Official: MPC X 'Special Edition' Now Released

I am with koekepan, i want a gold MPC i can wear on a giant gold-plated chain like flayva-flav. YEEEEAAAAAAAH BOYEEEEE. WUT TIME IS IT MAN? (i dunno but i got bass for yuh face! *smacks pad*)

Koekepan wrote:Come on, man, B-Wise - think of the showmanship! It's a live show you'd never forget! In fact, have cameras on it so that a VJ can lace it into nightmarish visuals for the mega backdrop so that every hit of the sub puts a Beat Thang right in your field of vision!

Seriously, and more relevant to the topic at hand, as long as the visual design of a device is functional so that it's easy to work and easy to understand, I don't really get the fascination with re-skinning equipment. It's like when KORG had had the Krome on the market for a while, and came out with three different colour options. How many people are so shallow or blind that they're sitting there thinking: "You know - the Krome is a tool I could really use, but that black faceplate? Such a fashion bore! Now get me that red one and just take my money!" This goes double for something like the X which isn't even really a gigging tool, the way that the Krome is placed to be.

The only functional upgrade about which I would care is maybe the RAM, and it's not really persuasive by itself. Maybe that's why they paired it with the reskin, just to draw people in with the power of nostalgia for something that was already old when they were born (OK, not everybody, but many young guns were still teething when the 4000 came out)?

You a funny dude, thanks for the nightmares I'll have like all my gear turning gold.

I never changed the skin on any of my gear or even put stickers on them. Not against it, I just don't care about that, but maybe I will in the future. I do care about the features & UI/UX.

I'm way more interested in the improvement to the OS. Like imagine the MPC/Force with the HYDRASYNTH synth engine but for the drum programs. 5 LFOs that can be play as a 1 shot & 5 envelopes that can be looped like an LFO. There's other features but if u know u know.

Also, the the HYDRASYNTH mod matrix & ease of making connections would be great on an Akai device. OPx-4 is cool but it a plugins & it can't load user samples (yet) but it shows that advanced synthesis can be done. I just want some of its features to be system wide & not just limited to a plugin. Do anybody agrees?

The world needs that golden Beat Thang.

But yeah, I'm with you. How the gear looks (aside from UI/UX concerns) isn't one tenth as important as what comes out of the speakers. Never was, never will be. Even if I were to buy one of those pieces of kit (like the Model series from Elektron) that comes with stickers, I'd just leave the stickers in the box.

As far as new features are concerned, I have mixed feelings. I'm delighted at the idea of more goodies for my Force, of course, and I wouldn't mind if I could use OSC in addition to MIDI, or a USB mouse to improve screen interaction. On the other hand, I see room for a Force Essence, or MPC Essence (I'm making up a name here) that does no synthesis other than maybe sample playback/drumkits/keygroups, but has rich connection options for the people with a stack of synths, but in need of the studio mastering and audio options. The new generation's software turns it into a really potent digital mixer, and I like that.

Again, don't get me wrong, I like the synthesis plugins, but I also have a few sound generators in my studio that outclass anything that the Force has inside it, especially if I start patching my semimodulars together. There comes a point where an MPC 1000 can sound dirtier than a Paris Hilton clone after the fifth wine cooler, if it's driving a bunch of other stuff over MIDI. Sequencing was always a strong part of the MPC family, and maybe they could lean into that.

It would also be something that could perform very well even without the RAM bump in the SE, or any kind of CPU bump, because then your heaviest CPU lift is maybe your effect plugins, and those are pretty tight already.

Ok you & that golden Beat Thang is too much, but The Force Essence would be dope, just not for me & my needs. Also, I wasn't talking about a new plug-in, I just want the synth tools in the drum program editor to be enhanced or even do it like Roland MC-707 where they have an simple & advanced mode for those that want more parameters to mess with.

OK, I could definitely get behind a simple and advanced mode on many things - many effects, for example. Some get pretty detailed, but others end up with three knobs and a vacant look in their little electronic eyes. I'd say that most of the synths are fairly well-featured, but it's the effects where I notice the deficit a lot.

On the other hand, I also use external effects, so that helps fill any gaps.

Koekepan wrote:OK, I could definitely get behind a simple and advanced mode on many things - many effects, for example. Some get pretty detailed, but others end up with three knobs and a vacant look in their little electronic eyes. I'd say that most of the synths are fairly well-featured, but it's the effects where I notice the deficit a lot.

On the other hand, I also use external effects, so that helps fill any gaps.

Man after using the MPC1000/2500 for all them years I got mix feeling about the current FX's. Yes they could be better, but it's still waaaay better than what I'm used from an Akai product. But a ready great high quality reverb would be nice. Hopefully quality is what the next round of products will focus on. Now that we who have adapted the gear as our center piece & are commented to Akai "work-flow" now would the time to bring out nice plates.

& yes you can have a gold plate if that's your thang

100%. Well, I'll allow that if you have the chops you can really make the built-in effects dance, especially now that they've added some slightly more advanced things like the granulator. I really enjoy using things like automating the Freeze switch on it, so that I can create a sort of blended pad, but you can also use it for shimmer effects as well. There's no doubt that we're worlds away from where the '90s got us.

