MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By Wul Sun Jul 03, 2022 6:57 pm
Haven’t tried any yet but it looks like. Some of them could be old air plugins revamped
Velvet , mini grand, db-33 and is fabric half of expand ?
By KaoticShock Wed Jul 06, 2022 3:29 am
Wul wrote:Haven’t tried any yet but it looks like. Some of them could be old air plugins revamped
Velvet , mini grand, db-33 and is fabric half of expand ?


The new plugins are definitely not "revamped" versions of the old ones. My best advice is to demo them and A/B them against the plugins you mentioned so that you can hear the difference yourself. I did A/B tests of Stage EP to Electric and Fabric to my MC-101 and I can definitely hear the difference in quality.

Just my opinion, but I think that the presets of the new plugins sound a step above Xpand, but still slightly less quality than AIR Structure. For most presets, I still prefer my MC-101, but there are a few sounds that the MPC can do better. That's just my subjective, biased opinion though, everyone has a different preference when it comes to sound timbre and quality.

Functionally, Xpand has 4 true layers, Fabric has 2 layers + Percussion layer. Quite different. Velvet has different controls from Electric which has different controls from Fabric Electric Piano which has different controls from Stage EP. Even the "Key-off" function in Stage EP clicks differently than the "Note-off" function of Fabric Electric Piano. Confusing, I know, but that why I listened to all the sounds myself and came to my own conclusions.