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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By MPC-Tutor Mon Jun 13, 2022 2:37 pm
Can't work out if you are being tongue-in-cheek, trolling or genuinely believe what you just posted. But I really hope this isn't going to be the 'the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades', it's quite depressing to think that no other manufacturer, or even Akai themselves, couldn't come up with something better over the next 20 or 30 years. :hmmm:

I still think it's amazing how this is being presented by some people as such as revolutionary device. There is literally nothing new in this MPC other than the incorporation of a 61 key keybed (am I repeating myself...!?). And I'm really not trying to be negative, but this overgushing is really triggering a reaction, its like I'm trapped in one of those Unison MIDI Chords youtube influencer vids. "Oh wow, check this, it went from C major to D minor 7, this is unbelievable, I creamed my pants, these MIDI files are a gamechanger".

Look, I think it will be cool and all that (for the people who need it and have the space), but let's not get carried away old chaps, it's a great addition to the MPC line and I hope they make lots of money so they can pay for 'MPC generation 2' which will hopefully be something to get super excited about, especially if they can actually sort out a more consistent pad manufacturing process*. :smoker:

(*with reference to this Quest For Groove video who has also spotted how erratic the MPC/MPK pads are becoming)



kday wrote:Looking at the box and how well organized the MPC Key61 is, I expect the Key 61 to sell like hotcakes over the years because of the assumed price. This Keyboard doesn't need 16 Q-link encoders, that's all in people's head. It doesn't need a faster CPU, or more memory, it will be able to do all the job it was designed to do, and this keybaord wasn't created to compete with a Fantom, Montage, etc. This keyboard was created to be the ultimate sampling keyboard and will reign as the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades. This sampling keyboard is revolutionary for Akai as a company, and the sampling keyboard industry, sampling has never been done easy in this way, it will be revolutionary for beat makers and sampling junkies looking to create their own unique and original sounds and loops using a ribbon controller controlled sampling keyboard. It's the greatest Keyboard sampler in 30 years, that's not a small title to ignore for sampling keyboard buyers. This keyboard sampler is made for people wanting a sampling keyboard, for people wanting something they can use keys to create sounds and loops and songs with, without having to use some other midi controller. And also for people who has neither a sampling keyboard or an MPC to create inspiration with. It's made for people wanting to add a new MPC to their arsenal, or people wanting to upgrade from a Live. I think the market for this keyboard will be for those that want the latest and greatest song creation tool to hit the market, and this is it, the new king of the sampling keyboard block, a keyboard that will rule for the next one or two decades unless Akai make a MKII. If Air keeps on making new VSTi for this, and if Akai allow third parties to make synth VST's for this, this keyboard is gonna be sick.
By HUBA Mon Jun 13, 2022 4:51 pm
MPC-Tutor wrote:I really hope this isn't going to be the 'the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades', it's quite depressing to think that no other manufacturer, or even Akai themselves, couldn't come up with something better over the next 20 or 30 years.


Agreed 100%

MPC-Tutor wrote:I still think it's amazing how this is being presented by some people as such as revolutionary device. There is literally nothing new in this MPC other than the incorporation of a 61 key keybed (am I repeating myself...!?). And I'm really not trying to be negative, but this overgushing is really triggering a reaction


I think it's the potential of it. Especially before we knew anything about the hardware. MPC's strong point has always been the workflow and solid MIDI timing IMO, and just for that side of things, for Akai to finally release a keyboard version is pretty big news in and of itself.

Then there's the potential for this to be a successful product that will stay relevant, available and catered to with updates etc. For that scenario to be likely in the first place I personally think Akai should have gone further hardware wise to really underline what MPC's actually do have over your typical workstation. For it to not be drowned under the competition, both from new budget workstations and used ones, and possibly to be discontinued relatively shortly.