It would in fact be pretty sweet if, instead of another pack of synths, Akai released a fresh pack of additional effects (recognising that they have added some - for which I'm grateful). I can use a macro to piece together a gated glitch sound, and it works really nicely, but there's no real substitute for a good, flexible convolution reverb. That would be worth the price of entry. Or some way of splitting off the wet signal of an effect into a modulation chain.

But then I suppose that the answer is just: "Pump it through outboard gear!" To me the interesting part is that, aside from the RAM bump, the SE doesn't seem to make any of that better or easier.

Koekepan wrote:100%. Well, I'll allow that if you have the chops you can really make the built-in effects dance, especially now that they've added some slightly more advanced things like the granulator. I really enjoy using things like automating the Freeze switch on it, so that I can create a sort of blended pad, but you can also use it for shimmer effects as well. There's no doubt that we're worlds away from where the '90s got us..

That right there is the Truth. Imagine if we actually dove into the Sounds and FX that we have already! The Current MPCs are So Powerful if we learn how to Properly Use it.
But.....we're in a "Instant Sounds/FX Right Now" Era. We listen to the Initial Sound/FX settings and Immediately call it Trash

It is what is I guess lol

40Beatz wrote:

Koekepan wrote:100%. Well, I'll allow that if you have the chops you can really make the built-in effects dance, especially now that they've added some slightly more advanced things like the granulator. I really enjoy using things like automating the Freeze switch on it, so that I can create a sort of blended pad, but you can also use it for shimmer effects as well. There's no doubt that we're worlds away from where the '90s got us..

That right there is the Truth. Imagine if we actually dove into the Sounds and FX that we have already! The Current MPCs are So Powerful if we learn how to Properly Use it.
But.....we're in a "Instant Sounds/FX Right Now" Era. We listen to the Initial Sound/FX settings and Immediately call it Trash

It is what is I guess lol

people know how to use the current FX on the; the issue is the fx are not that interesting when applied, yet they do what they say on the tin but compared with other fx on other units the stuff currently on mpc seem to be more quantity over quality

Sounds and effects can be added and expanded quite easily by the user. Load new samples, connect some cables, done. But extending the software's functionality is much harder for a user to do.

Here's an excellent reverb: https://www.thomann.de/intl/boss_rv_6.htm

jpeg wrote:people know how to use the current FX on the; the issue is the fx are not that interesting when applied, yet they do what they say on the tin but compared with other fx on other units the stuff currently on mpc seem to be more quantity over quality

Exactly. You learn to use one compressor (properly) you can use any of them. The FX in the MPC aren't rocket science, most of them are bread and butter plugins some of us have been using since the 80s in various forms. They're just bland and vanilla really. They do what they say, but they're also very basic and 'textbook' at what they do. The stock effects in Logic and Cubase have more 'flavor' than these do. I think the last 10-15 years has spoiled us with all these emulations of older console and rack gear, but even the tools in my old Boss SE-50, like the delays and modulation stuff, from 1995 have an edge over the MPC's for whatever reason.

Monotremata wrote:

jpeg wrote:people know how to use the current FX on the; the issue is the fx are not that interesting when applied, yet they do what they say on the tin but compared with other fx on other units the stuff currently on mpc seem to be more quantity over quality

Exactly. You learn to use one compressor (properly) you can use any of them. The FX in the MPC aren't rocket science, most of them are bread and butter plugins some of us have been using since the 80s in various forms. They're just bland and vanilla really. They do what they say, but they're also very basic and 'textbook' at what they do. The stock effects in Logic and Cubase have more 'flavor' than these do. I think the last 10-15 years has spoiled us with all these emulations of older console and rack gear, but even the tools in my old Boss SE-50, like the delays and modulation stuff, from 1995 have an edge over the MPC's for whatever reason.

when i compare the inbuilt insert fx on the mpc to the sp404; the 404 wins by a landslide as far as the creative sound design potential when compared to the inserts on the mpc.

but it could be the mpc fx were designed to be more subtle and less coloured for mixing purposes, but the do note that the filters on xy fx seem to sound better then the filters on the insert or in the program edit, which seems odd cos i thought it was the same fx?

but it defo seems that the lpf is more resonant and musical when using the xy fx oddly enuff, so i think its just a stylelistic choice akia have made to have the fx be more neutral sounding.

Monotremata wrote:The stock effects in Logic and Cubase have more 'flavor' than these do.

Have you tried inserting an AIR Flavor after your reverb in the Return channel? Try it, it sounds fantastic IMO. Just browse through the different Flavor model variations and you get a lot of flavor in your reverb. Make the reverb tail very long and add some ducking/pumping to keep it under control.

One effect I wish Akai/Air would add to the MPC line is a proper realtime vocoder. I’d be willing to pay a small fee ($30-$50) if it was as good and versatile as some classic standalone units. I don’t mean those Cher/modern rap/hip hop/R&B auto tune style effects, but a classic 1980s electro funk style vocoder (ie Planet Rock, Freestyle, Al-Naafiysh).

Soooo You guys prefer Extra Colorful FX as a Default? I believe you can make the Current Standalone FX sound just like other Software Versions.
You gotta let me know the Differences between Other FX Processors. I can see the Convolution Type Reverbs maybe.