Support and discussion for all of Akai’s modern standalone MPCs including the MPC X / X SE, MPC Live 1, 2 & 3, MPC One / One+, MPC Key 37/61.
By JethroJethro Mon Jun 15, 2026 1:41 am
J.O.BEATS wrote:Also, I’m not being a dick but it is a sampler so just resample the chord

If you do that you lose the ability to modulate the synth which is pretty important in techno/edm.

I think this is lost on a lot of members here who don’t do this kind of music which explains why so many think the gen2 better CPU isn’t needed. If you don’t load up a lot of heavy synths and FX you probably never run into CPU warnings. My Force being in a relatively small case gets pretty hot running a full session, my X a little less probably because there’s more air space in there.

I dont do hip hop beats, so when people say the different timing and quantization of MPCs over the years makes a difference I’m not going to tell them it doesn’t matter just because it doesn’t matter to me.

The reality is I’m asking for a lot from my gear and would be better served witn a PC DAW and VSTs… but I hate working on a computer.

Fun Fact: the “M” in MPC didn’t originally stand for music, it was MIDI.
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By Lampdog Mon Jun 15, 2026 5:36 am
JethroJethro wrote:
Fun Fact: the “M” in MPC didn’t originally stand for music, it was MIDI.


And here I was thinking my old 2kxlse2 was using wrong terms the whole time..
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By Jean-Marc Liotier Mon Jun 15, 2026 8:46 am
JethroJethro wrote:Fun Fact: the “M” in MPC didn’t originally stand for music, it was MIDI.
I learned that from Alex Ball's "MPC60 - A sampling masterpiece" video (featuring Tubedigga)... Alex's first demo uses the MPC as a multitrack MIDI sequencer for external synths - the way Linn intended it to be used. Hip-hop appropriation came later, as people realised sampling didn't have to be limited to drums and other short sounds.
By JethroJethro Tue Jun 16, 2026 2:16 am
Well that’s the joke, right? So many here are all “it’s a sampler!” and aren’t deep into midi and synths and getting crazy with sound design. And sure enough a couple gave helpful advice to resample the chord to do stabs, which for 9 out of 10 people is perfectly workable, except I wanted to do synth stuff with it. And when you think about it a modern MPC is essentially a midi conteollwr for a built in daw.
By B-Wise Tue Jun 16, 2026 2:41 am
JethroJethro wrote:Well that’s the joke, right? So many here are all “it’s a sampler!” and aren’t deep into midi and synths and getting crazy with sound design. And sure enough a couple gave helpful advice to resample the chord to do stabs, which for 9 out of 10 people is perfectly workable, except I wanted to do synth stuff with it. And when you think about it a modern MPC is essentially a midi conteollwr for a built in daw.


So many said 'It's a sampler", on a post with 1 page, OK. The MPC MIDI was never meant to be more than a track/song sequencer. The synth engine was pretty basic (the MPC60 doesn't have a filter/EQ) until more recently so those things weren't part of the major reason most people got them. Back when the M stood for MIDI, Akai had it's S-Series as more advance samplers. The MPCs were dumb-downed samplers meant to replace drummers.

We joke a lot here, but most get & agree with you, but don't take us having fun with you too serious. :-D