MPC KEY 37...?

It's a shame that AKAI are going in this direction. I think they are watering down the MPC brand and it's becoming more of a fashionable toy, rather than what it used to be, which was a professional music machine.
Design has never been their strong suit. I know it's not how it looks but how it sounds/works but looks do matter, especially when you're sat in front of the thing for hours on end

Design wise I think the older models have it down, in fact I still think the original MPC60 is the best looking one ever. The current InMusic stuff is very hit 'n' miss as far as design goes. I do like the Key61, that is very nicely laid out (looking very maschine-esque) and I was hoping that would be the new look going forward but they seem stuck on the "make sure everything doesn't line up" school of design, similar to recent scyscrapers where all the cladding is random!!!!

I have an X and still think it could look so much better with a little more care in button placemnt and general layout design. The one recent MPC that really nailed the look was the MPC LIVEII RETRO, that is one good looking mofo. I still regret not getting one when they were available new but having the X already I couldn't justify it. Hopefully there'll be a LIVEIII RETRO at some point.

I guess having lots of models at different price points and designs helps to sell the MPC to a wider audience, that in turn helps to fund future models and firmware/software upgrades so we can't be too upset I suppose!
I just want an nicely designed MPC XL in retro style with USB video out for my big monitor and 3.0 with linear arranger. That with the upocoming stems feature would do me just fine

So they are watering it down but having multiple units is also a good thing?

Do I need to remind you guys hardware samplers where dead in the water and how flunky the first units where software wise? Akai has a vision and they are executing it extremely well.

THXjay wrote:
I have an X and still think it could look so much better with a little more care in button placemnt and general layout design. The one recent MPC that really nailed the look was the MPC LIVEII RETRO, that is one good looking mofo. I still regret not getting one when they were available new but having the X already I couldn't justify it. Hopefully there'll be a LIVEIII RETRO at some point.

I guess having lots of models at different price points and designs helps to sell the MPC to a wider audience, that in turn helps to fund future models and firmware/software upgrades so we can't be too upset I suppose!
I just want an nicely designed MPC XL in retro style with USB video out for my big monitor and 3.0 with linear arranger. That with the upocoming stems feature would do me just fine

controller mode handles the video out request; but what makes u think there will be a live 3, lol

Whenever anyone mentions having a HDMI out to use a nice big monitor, someone always has to mention controller mode. Standalone means standing alone, not connected to a computer. I want everything in one box that I can just switch on and use, it would just be nice to have a large display....after all Roland did this years ago with the MV series and I don't recall people saying how stupid it was or they should just use a computer!
Video out is a simple request. The screen is already a video out (especially on the X where it's already virtually separate) so I don't see why it would be so hard to implement it in a future model as I presume the board already has the feature.

I had an mv and having mouse and hdmi support would be awesome. Controller mode isn’t.

THXjay wrote:Video out is a simple request. The screen is already a video out (especially on the X where it's already virtually separate) so I don't see why it would be so hard to implement it in a future model as I presume the board already has the feature.

RK3288 has HDMI support, but the MPC's display uses the board's MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) - a weird choice for desktop but common for touchscreens; practical for using the same interface for the display and it's touch-sensitive surface. So, while RK3288 HDMI Linux drivers exist, the MPC's distribution has no display path through HDMI. I'm not sure the MIPI DSI's framebuffer's could be used for the HDMI display path too - so figure a few megabytes RAM consumption. Considering the requirement for adding an HDMI port on the RK3288's currently unpopulated HDMI header, I don't see that added to this generation's MPC... Pray for it on the next generation's Ableton Push competitor from Akai !

Listen this is a budget combo workstation and I hope it sells .. they should have at least a black color option..

THXjay wrote:Whenever anyone mentions having a HDMI out to use a nice big monitor, someone always has to mention controller mode. Standalone means standing alone, not connected to a computer. I want everything in one box that I can just switch on and use, it would just be nice to have a large display....after all Roland did this years ago with the MV series and I don't recall people saying how stupid it was or they should just use a computer!
Video out is a simple request. The screen is already a video out (especially on the X where it's already virtually separate) so I don't see why it would be so hard to implement it in a future model as I presume the board already has the feature.

but the monitor ur gonna connect ur mv or mpc to is probably next to a computer; hence why akai think controller mode will suffice. The reason why mv had the monitor out was likely due to the lack of computer integration/software and connectivity at the time.

