and hopefully will correct it in the next release. Speaking of which, they are still actively developing iMPC Pro. I received an email this morning with a link to a questionnaire for beta testing of the next release.

I also got the email earlier in the day. I thought that's was pretty interesting as I normally do not get too much emails from them. Curious to see what they plan to add.

Telstar5

@kobamoto : The MPC DOES have transient detection???

kobamoto

@Telstar5 said:
@kobamoto : The MPC DOES have transient detection???

yes the impc pro calls it transient detection and the current mpcs call it threshold slicing.

kobamoto