Akai is back at NAMM this year

I doubt that Kontakt or any NI synth plugin will run on an MPC standalone assuming that their core libs run only on Mac as AU and Windows as VST (VST2 !!!). So they had not only to adapt to the touch UI but also to the OS (Linux). Is the MPC user base that big to justify all that work?

Maybe they could pull it off for some less CPU demanding FX plugins.

Or they give their try on the Play series. Very limited UI and half sample based. The user can only tweak sounds so system resourced can be guarded.

I think this is reasonable, but I doubt that it is what you guys want to get.

40Beatz wrote:Why do you think AIR joined with Akai?

Air was in hiatus for a long time. I think Loom II was the last synth or FX they built. After that they only kept on selling their old plugins.

I doubt if the had any programmers left. So any knowledge has probably to be learned from the old source code or brought in again with new staff.

Straker wrote:

40Beatz wrote:It makes "Cents" My man. Companies Joining together make Economical Sense. InMusic is built on joining Companies. Why do you think AIR joined with Akai? Bcz they're good at Sound Design and Effects. Joining with Native Instruments would elevate the Preset Sound Market for Akai....Possibly help them with the Akai Software DAW

NI is boring, it sounds boring, they have no esperience with analog domain, it's just digital stuff of beginnings of 2000s, sterile, high tech stuff.
Akai has nothing to learn from them.
And if MPC turns into a ready made preset box, I am gonna look for some more serious sampler, that's it.

Maybe...But NI have a Cult Following ($$$)

Sorry to tell you...But its been on the Preset Box Path for years now

Masi wrote:

40Beatz wrote:Why do you think AIR joined with Akai?

Air was in hiatus for a long time. I think Loom II was the last synth or FX they built. After that they only kept on selling their old plugins.

I doubt if the had any programmers left. So any knowledge has probably to be learned from the old source code or brought in again with new staff.

Air is making an excellent job and if you ask me, I would not have kept MPC if it was not for Air.
They saved MPC putting their fx (imagine that before we only had Akai fx, just to say), they are improving the fx step by step (Delay Pro?) and Opx4 is one of the best FM synth I tried lately.
So why do we need NI now?
I still don't get it.

Preset Sound Bandits Need Their Love

40Beatz wrote:Preset Sound Bandits Need Their Love

So go and get a rompler, there are much better options then MPC for that.
And if MPC becomes a preset box, it's game over for Akai.

BigUncleBucks wrote:

Straker wrote:If the news at Namm will be a buggy MPC3 and direct connection with NI stuff, I will be very disappointed about the direction Akai is taking.
But I still don't think it will be this.
We are all speculating about a picture on internet, isn't it?

I'd be real happy if I could use NI/Arturia/Roland/Korg plugins on the Force / MPC. The reality is the current hardware just won't cut it though.

Just give us 4GB of RAM, fix the Midi note off bug, follow actions on the Force and stop making devices in bleeding haemaroid red colours and we'd all be good AKAI. Don't overthink it ma dudes.

4gb of ram no thx, at least 8 till 16gb please, real updates to the units stop the milkcow. Or even easy ram replacement, like push3se

Straker wrote:

40Beatz wrote:Preset Sound Bandits Need Their Love

So go and get a rompler, there are much better options then MPC for that.
And if MPC becomes a preset box, it's game over for Akai.

I'm on your team lol. I don't see another Portable "Rompler/Sampler" on the Market that can Rival the MPC. The New Generation MPCs have been going in that Direction for years now. The most money Akai has generated in a Long Time lol. Seems like its "Game On" with InMusic. In my Opinion...Native Instruments needs this Boost as well.

@ 40beatz

Quite sad to realize that MPC could be the most advanced sampler on the market but they use their resources to make it a preset rompler box.
By the way, the fact that they changed the structure and don't allow to use the same program for different tracks anymore is also a very bad signal, because that was the starting point of MPC when it was famous as a sampler.
I am afraid this means they don't care anymore about MpC as a sampler.
I think I will stay on 2.15 for a long time, and if it keeps going this way, I will look for some alternative.

Unfortunately...You are Totally Correct. Making it a Professional Sampler would be Great for us Samplers and traditional Beatmakers. InMusic/Akai Cares about the Bottom Line before anything. Akai Would be competing with Modern Computers when comes to the Sampling Department.

