kaydigi wrote:Hopefully the sample edit workflow is smooth. It’s the main thing I work on when I’m traveling. How did you like the sample start and sample end buttons?
Okay, here's the problem. On all previous MPCs, there was a clear structure. You enter a mode, you select one of the secondary screens and at that point many aspects of your controller are configured specifically for that secondary screen. The obvious one being the 16 Qlinks would be auto-mapped to the 16 params in the current screen. But you can also adjust the parameters via the screen itself, e.g. select a parameter (tap on it or in blue screens use the cursor keys) and use the data wheel to adjust , or directly manipulate it via the touch screen. It's completely immersive, to the point where even just one parameter not being available via the hardware seemed like complete sacrilege.
With the new studio that flow doesn't exist. You can select program edit mode, but you can't then, for example, select the amp envelope page and then adjust the AD envelope for the current pad, not in the hardware at least. You might be able to cobble together a touch strip assignment for one particular parameter, but that's very convoluted and involves lots of back and forth between computer UI and controller.
So yes, in prog edit you can assign samples to layers (this is where the text gets really tiny), you can edit the start/end points numerically and adjust the tuning using the dedicated button shortcuts, but that appears to be it. In all honesty if I'm using the MPC Software anyway I actually prefer drag and dropping samples directly to layers and using the big waveform for editing, these are actually positives for the software (for me at least).
This is not an 'editing' focused controller, it's really just about offering some hands-on control for the MPC Software, i.e. a data wheel, pads, transport keys, shortcut buttons and access to performance buttons note repeat (and the touch strip of course), so in that respect it's definitely better than not having a controller at all, I mean realistically if you are using the MPC Software or MPC Beats, it's essential that you at least have some physical pads to play.
But of course there are plenty of other cheaper options that can provide almost all of that, for example an MPD will give you full size pads, note repeat, 16 levels, transport etc and of course a bunch of Qlinks and sliders. Get an MPK and you have all that plus keys, pitch bend, mod wheel etc, and you can use it with all your other DAWs. In their own marketing video Akai even push the idea of getting an MPK for the Q-Links. Or you could of course use one of the many supported third party controllers that Akai provide pre-mapped integrations for.
I wanted to like this, but I don't think the product concept is good enough. For those customers looking for decent MPC integration in the £200 region perhaps they could just build more MPC-style integration into the MPD/MPK line. Then bring out a proper 'immersive' pure MPC controller for £350, i.e. a refresh of the MPC Studio Black. Or just keep the MPC Studio Black and just make sure the drivers actually work with the latest Macs.