I actually believe that if Akai could have arsed themselves to just give it a bog standard mod matrix and 12 more qlink knobs this thing would really fly and we would have seen it upgraded with better CPU and memory in the future. It would in many ways be the new ASR-10 or whatever analogy you prefer for 'big deal'.
Now I'm not so sure. Seeing what direction they're taking with the updates I have practically lost all hope we'll ever get the basics covered.
By kday Mon Jun 13, 2022 5:21 pm
MPC-Tutor wrote:Can't work out if you are being tongue-in-cheek, trolling or genuinely believe what you just posted. But I really hope this isn't going to be the 'the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades', it's quite depressing to think that no other manufacturer, or even Akai themselves, couldn't come up with something better over the next 20 or 30 years. :hmmm:

I still think it's amazing how this is being presented by some people as such as revolutionary device. There is literally nothing new in this MPC other than the incorporation of a 61 key keybed (am I repeating myself...!?). And I'm really not trying to be negative, but this overgushing is really triggering a reaction, its like I'm trapped in one of those Unison MIDI Chords youtube influencer vids. "Oh wow, check this, it went from C major to D minor 7, this is unbelievable, I creamed my pants, these MIDI files are a gamechanger".

Look, I think it will be cool and all that (for the people who need it and have the space), but let's not get carried away old chaps, it's a great addition to the MPC line and I hope they make lots of money so they can pay for 'MPC generation 2' which will hopefully be something to get super excited about, especially if they can actually sort out a more consistent pad manufacturing process*. :smoker:


kday wrote:Looking at the box and how well organized the MPC Key61 is, I expect the Key 61 to sell like hotcakes over the years because of the assumed price. This Keyboard doesn't need 16 Q-link encoders, that's all in people's head. It doesn't need a faster CPU, or more memory, it will be able to do all the job it was designed to do, and this keybaord wasn't created to compete with a Fantom, Montage, etc. This keyboard was created to be the ultimate sampling keyboard and will reign as the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades. This sampling keyboard is revolutionary for Akai as a company, and the sampling keyboard industry, sampling has never been done easy in this way, it will be revolutionary for beat makers and sampling junkies looking to create their own unique and original sounds and loops using a ribbon controller controlled sampling keyboard. It's the greatest Keyboard sampler in 30 years, that's not a small title to ignore for sampling keyboard buyers. This keyboard sampler is made for people wanting a sampling keyboard, for people wanting something they can use keys to create sounds and loops and songs with, without having to use some other midi controller. And also for people who has neither a sampling keyboard or an MPC to create inspiration with. It's made for people wanting to add a new MPC to their arsenal, or people wanting to upgrade from a Live. I think the market for this keyboard will be for those that want the latest and greatest song creation tool to hit the market, and this is it, the new king of the sampling keyboard block, a keyboard that will rule for the next one or two decades unless Akai make a MKII. If Air keeps on making new VSTi for this, and if Akai allow third parties to make synth VST's for this, this keyboard is gonna be sick.


I don't know if you are being tongue-in-cheek, trolling or genuinely believe what you just posted. But I really hope this isn't going to be the 'the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades' either. But unless Akai make a MKII .. then it will be. If Akai come out with another sampling keyboard after this, I believe it will be a lower cost successor. You can count Korg, Roland and Yamaha out of the dedicated sampling keyboard competition. Native is the only company I think may try to come up with their own sampling keyboard someday, and if they do, I personally don't think it will be better than what I see in this Akai Key61 in my opinion. I really hope Native would attempt to make a better sampling keyboard than Akai, that would be better for all the sampling community. But I feel Akai is better at designing stand alones. Having 4 qlinks doesn't degrade any of it's intuitiveness to me, accessing 16 qlink parameters are only a button or two pushes away.

