MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

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.
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Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By HUBA Wed Mar 16, 2022 10:46 am
ace_of_dub wrote:This is the competition now at $1500.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKa2FUaIkk

So AKAI needs to step up their game OS wise because musicians aren't going to buy a MPK just because there is the AKAI logo on it.


I dunno. You seem to forget there's also the hardware part to consider. For instance where Akai provides a full fledged, top of the line gum disposal area, Roland have wasted valuable space for knobs, sliders and other such fodder. They would have to pull some real aces out their sleeve in the software department to be able beat Akai here I think :lol:
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Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By DeaDeus Wed Mar 16, 2022 4:19 pm
jabberwalky wrote:
ace_of_dub wrote:This is the competition now at $1500.


Wow. Yeah...that thing kills. Even the 88key hammer action version is $2k. Akai...you had your time lol.


I was never realy into Roland gear (...sorry lads/ladies), but this kills my studio setup - I could reduce half the gear...

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By KaoticShock Wed Mar 16, 2022 4:49 pm
Fantom-06 for only $1500 :Sigh:

I've been into Roland gear for years, and this new 0 series finally gives me a reason to replace my old X6. Roland has set the bar very high (especially with the official Ableton and Logic integration), so I'll be surprised if the MPC Key 61 MSRP's for more than $2000. On the software development side, Akai has some serious work to do, I wish I could help in some way.
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Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By DeaDeus Wed Mar 16, 2022 5:43 pm
KaoticShock wrote:Fantom-06 for only $1500 :Sigh:

I've been into Roland gear for years, and this new 0 series finally gives me a reason to replace my old X6. Roland has set the bar very high (especially with the official Ableton and Logic integration), so I'll be surprised if the MPC Key 61 MSRP's for more than $2000. On the software development side, Akai has some serious work to do, I wish I could help in some way.


...and the weight! 6kg ;-)

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By SakisX Wed Mar 16, 2022 9:53 pm
I was about to post about the new Roland line-up .
Akai can't compete the sounds , unless they massively upgrade the sample engine and/or add new plugins
In this category , users need top quality sounds ,instantly loaded and stability

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By J.O.BEATS Wed Mar 16, 2022 10:13 pm
Again, who’s buying the mpc keys when you can get something like the Fantom? The obvious market is the mpc community which is makes it even more dubious since it’s just an mpc with keys.

Gonna be pretty funny if they try to ask $2k or more for it.

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By HUBA Wed Mar 16, 2022 11:44 pm
Let's be real. It's an MPC One with keys attached. I guess technically that places it into the workstation category, but in all fairness it's a bit unrealistic to expect it to all of a sudden be a direct Fantom/Kronos/Kurzweil competitor just because it now has keys. It will necessarily have to compete more on its own terms, being the "MPC style" type of workstation. Which is cool enough for those of us who already own an MPC and knows what it is, and sadly for the most part also don't really need another one with a keyboard attached..

Not to say it couldn't still be considered by non MPC users as well who were in the market for a workstation. It certainly has its strong points by being exactly what it is. However, when taken into account the main groups of potential buyers, all the other options they have for their workstation of choice, the fact that the MPC Key 61 will be falling short on certain aspects of typical workstation expectations etc.etc.etc,,,,,,, -until the OS is more "workstation forward", maxing out the panel in terms of physical control would be a good first and would probably have helped some of those undetermined buyers picking the right choice.

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By kday Thu Mar 17, 2022 8:26 am
ace_of_dub wrote:This is the competition now at $1500.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yKa2FUaIkk

So AKAI needs to step up their game OS wise because musicians aren't going to buy a MPK just because there is the AKAI logo on it.

Anybody would be mad at Roland if Roland left a NOTE OFF bug for more than a year on their device like on the MPC... So sure AKAI doesn't owe people anything, but it's a matter of reputation, and when you screw up, you don't get it back easily...


Well, one advantage Roland has by announcing this now is they get a jump on middle of the road buyers in the undecided category by creating an excitement cloud of smoke early before any competition announces their own keyboards for NAMM. The Roland Fantom 0 will sell well for the low price.

But the Akai MPC Key61 is not really competing with other keyboard workstations, but more relying on their own clientele fan base of MPC lovers, die hard samplist, ASR-10 lovers, sampling keyboard lovers who would love to buy a sophisticated sampling keyboard in a sample keyboard market that's been abandoned and dry for over 30 years since the ASR-10 was made.

