New MPC Live to launch in May 2020?

I ordered an MPC Live over the weekend from Guitar Center, and today they contacted me to tell me that they only have 1 unit left in total, and that it was ex-demo, and if I wanted it. I asked when new stock would next arrive, and they said that was it for now.

So I looked on some other forums, and noticed other people had the same issues starting towards the end of last year in some other countries.

I then rang Sweetwater (who also show out of stock on their website), and asked them, and they told me that they expect more stock next in May 2020. This was the same date given to another UK user by a UK store last December.

Given the price drop to $999 from $1199 last September, and the fact that it looks like they are clearing stock, to me it would seem like they are preparing for a new MPC Live to come out in May.

Does this look like the way Akai go about introducing updated models?

Wow lol

But the question is, why AKAI come up in January with the "new" MPC One. ( wich had inside the same old technology as the MPC Live )!? If they want release a new MPC Live MK2 in May, then the MK2 must have a better technology inside, it means better CPU, better Connectivity and so on. That makes no sense ( in my mind ), then the MK2 would be the direct competitor to the new child in the family, the MPC One. In addition, Akai could have put the new technology into the One. The absolute laugh would be an MPC Live MK2 with the same old technology, only in a different housing. Wait a minute, it is already a reality.


If i were a manager of an exchange company and had to save money, what would i do?
It is obvious. I take old technology to save development costs, repack everything, leave out half of the hardware, and sell it to the blinded mass as new and absolutely usable for a little less money than the existing model. At the same time i replace the economically unprofitable existing model with the "new light Version". Hoping that all new and old buyers will be distracted from my great youtube fireworks campaign and will not even notice, that a member of the family is suddenly missing.

I posted in another thread that my gf wrote akai when the new live will come out, yesterday she got a reply from them, but basically they just said that no new products have officially been announced and to look on the akai website for further news..

BTW I don't want to speak to anyone personal, but why is there so much hate here for akai on this forum^^? If you don't like their products, why wasting time on the mpc forum complaining.?Just sell your mpc, get something else and enjoy life ^^

It is very unlikely Akai would drop a new model without a bit of fanfare and market buzz... there is still time from now until May... but the closer we get to that date, the more likely they just drop more MPC Lives, and not a revision.

A new revision will need new firmware, likely a software update to recognize it, etc... and anybody who may have access to it is definitely under NDA to not talk about it...

My opinion

We saw a price drop on the force, putting it into the same pricepoint as the MPC Live. Akai will focuse on the MPC One being the entry level, Akai Force being mid level, and MPC X being the top level product. If you set the features and inputs/outputs on a table next to each other, you can see them step up more logically. When you put the MPC Live in that same table, it ends up being the odd one out.

If Guitar Center's coming stock was going to be a Live MK2 already, we would be seeing alot more buzz about it, and the employee would've known right off the bat that it was a new model coming. Guitar Center doesn't just order shit and go "Oh look they sent us 2.0 this time who knew??". They get plenty of sales and marketing materials ahead of time to go along with it for promotion..

Akai still has plenty of time between now and May for an announcement.
The time period between announcement and availability of One, was only around a month.

I just called Guitar Center again, and they told me that Akai requested them to return ALL unopened boxes of MPC Live back to them.

I don't think they would do that just to push people to buy One. They are different products, and people like me would rather not buy anything than buy One. I want the Live for a number of different reasons: portability, internal hard-drive option, turntable inputs, more ins and outs, better Ableton integration.

Given that, and the details provided in the post below, I would have to assume a Live Mk 2 is on the way in May:
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=193821

Of course is coming soon.
And in my opinion it will be a X/Live merge and will be called TWO.
So you'll have an entry level ONE and a pro TWO.
I wonder if they gonna put the 4gb version of current motherboard, we know it exists and we know Akai bought all the stock.
So it's possible.

hellnegative wrote:Akai will focus on the MPC One being the entry level, Akai Force being mid level, and MPC X being the top level product..

I don't feel what you describe above is realistic. The Force is a completely different product from the MPC One and X (and Live), both in workflow and intended audience. It's certainly not a mid-level MPC.

EnochLight wrote:

hellnegative wrote:Akai will focus on the MPC One being the entry level, Akai Force being mid level, and MPC X being the top level product..

I don't feel what you describe above is realistic. The Force is a completely different product from the MPC One and X (and Live), both in workflow and intended audience. It's certainly not a mid-level MPC.

We shall see.

The Force isn't even part of the MPC family other than the fact they share the same SOC. Its a completely different user interface, operating system, set of tools and workflow. The thing doesn't even have a song mode.

Monotremata wrote:The Force isn't even part of the MPC family other than the fact they share the same SOC. Its a completely different user interface, operating system, set of tools and workflow......

If you say so. :-p