For discussion about setting up your studio and advice on the gear and equipment within it.
By Sus Jones Wed Jan 27, 2010 7:59 am
Im new to akai products (owned a 2xl briefly) and for the life of me have not been able to find a list stating the differences between the mpd's. A comparison chart on akai's site certainly would have helped but i digress. For instance the mpd 18 is stated to have note repeat as does the mpd 32. The 32 is said to have swing control on akai's site but there is no mention of the 18 having this feature. I assumed one controlled swing with the note repeat function. Am i incorrect? Are all the "mpc" features equal on the mpd 18 26 32? In other words, aside from the knobs, sliders, and transport buttons is there any difference? Someone please school me, the more thorough the better, much appreciated.
By Clint Wed Jan 27, 2010 5:27 pm
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are no MPD experts here!

It may have pads, note repeat and so on but anywhere close to an MPC it is not.

Akai would be the best place to go for MPD info, otherwise Google for some reviews.

Moving this thread to the 'Studio Environments' forum, someone here may have some input for you.
By Sus Jones Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:18 am
I understand this is a mpc centric site but it is the same company and i assume some people have a computer for music in addition to the mpc so.... is there a mpd site for people who used a mpc but moved on to computer based. surely u can understand the logic behind the question. or is this site solely for mpc purists?
By Sus Jones Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:37 am
I guessed since guys on here seem to be crazy about akai that maybe someone would have toyed with one and compared to the beloved mpc. slight intrigue maybe? i dunno

heres a question for u mpc purists. is note repeat and swing one and the same? two different options? or is swing merely a component of note repeat? thanks
By boogaloo Thu Jan 28, 2010 2:29 am
yeah, they are a totally different thing to the mpc, no point in comparing

the main difference between the 3 models you asked about is the number of sliders and encoders.
to me the so-called "mpc features" on the mpd's are unnecessary, that's why i use the mpd24 along with my 1k.
By Clint Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:06 pm
Sus Jones wrote:a question for u mpc purists. is note repeat and swing one and the same? two different options? or is swing merely a component of note repeat?


Note Repeat

Note repeat is simply what the function name implies, note repeat. A way to accurately repeat notes at the currently set quantize interval. The function will only work when a quantize value has been set on the MPC. Use it to help produce drum rolls and fills with greater control and accuracy than attempting to do manually, at any given tempo. Overuse of note repeat can sound very corny and machine-gun like and is something to avoid. Note repeat is also good for use with other instruments, experiment.

Swing

Swing refers to the process of virtually shifting or moving certain notes to hit later than they were actually programmed. Without getting too technical about it, the more swing you apply the more you move from a 'straight' quantized sound toward a 'lazy' triplet feel. The amount of swing applied on the MPC is given as a percentage with 50% meaning no swing is applied up to 100% which represents triplets. The key to using swing effectively is to first use the correct quantize value for the track and then find the ideal swing percentage value to give just the amount of swing you need. If you talk to people about using swing, they will probably refer to the percentage value. For example 63% on the hi-hats and 58% on percussion.

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By truskullbeatz Thu Jan 28, 2010 3:42 pm
Sus Jones wrote:I understand this is a mpc centric site but it is the same company and i assume some people have a computer for music in addition to the mpc so.... is there a mpd site for people who used a mpc but moved on to computer based. surely u can understand the logic behind the question. or is this site solely for mpc purists?


Sorry but this is mpc-forums,not mpd-forums,am i wrong?

For mpds info look at akai website

http://www.akaipro.com/mpd
By Sus Jones Thu Jan 28, 2010 6:30 pm
Sorry but this is mpc-forums,not mpd-forums,am i wrong?

For mpds info look at akai website

http://www.akaipro.com/mpd

--------------------------------------------

cmon yo why try to play me? the question is very pertinent to this site. I see plenty of topics that have nothing to do with mpc or is a comparison to an mpc. And why would I bother to register to this site and ask questions without first checking the official site. Did you even read the initial post? If you have nothing of substance to offer then keep it moving. lame
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By mr_debauch Fri Jan 29, 2010 8:43 am
i will toss this in though...

the pads on all models are pretty much the same thing. That is the important part... the rest is bells and whistles. If you get any mpd, get a copy of battery by native instruments. Once you master that bit of software... you should be able to make some fire.

here's the deal though... there is more to it then just hardware. You have battery for example. good effects, great sample editing (wave form, attack, decay, sustain, release, etc...) and it is super easy to just drag and drop samples and set up your pads. you dont need to program the pads... but how do you record songs? you need something else like cubase or fl studio. then if you want to do some live stuff you need to haul your computer to the show with all that stuff. you want to record your patterns which is easy enough but to get your beats and samples to loop and play back at the desired times takes a bit of editing and messing around.

on an mpc, it just comes out on time the first or second time around and often plays back better then what you wanted. for live stuff it is all in one box... no usb cable, no area of the table for the laptop and mpd needed.... you got your mpc and you dont worry about it falling off the table because the only part sticking out of it is the power and audio cables. it also doesn't require you to get high end sound card interface. The mpc is just a solid way to get beats done... and the same beat often just sounds better when it's comming from the mpc.
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By descry Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:23 pm
An old post, but has to be hashed out for any of you kids who are starting out and have no idea where to begin.