I don't think Akai has to worry too much about sales for the Key61, as it will sell itself to a large market of people that want a self contained sampling MPC keyboard workstation. The people looking for internal sounds to compete with Roland, Korg, etc will have to either create or sample their own, or look for a module of VST, I'm sure it will have some high quality bread and butter sounds, but not on a consistent basis to compete with the big three makers. The key61 isn't meant to compete with Korg and Roland for every sound. They will give the users some pretty good sounds but overall not enough consistent high quality sounds to compete. They will offer external sound packs with higher quality sounds, and third party vendors will also offer higher quality bread and butter sounds, but Akai's aim is not a ton of bread and butter sounds to compete with Korg, Roland or Yamaha.

The goal of Akai is to create the ultimate sampling keyboard that also has tons of sounds of various qualities, but the ultimate in sampling keyboard features. And that's what I and many others are more concerned about, features in a sampling Keyboard. Every professional producer that has an MPC X or even a live may get the Key61 for what it is, and use along side their bread and butter sounds workstations. I look at the Key61 as a Akai sampling Keyboard with the power of the MPC X or greater and several VST synth engines.

I'll take the MPC Keyboard and already having the X over a Korg Kronos, Fantom, or Motif XF and I have all three. The Key61 would allow me to create a whole record with great precision to sound and midi info and recorded vocals and unique sounds not in workstations. The other three only gives me sounds in which i could get in any VST or anywhere else.

In short:

The MPC Key61 is a game changer, the Fantom and all the other sound keyboards are just another sound bread n butter board. The Key61 is for a special market, and may not be for everybody who's looking for just another workstation with high quality sounds , or people satisfied with the MPC boxes. But i'm sure the Key61 won't have a problem selling a lot of units.

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By ace_of_dub Thu Mar 17, 2022 1:05 pm
kday wrote:
But the Akai MPC Key61 is not really competing with other keyboard workstations, but more relying on their own clientele fan base of MPC lovers, die hard samplist, ASR-10 lovers, sampling keyboard lovers who would love to buy a sophisticated sampling keyboard in a sample keyboard market that's been abandoned and dry for over 30 years since the ASR-10 was made.




I don't see how that FANTOM-0 is less of a sampling keyboard than the alleged MPK. It's exactly a sampling keyboard like the ASR-10 and that's the point.

at $1500, it has more knobs, more controls, than the alleged MPK. You claim the MPK talks to "MPC lovers", but I don't see people who already bought a MPC buying a MPC with a keyboard just because it has a keyboard.

The MPK isn't for MPC lovers, just like the Force wasn't for MPC lovers, it was for the people who want a standalone Ableton Live device. This alleged MPK is clearly geared toward the workstation market, AKAI wants to extend its audience, not just pander to an already captive consumer base or it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint.

What Roland did is set a price and standard in that price bracket for sampling/sequencing workstations. If the MPK doesn't at the very least offer as much, in terms of sequencing, synthesis, and sound library, people won't just buy a MPK because it's AKAI. And right now, AKAI OS just can't compete in terms of sampling engine , synthesis compared to ZENCORE engine, or sequencing with Roland's multiple sequencing modes. That's all.

Again, AKAI needs to step up their game in terms of functions if they want to reach the sampling workstation consumer base.

Let's be real. It's an MPC One with keys attached. I guess technically that places it into the workstation category, but in all fairness it's a bit unrealistic to expect it to all of a sudden be a direct Fantom/Kronos/Kurzweil competitor just because it now has keys. It will necessarily have to compete more on its own terms, being the "MPC style" type of workstation. Which is cool enough for those of us who already own an MPC and knows what it is, and sadly for the most part also don't really need another one with a keyboard attached..


point being, AKAI just can't sell a "MPC One with keys" $1500 and expect consumers not to look at what the competition offers before hand... a MPC One with keys isn't enough in the workstation space.

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By HUBA Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:39 pm
ace_of_dub wrote:
Let's be real. It's an MPC One with keys attached. I guess technically that places it into the workstation category, but in all fairness it's a bit unrealistic to expect it to all of a sudden be a direct Fantom/Kronos/Kurzweil competitor just because it now has keys. It will necessarily have to compete more on its own terms, being the "MPC style" type of workstation. Which is cool enough for those of us who already own an MPC and knows what it is, and sadly for the most part also don't really need another one with a keyboard attached..


point being, AKAI just can't sell a "MPC One with keys" $1500 and expect consumers not to look at what the competition offers before hand...


ace_of_dub wrote:a MPC One with keys isn't enough in the workstation space.


Sure, but does it have to be compared to what is currently expected from your typical workstation just because it has keys? Is it marketed as such? And in all fairness, wouldn't Akai also need to lameify it in order for it to truly fit the bill? Get a "real" workstation if that's what you want and let your other instruments keep their keybeds unmutilated. They can still be put to good use even though they might not have horns and oboes to play. :wink:

Also, I'm not sure I agree even from a workstation POV. Now I haven't studied it mind you, but if the Fantom 0 series is anything like the FA series there would be no doubt in my mind about what to choose between it and an MPC Keyboard.

