MPC Key 61 Users - Would you buy again?

Now that most owners have had it almost a year...would you do it all over again?

I come from the Maschine MK3 and Abelton Push workflows. I play keys, so of course the MPC Key was the first of its kind and attractive. Now I have some time to experiment with another workflow and wonder what your thoughts are.

Specifically for those who are using many instrument keygroups (already know about the instrument limitations), how stable is the standalone mode for you? Do you find yourself needing the computer halfway through the creative process?

Its only been a year, so I doubt an MK2 is near. I may pick one up, but not sure based on youtube reviews. I figured this forum has more entrenched users with more genuine experience .

What has been your experience with keygroups? Have you been able to use upwards of 20 in a project? Today I converted all my NI Maschine expansiosn to MPC kits and presets, with hopes of getting my hands on a unit to test. I really wonder if the 4G ram will be a hinderance. I intend to use a 2TB SSD, and want to make the best of it in terms of having a bunch of drum kits and keygroup instruments loaded by default.

My first MPC and really like it so far. Only wish is for 16 Qlink knobs.

I admire Akai for being the first to really be the first in this space. I have been through the Fanom, Motif, Montage, and similar workstation keyboards that ironically have 16 drum pads without the key functions like note repeat. Maschine and Push are staples in my studio because they do this best at the moment, but Akai took it to the next level attaching keys to it.

In credit to Abelton, they allow you to (eventually) upgrade the internal cpu/ram/storage board. Maybe Akai is looking into this (hopefully). 8 core arm with 16gb ram would be awesome, even if I have to buy an upgrade kit.

So the current MPC Key 61 has been out for about a year and I may grab one as it seems the bigger bugs have been squashed. I had to wait for the FOMO to be settled.

JBlongz wrote:What has been your experience with keygroups? Have you been able to use upwards of 20 in a project?

Depends in how well the keygroups have been built and optimised, and the type of instrument they are recreating. You can definitely fit 20 keygroups from my synth expansions, probably fit 50+ I’m all honesty. Some of my instruments are only 7mb.

https://www.mpc-samples.com/section.php ... xpansions/

Problem is you’ll see fairly basic instruments out there that require 200mb+ each when they could have been built far more efficiently with a bit of patience and know how

I have only owned the MPC Keys 61 for about 3 months, but would 100% purchase it again.

I have mine 3 days and its going back. If it had the same functionality included in the MPC X and Live, I would keep it, but i'm not holding my breath.

Definitely would buy again. As I said, it’a an incredibly inspirational keyboard. Afaic as a production workstation, it is more capable than any of the other workstations out there. I’ve already composed several songs without being attached to a computer.

The sounds: plugins and samples are as good if not better than anything “in the box” out there imo with the possible exception of the strings and pianos which are good but not phenomenal.

The biggest drawback imo is that the sampler should be upgraded. The core of the MPC is sampling, Better warping algo’s and stems should be standard in a top tier sampler. That said is there another workstation that comes close to the MPC 61 in sampling capability?

Btw, what can’t you do on the Keys that you can do on the Live or X. I find the keys has much of the functionality a button press away compared to the far more limited Live. And the touch strip is an amazing expressive tool for on the fly FX editing, Would love the X’s extra qlinks but still prefer the 61

underblu wrote:The biggest drawback imo is that the sampler should be upgraded. The core of the MPC is sampling, Better warping algo’s and stems should be standard in a top tier sampler. That said is there another workstation that comes close to the MPC 61 in sampling capability?

Btw, what can’t you do on the Keys that you can do on the Live or X. I find the keys has much of the functionality a button press away compared to the far more limited Live. And the touch strip is an amazing expressive tool for on the fly FX editing, Would love the X’s extra qlinks but still prefer the 61

Don't worry they've probably got AIR coding a sampler plugin they'll have ready for sale before Black Friday for everybody. Pretty sure they're not interested in anything other than add-ons that bring them in more money now.

But yeah the OS is the same, the Keys can do everything the Live, One, X, etc can (and has an extra 2GB of RAM). It's all about what button shortcuts you have and don't have, but all the functions are still there without them. My OG Live can do everything all the rest can, it just has less shortcuts, you gotta menu dive on the screen.

underblu wrote:Btw, what can’t you do on the Keys that you can do on the Live or X.

The “Control” option is missing from the Menu on Key 61. I verified it’s on the Live 2 and X. That was one problem. If I just want to use the keys without mpc software, the standard transport and octave buttons don’t work as intended, even when I tweak the midi settings in the DAW.

For an MPC-only workflow, the Keys 61 offers great value. I was expecting a more hybrid approach with independent midi controller functionality. Without MPC software, it has less function than their MPK series… If they fix that among other things , it will be worth the price.

You *can* use the Key 61 keyboard on another DAW. Janky but works. On another thread I link to a YouTube about it. Basically fire up the MPC 2 software, go to Controller mode on hardware, go to the DAW you want to use like reaper, then on hardware go to MIDI Control mode. Then the keys work. Not much else, but AFAIK It’s still possible to midi map more if you got more patience than I do.

the first day i saw the 61 key launched, i called up a local guitar center. i traded in my mint condition fantom 8 for it. got money back and just applied it to the 61 key. got it for just under 600 dollars on launch day. i had an asr 10 back in the day and love the all in one. im a major fan of the mpc and grew up on it so i was happy to see the 61 key. the hardware buttons are really handy --- the who dang thing is choice!

i would , in a heartbeat, purchase it again.