To start, they're all MIDI controllers...meaning they DO NOT make sounds on their own like a traditional drum machine. There's a reason why they're so much cheaper than MPC's...this is because they just control your software (e.g. Reason Redrum, Logic Ultrabeat, NI Battery, EZ Drummer...whatever. if it uses midi, this will work)

The MPD18 is just the pads and 1 assignable fader. It also gives you 3 pad banks (technically, giving you access to 48 pads total; 16 at a time) and note repeat, making it a very basic midi pad controller. The "swing" algorithm is NOT implemented in this unit.

The MPD26 builds on the MPD18 by adding a LCD screen, 4 pad banks, 6 assignable faders, 6 knobs, a slider/fader preview button, a transport section (to let you push record, rewind, play, etc. from the controller), tap tempo, 16 and full level, and the infamous groove template that is known as "swing." You'll find this term "swing" thrown around these parts alot, but don't get it twisted...it is important to note that the swing algorithm built into these MPD's won't give you the exact same groove due to latency from various configurations. YMMV.

The MPD32 bumps up the MPD26 features adding 8 faders, 8 knobs, dedicated note repeat buttons (no longer have to fumble through the note repeat menu), and 3 control banks. The control banks are similar to the pad banks, but instead of affecting the pads...it affects the faders and knobs.


PS If you're confused on what Note Repeat vs. Swing is, refer to clint246clint's post.
By ghosty Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:32 pm
Sus Jones wrote:I understand this is a mpc centric site but it is the same company and i assume some people have a computer for music in addition to the mpc so.... is there a mpd site for people who used a mpc but moved on to computer based. surely u can understand the logic behind the question. or is this site solely for mpc purists?


Boondock on YouTube was a heavy you tube user. I believe he switched to logic and an mod. Check his channel.
By Tohtruck Tue Sep 14, 2010 8:13 am
In the case of the MPD's the Swing feature is a component of the Note Repeat.

So, you add swing to the midi notes that are spit out when Note Repeat is active. So swing only applies to when you are using note repeat.

Have no idea what the exact practicality of that feature is. I suppose you can add swing to hi-hats if you like to use the Note Repeat to sequence your hi-hats.

But if you have a piece of software (i.e. Ableton Live can do this, and I think Cubase can do this, among others) that can extract grooves. You can use the MPD swing function to get the MPC/MPD grooves and apply said grooves to your sequences when you quantize or add groove to a MIDI track.

The MPD's are great pieces of MIDI Controller hardware. Unfortunately, they are poorly implemented by Akai (as is the trend in the majority of their products these days).

A vast majority of users find that the 32's pads aren't sensitive enough, so you have to hit them hard to register a decent hit. The workaround that people have come up with is to open up the unit and apply layers of tape to the underside of the rubber pads in order to increase sensitivity (there are also Pad Corx, and other Pad Sensitivity Fix kits that you can find over the internet if you don't want to use tape).

Another issue involves the Note Repeat. There are sync issues. I've owned the 32 and found that I was unable to consistently get the note repeat to sync properly with software. When set to external mode, I've never found that it works. When set to internal mode, it is shotty at best. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't, sometimes the sync works for a little bit and then goes, often times the timing of the Note Repeats are completely off; rendering it useless. Although, I purchased the 32 around the time it came out (and returned it within a week). Its possible that Akai has fixed the issue in subsequent firmware upgrades. I also owned the 26, and found that the issue was still unresolved in the 26 (note repeat does not sync properly).

Another issue, involves saving Global Settings. Last I heard, the MPD's do not save Global Settings after you power down. Even though this is supposed to work and saving global settings is given as a feature on the Unit, people have found that their settings are not saved after they have powered down and powered back on again.

So just keep in mind that those are potential issues that you may come across and have to deal with (that is until Akai potentially comes up with a fix and solid firmware updates). Knowing Akai, it could take a while to get the MPDs rock solid, and its likely that Akai just might never fix the issues.

Additionally, it's evident that there does not exist a forum dedicated to MPD users. A real shame, considering there are a lot of MPD users and there are still many issues with the unit, but no central source for fixes, workarounds, announcements, and shared intel. If anything it would be a nice support group. Hopefully someone starts a forum soon.

I'm not sure if there have been fixes, since I've done my research into the MPD line. If there are any, I would like to know, as the MPD's seem like a great idea but poorly executed by Akai.