I think what many are forgetting here is that an MPC has real advantages, not only over budget workstations but expensive ones as well. See, like many others I'm not in a 70's cover band and for the music I'm into and the way I want to work I couldn't care less about the amount of bread and butter sounds nor the amount of velocity layers they can have. For me the MPC approach is more ideal because I value fast workflow, tight sequencing and multiple effects per channel and I also need an integrated sampler. That's it. Yeah there are certainly things Akai should have fixed and improved a long time ago, but roughly speaking I have most of what I need inside one single box and I don't have to constantly feel like I have borrowed it from a church musician when using it. Other than that I just need keys.

So fix the bugs, make a damn mod matrix and throw in 12 more qlink knobs. Boom. Job done. Is it a workstation? Not exactly, no. Is it cool stuff? Absolutely. Is it worth $1500 or even $2000? To me it most definitely is.
Last edited by HUBA on Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By ace_of_dub Thu Mar 17, 2022 2:43 pm
HUBA wrote:
So fix the bugs, make a damn mod matrix and throw in 9 more qlink knobs. Job done. Is it a workstation? Not exactly, no. Is it cool stuff? Absolutely. Is it worth $1500 or even $2000? To me it most definitely is.



The MPK isn't even out yet so all that is pointless speculations. Is a MPC One with keys worth $2000? with an OS in that state? with MIDI NOTE OFF bugs ? Absolutely NOT.

Re: MPC Key 61: New FCC Filing From Akai

By kday Thu Mar 17, 2022 3:52 pm
ace_of_dub wrote:
kday wrote:
But the Akai MPC Key61 is not really competing with other keyboard workstations, but more relying on their own clientele fan base of MPC lovers, die hard samplist, ASR-10 lovers, sampling keyboard lovers who would love to buy a sophisticated sampling keyboard in a sample keyboard market that's been abandoned and dry for over 30 years since the ASR-10 was made.




I don't see how that FANTOM-0 is less of a sampling keyboard than the alleged MPK. It's exactly a sampling keyboard like the ASR-10 and that's the point.

at $1500, it has more knobs, more controls, than the alleged MPK. You claim the MPK talks to "MPC lovers", but I don't see people who already bought a MPC buying a MPC with a keyboard just because it has a keyboard.

The MPK isn't for MPC lovers, just like the Force wasn't for MPC lovers, it was for the people who want a standalone Ableton Live device. This alleged MPK is clearly geared toward the workstation market, AKAI wants to extend its audience, not just pander to an already captive consumer base or it doesn't make sense from a business standpoint.

What Roland did is set a price and standard in that price bracket for sampling/sequencing workstations. If the MPK doesn't at the very least offer as much, in terms of sequencing, synthesis, and sound library, people won't just buy a MPK because it's AKAI. And right now, AKAI OS just can't compete in terms of sampling engine , synthesis compared to ZENCORE engine, or sequencing with Roland's multiple sequencing modes. That's all.

Again, AKAI needs to step up their game in terms of functions if they want to reach the sampling workstation consumer base.

Let's be real. It's an MPC One with keys attached. I guess technically that places it into the workstation category, but in all fairness it's a bit unrealistic to expect it to all of a sudden be a direct Fantom/Kronos/Kurzweil competitor just because it now has keys. It will necessarily have to compete more on its own terms, being the "MPC style" type of workstation. Which is cool enough for those of us who already own an MPC and knows what it is, and sadly for the most part also don't really need another one with a keyboard attached..


point being, AKAI just can't sell a "MPC One with keys" $1500 and expect consumers not to look at what the competition offers before hand... a MPC One with keys isn't enough in the workstation space.


The Roland Fantom is trash as far as sampling and is not a real multi-sampler like the MPC X. I have a Fantom6. The new Fantom-0 will even more trash when it comes to sampling because they cut even more corners. It won't begin to compare with the Key61 for sampling. It may have better bread n butter sounds and that's it. For someone looking for a sound board then the Fantom-0 is a great deal. For someone looking for a sampling keyboard and for someone looking for an Akai MPC X or better with a keyboard then the Key61 is the ultimate Keyboard Sampling Workstation. The Key61 is gonna have it's own market for what it is. It's the top of the line flagship sampling workstation to come to the market. Nothing will compare as far as sampling. think of the MPC X, on steroids with a keyboard with many new funky functions like the vertical ribbon controllers, etc, etc. For what it is, nothing can compare or compete. Akai is marketing this as a sampling keyboard workstation. And it doesn't have to have the same exact quality of bread n butter sounds as the main three workstation synthesizers. Because this is a sampling keyboard first, then a keyboard with sounds second.
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