Akai Rumours

I wonder why her foil hat has antennas? Foil hats are designed to repel signals while antennas are designed to collect them. This seems a bit incongruent. Perhaps she’s part insect and those are antennae and she was forced to design the fit of her hat-shield around her unfortunate protuberances… :thinking:

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this is me waiting for the market to crash, note, no antennae.

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The real upset here will be when they start to release plugins that make use of the extra RAM, though I expect everything will still work on the old models, just with greater demands. And of course they’ll remain wildly capable samplers as long as they’re physically intact. They’d have to make some notable hardware changes to lure me into an upgrade, or (as seems more likely) pull an Apple and stop updating the OS. But they won’t want to cut all the old owners out of the plugin buying loop, so it’s going to be an interesting challenge for them.

I was about to add that people won’t upgrade their sampler like they do their phone, but then I remembered where I was posting.

whatever they do there will still be the auto sampler on older models… an unbelievable amount of capability wrapped up in an mpc one… it’s going to be a classic

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The Keys is looking more and more like a sweet spot in the lineup, especially with its current -$400 reduction in price.

That is if you want or need the expanded RAM. And the plug-in suite. And like the layout. And have the space for such a behemoth. And want 61 keys. And like the extra buttons. And the touch strip.

Edit - And the preamp combi-jacks

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Akai has had some refurbs on eBay now and then.
(edit: not akai directly.)

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Stupid as it sounds, the lack of an SD card is a massive omission to me, and a deal breaker.

But it has usb 3.0 and can support an external ssd, is that still too bulky for you? you can get a fairly slim ssd on the cheap these days.

I think it would also support a usb card reader since it supports thumb drives so isn’t that nearly the same as sd card support? I got my card reader (which I use with a usb on the go adapter to my phone) for $7.

that thing was made for Scott storch, here he is at namm talking about it

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Good thing there are 4 different MPC choices, I’m sure one of the others has you covered.

Yeah, I know, I’ve got the Live 2 and the X.
MPC X is fixed in my main studio and my Live 2 is at home/mobile… I move between them using a 256gb SD card, which also plugs straight into my MacBook to use in MPC Software or be able to export to Ableton, etc.

If I was only using one MPC then the Key 61 could be a consideration… but that lack of transferring on SD would still annoy me with the MBP. I don’t get why they didn’t put an SD slot on it tbh.

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Yeah, maybe that would work, although my USB ports tend to be filled.

Also, using the MPC X with plugins and a midi keyboard (I use an Arturia Keylab 49) is next level with the 16 q-links and big screen… I don’t think the Key 61 would top that for me personally… but it does cost a fair bit more.

It definitely works 100%. I, like you, used to suffer from unsightly and annoying lack of usb ports until I added a usb hub. Now my Force has an abundance of readily available ports begging for more gear.

For me the Keys would be the perfect companion to my Force over the other models. It would bring the keyboard and One’s pads, and make a monster machine with 16 audio tracks, 16 plug-in tracks, and 256 midi/key groups/etc.

Although neither is the cool retro 80’s PC off white-ish. More choices is more betterer.

what is up with these funnystyle videos, I get it you think sound quality is important, but exactly what correlation between sound quality and workflow is dude making in this video, because I literally cannot tell… it sounds like gibberish?

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As I understand him, he is implying that the MPC-60 era (up to MPC 4000, perhaps) machines sound better, but the current MPCs have faster workflow. So he is asking why anyone would pick an MPC X SE (which I now realize is a Muskian anagram for MPC SEX) with its superior workflow over an MPC-60’s production ready sound.

Near the end we see the MPC X between a well-used 1200 and a rough Pro One.

This seems like an inversion of the sampling ethos. Sampling was interesting not because of the sound quality (early samplers were extremely lo-fi, even the MPC60 is “just” a 12-bit sampler, but we like the way its converters sound) but because of the workflow that it enabled. I think the correct response is that almost everyone who has chosen to work with a sampler has done so despite compromises in sound quality in order to get to the sort of sonic manipulation that is only possible with a sampler (or, now, DAW).

If I was a product manager at Akai, I’d be scrambling to acquire an MPC-60, and then get a dev team working on a vintageizer plugin that grants that oldskool feel. Next, I’d set a target price of $1000 or so for it. :smiling_imp:

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“Vintage Mode: This determines the type of emulation applied to the audio output. You can apply the particular sonic qualities of, for example, the MPC3000 or MPC60, or of course no emulation (None).” :smiling_imp: :smiling_imp:

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Didn’t realize they already have that. Then I guess Akai needs to come up with a Platinum Vintage mode that they can charge $1k for.

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They beat you to it! “Flavor Pro” : https://www.thempcstore.com/mpc-plugin-instruments/flavor-pro.html (though not quite a thousand buckaroos)

:smiling_imp: :smiling_imp: :smiling_imp:

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Ok, new hypothesis: these guys are trying to replicate the infamous Octatrack Sound Quality discussion. Excellent troll topic, great way to get people talking about the new MPC.

Also, it’s a nice ego boost to everyone who has a vintage MPC. I imagine that includes more than a few elders of the Hip Hop community, so possibly a wise career move.

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Didn’t some folks take apart the vintage mode plug-in and figure out it was just a decimator preset? Heh