I also think this sampling keyboard is revolutionary, that word doesn't apply to only comparisons to previous same brand products, but it's revolutionary unto the keyboard world, that don't have a sampling keyboard of this caliber dedicated to sampling. The world never seen a dedicated full fledged sampling keyboard in the last 30 years. It may not be totally revolutionary in the overall concept, or to previous Akai products, but I think it's a revolutionary piece in terms to being the only dedicated sampling keyboard that's entering the market in it's own keyboard category. I expect this keyboard unit to have a successful four to six year run if they don't sell out first.
By Fre$hBreath Mon Jun 13, 2022 6:19 pm
HanHuman wrote:People had multiple samplers mostly because of the ridiculously small sample time (among other things) of these machines back then. But anyone can do whatever they want at the end of the day, even if that means daisy-chaining 4 MPC Live / X / Key 61. If some people feel like it's the way to go, why not.


Well yeah...
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By Monotremata Mon Jun 13, 2022 8:50 pm
There’s been no keyboard samplers for 30 years? What about the E4K and the ASR10? Only about 20 but they still shit all over the MPC as far as samplers go.
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By Lampdog Tue Jun 14, 2022 12:17 am
kday wrote:The world never seen a dedicated full fledged sampling keyboard in the last 30 years.

Full fledged kybd samplers I have.
ASR-10.
Kronos2.
By kday Tue Jun 14, 2022 1:25 am
Monotremata wrote:There’s been no keyboard samplers for 30 years? What about the E4K and the ASR10? Only about 20 but they still shit all over the MPC as far as samplers go.


I said dedicated sampling keyboard.

Asr-10 came out 30 years ago in 1992.

EMU EK4 is not a sampling keyboard, but a module. The last dedicated sampler from EMU was the Emulator III came out 1987.

Korg Kronos is not a dedicated sampling keyboard, but I think It is the closet sampling keyboard to a dedicated sampling workstation. It does have a full fledged sampling engine but it makes sample editing and processing and effect adding a very tedious difficult task if sampling is your main thing. not considered a dedicated sampling workstation like MPC samplers are.

Fantom is not a dedicated sampling keyboard, and the old Fantom X called itself a Sampling Workstation that did very little basic multi-sampling and editing functions.

Motif XF wasn't a dedicated sampling keyboard but did very little and very cryptic editing of just basic one shot sampling.

I don't remember any dedicated sampling keyboard since the ASR-10 about 30 years ago.

I think the Key 61 will be the first since 1992.
Last edited by kday on Tue Jun 14, 2022 1:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
By kday Tue Jun 14, 2022 1:37 am
Lampdog wrote:
kday wrote:The world never seen a dedicated full fledged sampling keyboard in the last 30 years.

Full fledged kybd samplers I have.
ASR-10.
Kronos2.


ASR-10s are great. I have two of them. One has a bad LCD display. A company is just about finished making new LED/LCD displays for ASR-10/EPS samplers. I know a lot of units went bad because the LCD displays played out. New ASR-10 LCD/LED Displays should be finished in about a month.

I have a Kronos too. The greatest keyboard workstation on the planet when you include the sampler.

I have a FANTOM that I thought would have a full fledged sampler, but they shammed the buyers and won't allow live multi sampling but only single live sampling and multi sample creation from sample importing only, while costing much more than the Kronos.

I have a Motif XF I thought would do multi-sampling, but they shammed the customers on that one too, and didn't allow any real live multi-sampling, but the most difficult of all.
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By Monotremata Tue Jun 14, 2022 2:26 am
kday wrote:EMU EK4 is not a sampling keyboard, but a module. The last dedicated sampler from EMU was the Emulator III came out 1987.


WTF are you even going on about? A module?? Gimme some of the shit you're smoking, I'll take a whole ounce.
Image

There was a later E Synth too, also doesnt look like a module to me..
Image


Now please, explain how either one of these is a not a dedicated sampling KEYBOARD??
By kday Tue Jun 14, 2022 2:59 am
Monotremata wrote:

Now please, explain how either one of these is a not a dedicated sampling KEYBOARD??


