Akai MPC Keys 61

Like a pack of hyenas finding new meat to chew on

1 Like

While I would be content with using my Yamaha arranger keyboard for its particular feature set and and an MPC Keys for what it does best, I am a little curious as to what arranger keyboard features you would want in the MPC Keys.

Iā€™m guessing auto-accompaniment triggered by left-hand chord shapes would be one.

Another would be some options for left-hand chord shapes like one-finger chords vs. something like Yamahaā€™s smart chords vs. 3-5 note shapes.

And of course a wide selection of preprogrammed music styles - fast country, country waltz, salsa, bossa nova, 70s disco, 60s pop, etc.

3 Likes

:joy::joy::joy:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CfPC6lsDHp6/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

2 Likes

Link already dead bro. What was it ? I canā€™t take this. Iā€™m going to guitar center to see it and the Polybrute again

:joy: Pete Rock breaking up with his MPC X for the Key61. Funny clip

Search on IG for therealpeterock

2 Likes

Part of me is like ā€œhmmm, I could sell my NL4 KB and Analog Heat MK1 and get one of these!ā€

My NL4 is a luxury since I got an NL3, and the Heat was more for spicing up my OT for gigs. But I donā€™t think even want to play gigs anymore tho. (and bc of that I donā€™t really need disk streaming)

I dig that it has 4GB ram and a SATA connection for an SSD. But I wonder if the touch screen will just slowly kill me, bit by bit.

So, some questions:

Is there any way to get more LFOs into Fabric or Tube Synth?

Is there a chord memory function for these built in synths?

I was very excited when i saw the news of this Sampling Keyboard. But when i found out it has the same OS as the MPC Live, One, etc i was turned off. Theyā€™re very powerful tools but i douldnā€™t get on with the MPC One. Too much menuā€™s and options to do stuff. It felt like using a convoluted DAW to me.
But nonetheless i applaud AKAI for bringing this out.

1 Like

Only if AKAI decides to bring the MACRO function from the FORCE. The Force has 16 global LFO, and that so called MACRO system is absolutely crazy if you like modulations. So Iā€™d wait to see how the OS evolves.

3 Likes

This is a really, really great honeymoon phase. Weā€™ll see if it lasts. Iā€™m running it mostly with just internal sounds, though I do have a hydrasynth desktop hooked up. Iā€™m also adding an A4 Mki and launchpad pro for some sequencing fun and analog.

Iā€™m not a great keys player, but I like playing them if I can make it work. Iā€™ve found I just record all midi/synths as A minor and transpose the tracks into whatever key I want. Itā€™s working very well, and Iā€™m having a lot of fun.

I mostly do hiphop., but love synths as well. I feel Fabric is pretty good. Iā€™d like a physical modeling synth and enhanced keygroup program if they could do it in later updates. I think with the new platform we could see enhanced keygroups. Make it like an old E-MU.

A4ā€™s CV track (midi out) could give me a one track digitone with OPX4. Question, though, on the A4 mid out, is it 4 note polyphonic?

1 Like

So obvious to me that most people that hate saying is nothing like a old mpc have no real time behind these new onesā€¦ I have used them since the 2000xl was the new one nobody liked because it was too complicatedā€¦lol.
This feels just like the old ones and the main screen is basically the same with some new buttonsā€¦ you can use it just like a 2000xl if you want easyā€¦ But why would you want to?

4 Likes

Remember, Akai needs to make devices like older MPCs.

Others are allowed to make devices that are modern.

Never saw these complaints about any other device line as much as the MPCs lol

You clearly havenā€™t seen the SP-404 MKII thread where people are defending the lack of a basic step sequencer based on the fact that an SP-404 never had one.

Iā€™ll even one up that and point you toward the s2400 thread on gearspace!

What Akai needs is a new CEO.

Do you think Akai can optimise the plug-ins to reduce the load times?

I think itā€™s a massive hindrance on my X, but on an actual keyboard itā€™s unacceptable.

It is annoying, I get that, but, itā€™s not unacceptable really is it??

You wouldnā€™t use it like this if you were playing live, itā€™s just for browsingā€¦ live youā€™d have them pre-loaded, so youā€™re either switching tracks or using the keys splitā€¦ in both cases, thereā€™s no delay.

But, it is a bit annoying and itā€™d be nice if it wasnā€™t there. If anything the visual loading indicator makes it worse. :grin:

Fabric XL and some of the others are sample based, right? So itā€™s going to be hard to make them instantaneousā€¦ unless they start disk streaming and can pre-load at start up.

3 Likes

Yes youā€™re right in a live context. Iā€™m only studio based so I like to switch out sounds all the time, quickly trying to find other suitable sounds and itā€™s a pain in the arse.

But I also used to own a variety of Korg workstations and they never took that long to load multisample sounds.

Ofcourse they can.

How much remains to be seen.

Very few vids demoing the Organ plugin. This is one of the few. Dillio also tries some other plugins.

3 Likes

Akai is killing it, and I used to be one of their biggest critics.

1 Like