Will MPC Key be discontinued?

altruistica wrote:That said, the Key61 is a machine I could have only dreamed of when I was composing TV jingles in the late 1980s and 1990s. Used with a Tascam Model24, I now have a studio that replaced tons of gear.

R0ckAndR0ll wrote:

altruistica wrote:The MPCKey61 is one of the best pieces of gear I have ever owned. I'm 62, so I've owned a lot of gear over the years. The keybed is pretty awful. Also, the keys are shorter in length than usual which makes it difficult to get into the black notes. I presume the designers never approached a good keyboard player or pianist when they produced the prototype because it is a real shortcomingm on what is otherwise a game-changer.
That said, the specs on the new MPC Live 3 hint at either a new MPC or hopefully a new MPC Key machine may be released next. I would love a 73 note version with a semi-weighted keybed. I once owned an EMU E4K and the keybed on that machine was truly fantastic. That said, the Key61 is a machine I could have only dreamed of when I was composing TV jingles in the late 1980s and 1990s. Used with a Tascam Model24, I now have a studio that replaced tons of gear.

Thank you for your input.
1- How do the virtual plug ins instruments compare to a traditional keyboard (I have a yamaha ck61)? I would have to sell my ck61 to buy this and the convenience would be great having a sampler, daw and sounds all inside of one device but I do have the ck61, a roland sp404a and garageband daw on my macbook. I would be selling some things to get the “all in one box” mpc key 61.
2- How difficult is it to figure out how to make songs with the mpc key using the workflow on the mpc key 61? I use garageband because it has the easiest daw. I’m not computer tech savy. I have watched a million youtube videos on making a quick beat or song but I value your opinion.

MPC-Tutor wrote:IMO the key61 is still not a 'workstation' in the same vein as actual dedicated workstations, it's still ultimately an MPC with an integrated keyboard with workstation like qualities squeezed into the existing framework. Quality of sounds 'out of the box' are probably just as good if not better than your Yamaha, but I suspect loading times of each patch may be much more sluggish and overall workflow might be more convoluted. However it is of course more powerful and capable of significantly more than your Yamaha, if you need that stuff of course.

I would highly recommend you try a key61 first, or at least purchase from somewhere with a no-quibble return policy.

Skeeter_Woo wrote:

MPC-Tutor wrote:IMO the key61 is still not a 'workstation' in the same vein as actual dedicated workstations, it's still ultimately an MPC with an integrated keyboard with workstation like qualities squeezed into the existing framework. Quality of sounds 'out of the box' are probably just as good if not better than your Yamaha, but I suspect loading times of each patch may be much more sluggish and overall workflow might be more convoluted. However it is of course more powerful and capable of significantly more than your Yamaha, if you need that stuff of course.

I would highly recommend you try a key61 first, or at least purchase from somewhere with a no-quibble return policy.

Why are people under the impression that the Key 61 loads plugins/patches slowly? I need to make a Youtube video on my channel showing how fast I get between different plugins and loading the patches within them. Wait time is non-existent. Perhaps that has to do with the 4GB of RAM, but I've never been using my Key 61 and thinking "Man this plugin is taking forever to load". Its not even in the wheelhouse of a thought.

jpeg wrote:

altruistica wrote:That said, the Key61 is a machine I could have only dreamed of when I was composing TV jingles in the late 1980s and 1990s. Used with a Tascam Model24, I now have a studio that replaced tons of gear.

curious to know if there are any well known tv jingles that u did in the 80s 90s that we can look up on youtube?

the 80s was def a golden era for tv musical scores.

altruistica wrote:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=roBiLDZoPjs&t=289s

Skeeter_Woo wrote:]Why are people under the impression that the Key 61 loads plugins/patches slowly?

Lampdog wrote:Those lines will be discontinued soon!