Ok, change the 30 years to 26 years. Problem solved. :lol:
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By Quickstrike2.0 Tue Jun 14, 2022 5:54 am
MPC-Tutor wrote:Can't work out if you are being tongue-in-cheek, trolling or genuinely believe what you just posted. But I really hope this isn't going to be the 'the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades', it's quite depressing to think that no other manufacturer, or even Akai themselves, couldn't come up with something better over the next 20 or 30 years. :hmmm:

I still think it's amazing how this is being presented by some people as such as revolutionary device. There is literally nothing new in this MPC other than the incorporation of a 61 key keybed (am I repeating myself...!?). And I'm really not trying to be negative, but this overgushing is really triggering a reaction, its like I'm trapped in one of those Unison MIDI Chords youtube influencer vids. "Oh wow, check this, it went from C major to D minor 7, this is unbelievable, I creamed my pants, these MIDI files are a gamechanger".

Look, I think it will be cool and all that (for the people who need it and have the space), but let's not get carried away old chaps, it's a great addition to the MPC line and I hope they make lots of money so they can pay for 'MPC generation 2' which will hopefully be something to get super excited about, especially if they can actually sort out a more consistent pad manufacturing process*. :smoker:

(*with reference to this Quest For Groove video who has also spotted how erratic the MPC/MPK pads are becoming)



kday wrote:Looking at the box and how well organized the MPC Key61 is, I expect the Key 61 to sell like hotcakes over the years because of the assumed price. This Keyboard doesn't need 16 Q-link encoders, that's all in people's head. It doesn't need a faster CPU, or more memory, it will be able to do all the job it was designed to do, and this keybaord wasn't created to compete with a Fantom, Montage, etc. This keyboard was created to be the ultimate sampling keyboard and will reign as the king of sampling in the sampling synthesizer market for decades. This sampling keyboard is revolutionary for Akai as a company, and the sampling keyboard industry, sampling has never been done easy in this way, it will be revolutionary for beat makers and sampling junkies looking to create their own unique and original sounds and loops using a ribbon controller controlled sampling keyboard. It's the greatest Keyboard sampler in 30 years, that's not a small title to ignore for sampling keyboard buyers. This keyboard sampler is made for people wanting a sampling keyboard, for people wanting something they can use keys to create sounds and loops and songs with, without having to use some other midi controller. And also for people who has neither a sampling keyboard or an MPC to create inspiration with. It's made for people wanting to add a new MPC to their arsenal, or people wanting to upgrade from a Live. I think the market for this keyboard will be for those that want the latest and greatest song creation tool to hit the market, and this is it, the new king of the sampling keyboard block, a keyboard that will rule for the next one or two decades unless Akai make a MKII. If Air keeps on making new VSTi for this, and if Akai allow third parties to make synth VST's for this, this keyboard is gonna be sick.


Excellent observation. I was just playing around with different pads here lately and I did notice the difference in stiffness. Akai definitely needs to pay more attention to bugs hardware defects.
By Uncle Dieppe Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:28 am
If you look at the leaked picture of the MPC Keys box you can see the layout of the I/O connections on the top of the box

looks like it does have 2 XLR ins/8 CV/ 2 Midi In 4 Out and plenty of other connections on the left hand side :mrgreen:

I'd say the screen looks slightly bigger than the 7 inch from the Live/One as well, if you compare it to the dimensions of the 16 pads next to it, it looks more in proportion to the Pads dimensions, so long as they are the full sized pads

whereas if you look at the Live models the Screen isn't as comparable to the Full size pads,Maybe they fitted perhaps a 9 inch?

I looked on the MPC studio controller dimensions which is 12 inch depth to get a feel for the pads dimensions so give or take an inch to allow for the casing on the studio I'd say the Screen on the Keys is defo bigger than 7 inch
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By MPC-Tutor Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:51 am
Uncle Dieppe wrote:I'd say the screen looks slightly bigger than the 7 inch from the Live/One as well, if you compare it to the dimensions of the 16 pads next to it, it looks more in proportion to the Pads dimensions, so long as they are the full sized pads


IMO looks more like MPC One/MPK261 size pads, which would make it a 7" screen.
9" and full size pads just seems too much on this form factor - but could be wrong :)