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:RK3288 has HDMI support, but the MPC's display uses the board's MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) - a weird choice for desktop but common for touchscreens; practical for using the same interface for the display and it's touch-sensitive surface. So, while RK3288 HDMI Linux drivers exist, the MPC's distribution has no display path through HDMI. I'm not sure the MIPI DSI's framebuffer's could be used for the HDMI display path too - so figure a few megabytes RAM consumption. Considering the requirement for adding an HDMI port on the RK3288's currently unpopulated HDMI header, I don't see that added to this generation's MPC... Pray for it on the next generation's Ableton Push competitor from Akai !

Yes, I second that.
Only v1 boards (og live & x) have HDMI footprints - v2 boards (live2+) have these footprints replaced with an usb ones (or ethernet - don’t remember which ones exactly atm). Anyway, internally the software is running 1200x600 / 1280x800 or thereabouts so upscaling it and dealing with flaky rock2 video out, would be too much of a hit on resources that could be used for something else.

EDIT:
you can stream the mpc screen to the outside world already but ~15fps is all you will get.
I suppose that if it’s done natively, you looking at approx 25-30 frames anyway which although is totally sufficient, it strain your eyes in a long run.

The touchscreen's size is kind of okay, video out would improve it, but it's not painfully bad. Try Sonicware's SmplTrek, it has a postage stamp sized oled display. That's painfully bad! And some people are still buying it. Things could be worse...

dustyslices wrote:

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:RK3288 has HDMI support, but the MPC's display uses the board's MIPI Display Serial Interface (DSI) - a weird choice for desktop but common for touchscreens; practical for using the same interface for the display and it's touch-sensitive surface. So, while RK3288 HDMI Linux drivers exist, the MPC's distribution has no display path through HDMI. I'm not sure the MIPI DSI's framebuffer's could be used for the HDMI display path too - so figure a few megabytes RAM consumption. Considering the requirement for adding an HDMI port on the RK3288's currently unpopulated HDMI header, I don't see that added to this generation's MPC... Pray for it on the next generation's Ableton Push competitor from Akai !

Yes, I second that.
Only v1 boards (og live & x) have HDMI footprints - v2 boards (live2+) have these footprints replaced with an usb ones (or ethernet - don’t remember which ones exactly atm). Anyway, internally the software is running 1200x600 / 1280x800 or thereabouts so upscaling it and dealing with flaky rock2 video out, would be too much of a hit on resources that could be used for something else.

EDIT:
you can stream the mpc screen to the outside world already but ~15fps is all you will get.
I suppose that if it’s done natively, you looking at approx 25-30 frames anyway which although is totally sufficient, it strain your eyes in a long run.

Buy an arm chromebook acer makes one that uses the rk3588 chipset and mali with the same specs as the mpc. (iirc its a c203) bake mrchromebox legacy bootloader, install, then make the system disk layout to match the mpc, dd all the partitions to the chromebooks new layout, link the kernel in the bootloader and then boot... also maybe plug in any modern mpc to satisfy the hw interface dependancy. (Use one with touch screen you probably need to bake kmods for it) It's not even hacking its just simple system config and migration to outsource your systems guts.

Actually....AKAI in Japanese means Red..... I think lol

Ultros wrote:

Seriously? No need to be a dick about this, FFS. I mean I get that some of ya'all hate the red, but sweet baby jebus in a kevlar handbasket...

EnochLight wrote:

Ultros wrote:

Seriously? No need to be a dick about this, FFS. I mean I get that some of ya'all hate the red, but sweet baby jebus in a kevlar handbasket...

Where's my fkn sample to pad in clips on my fkn "sampler" ? Fire his ass. Clips is one of the 6 main program groups and you cant record a clip only bounce one. Nailed it. Lets get another device out. Doesnt this site have a dedicated thread to all its problems?