I'm Not a Sound Designer,,,,But Honestly...I think the Sampling Editing Capabilities are Decent

Straker wrote:I still don't get it.

I'm not sure why the concept is so difficult for you to understand.

Straker wrote:So go and get a rompler, there are much better options then MPC for that.
And if MPC becomes a preset box, it's game over for Akai.

See, this is just silly. There is absolutely NO reason why the MPC can't be both, and in fact - one could easily make the argument that in 2025 - it should be both. It's not "game over" for Akai. They rightfully recognize that there is a market and user-base for both, which is why we've been able to optionally buy plugins (both effects and instruments) for many years on the MPC now.

Straker wrote:I am afraid this means they don't care anymore about MpC as a sampler.

How is that true? Just because they have made a bunch of optional plugins a side hustle doesn't equate to: doesn't care about MPC as a sampler. Akai (InMusic) are a business, and they must sell stuff to keep that business liquid. Relying on just the MPC as a sampler for old MPC-heads who can't see the forest through the trees is not going to keep them afloat. It also doesn't mean that the core MPC sampler isn't important. But we'll just have to see what MPC 3 ends up bringing to core sampler features as time progresses, won't we? I'm sure 2025 will be full of surprises.

Straker wrote:I think I will stay on 2.15 for a long time.

That seems like a logical path for you (and probably many others). No harm in that. And no shame.

Straker wrote:and if it keeps going this way, I will look for some alternative.

You mean if it keeps going the way it has been for almost the past decade??! Lol... you probably should hav started your search a long time ago, friend.

40Beatz wrote:ALL COMPANIES THAT WANT TO SURVIVE Care about the Bottom Line before anything.

Fixed that for you.

please just find a new sampler already

Straker wrote:@ 40beatz

Quite sad to realize that MPC could be the most advanced sampler on the market but they use their resources to make it a preset rompler box.
By the way, the fact that they changed the structure and don't allow to use the same program for different tracks anymore is also a very bad signal, because that was the starting point of MPC when it was famous as a sampler.
I am afraid this means they don't care anymore about MpC as a sampler.
I think I will stay on 2.15 for a long time, and if it keeps going this way, I will look for some alternative.

I've got mixed feelings about this, my DAW of choice is the old school Digital Performer and it shares some similarities to the MPC 2, plugins can live in a "V-Rack" (virtual rack), that any MIDI track can access across multiple sequences. The issue with V-racked plugins is they don't do automation, which in DP is tied to the instrument track, since the instrument lives in a V-Rack it's not on a track per say. So the only automation you get is MIDI CC automation if the plugin is in a V-Rack.

Just saying, when they started in 3 to make a more complex editable arrangement page, they even stated in a business conference you can find online that they would have to change the MPC workflow in ways some people would not like. In other words, the decision was made to go with an editable arranger over a flexible pool of Programs, and the issues decades later after virtual instrument plugins became the norm in Digital Performer could be why they jettisoned Programs as separate from tracks. So I don't know why DP doesn't do track automation of V-Racks at this point, and I don't know why Akai ditched Programs as separate from tracks? but the limitations of one editable linear sequencer seems to be the similarity..

I'm not that happy about it either, I bought the MPC to be a traditional drum machine / sampler I could use in standalone as a workstation and occasionally as a VSTi in a DAW on the computer if I wanted a more complete arranger, endless plugins and extreme MIDI editing.

Straker wrote:

40Beatz wrote:Preset Sound Bandits Need Their Love

So go and get a rompler, there are much better options then MPC for that.
And if MPC becomes a preset box, it's game over for Akai.

Do you own an mpc? You do realize they are just computers right? There’s no analog sound to them. They are exactly like a laptop with a interface

And they already changed the legacy mpc witkfkow. And it is very much a “preset box”.

I dont understand the disappointment.. is it because of NI possibly working together? or is it because akai is branching out to rompler style synths.. some of use use our MPC'S in standalone midi or usb to there computer and use plugins like myself its nothing new just be happy.. I use my MPC 2000 & 3000 with serato sample and maschine software for kits .. what is the big deal..