MPC 3 - WTF, 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 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By J.O.BEATS Tue Dec 23, 2025 7:57 pm
I finally got to work on a LIVE3 yesterday and it was like reading Chinese lol. I did not in any way feel like I was working on an mpc, more like a control desk at NASA lol

I get why people like it though. There’s too much going on for what I use mpcs for but I 100% get the appeal

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By robleighton22 Tue Dec 23, 2025 10:35 pm
Lampdog wrote:
robleighton22 wrote:Also had a 4k which did have its own sound but its also a dinosaur.

Reading this pushes me closer to selling my beloved 4k.


Uh no what have i done haha. My main reason for getting rid of the 4k was it was starting to glitch and it took up way too much space, and my wife hated it. But i did love the workflow and it was a super focused machine. My reasons for selling it were poor reasons, it'd an absolute classic.

The Live 3 reminds me a tiny bit of the 4k in the sense they have way too many buttons, which I love. But the selling point of L3 is the USB C audio, solves so many problems and kills need for an intermediary Akai software to work with. And compared to the Push 3, Live 3 is so much nicer to work with in standalone. I hated the Push workflow, it made sense as a controller but less so standalone.

In context of all modern standalone options out there, MPC Live 3 nails it.

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Certified Beatz Wed Dec 24, 2025 12:23 am
datamancer wrote:
B-Wise wrote:Real Akai users would find workarounds & there are workaround. Maybe you tried those & still said, Nope! Either way, I hope you find something better.


you know, I'm as "real Akai user" as they come, but making apologies for a music software/hardware integrated developer firm in 2025 that actively peruses this forum is missing a chance to demand something better. It's not 1998 anymore, firmware updates don't come on floppies.

Please do better, Akai. Fix this bullshit. Hire some real developers.


Im not sure what you mean your a real Akai user aren't we all if you own one.. also what your back ground to call it a shit company? What do you want fixed in detail about the hardware/ software? It sounds like there are deeper issues and its not inmusic Brand.. some of use are beginers starting out. Some of us own vintage gear since day one or close to it.. I would like to hear about your knowledge and experience with the MPCs..
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Lampdog Wed Dec 24, 2025 12:39 am
Mike Boogie wrote:I converted or recreated everything in MPC 3 now. My 4k been collecting dust on and off for a few years now. I just need to know how good of an offer I can get for it. My screen is still crispy as well.

You just described my exact situation :lol:

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Certified Beatz Wed Dec 24, 2025 1:14 am
Lampdog wrote:
Mike Boogie wrote:I converted or recreated everything in MPC 3 now. My 4k been collecting dust on and off for a few years now. I just need to know how good of an offer I can get for it. My screen is still crispy as well.

You just described my exact situation :lol:


What you asking?

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By dazastah Fri Dec 26, 2025 2:10 am
@4k users would be feeling the mod matrix in both keygroups and drum pgms (track pgms )
In mpc 3 live iii .
There is now 8 layers of samples per pad, (huge variation with cycle mode and velocity mode)
There is a option to jump to a track when changing sequence called default track( work around )
The combination of disk streaming with audio tracks and the clip launcher means you can load a very large set for live use .(larger than any previous mpc )
The mpe articulations per pad greatly adds more expression options per pad rather than just after touch and velocity …
Larger amount of ram (workaround together with more track count and default track when changing sequence )

I hated the change with no option.. (tracks and pgms seperate per sequence)
But yeah worked around it like all tools you acquire.
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Lampdog Fri Dec 26, 2025 2:14 am
Certified Beatz wrote:What you asking?

I’m not really sure, I keep stopping myself, but time for it to get gone is
slowly creeping closer.
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By NearTao Fri Dec 26, 2025 1:59 pm
Let somebody else be the museum... museums are expensive to maintain, and only collectors and archivists have the time/money to keep all this stuff up and going. Case in point... current 4k's for sale are hitting $2500 no problem. And it wasn't *that* long ago you could get a maxed out 4k for under $1000.

My man sitting on a retirement program :D
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Lampdog Fri Dec 26, 2025 5:39 pm
NearTao wrote:My man sitting on a retirement program :D

The retirement fund is my pristine TR-808 :-D
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Ultros Fri Dec 26, 2025 5:46 pm
datamancer wrote:Hey folks,
Long time MPC user here. Started with an MPC Studio in 2012, decided it was bollocks, bought an MPC1000 with JJOS2XL - made many hundreds and hundreds of beats. Preordered the MPC Live - submitted bugs and watched it mature into a decent platform.

Recently my Live 1 kicked the bucket and started glitching out during live performances so it was time to upgrade. I use Keygroups a lot so sprung for the Keys 37

All I can say is, Akai/Inmusic, you have completely ruined the MPC experience and lost me as a customer forever. Your software reeks of non-musicians building slop that no one asked for, while axing crucial workflows that have been the defining feature of the platform for decades.

You have alienated your key userbase and I will no longer be purchasing anything you create. MPC2 was stable, used the classic workflow, and familiar to any MPC user. In fact, it was the absolute best tool for live improvisation available anywhere (except maybe a push.......)

Loading programs, running multiple tracks through those programs was THE KEY workflow for the MPC experience. Your decision to remove this feature and workflow has rendered your device a literal paperweight to me and many of your longtime users. Also who decided what buttons to expose on the Key 37? A blind dog? You guys are idiots. For years I wanted to work for Akai designing MPC software - I can now confirm that I want nothing of the sort, because you are operating like a ship of fools, unmusical nerds who don't know flow state if it punched your mom in the face.

BOO Akai. All you noobs talking about arranger mode should go back to fruity loops. Shit is absolutely terrible. I bought another 1000 with JJOS because at least you guys can't **** that up.

I want my money back. I supported you for years.


This is how I feel about it too. Some of their ideas were really good but their implementation is @#$%ED RIGHT UP. It takes me away from the music I'm making and distracts me into learning and experimenting with stuff and I really just wanna lay down the melodies in my head and chop up sounds and crap the way we always have. This whole.. clips and clip matrix thing didnt have to mutilate the workflow. -That was someones choice or perhaps it was someones *vision*. Either way it sucked the wind outta the MPC's sails...

So many users are such fans of MPC and the culture they can't think realistically about the device and make a honest critique on it because in doing so it some how destroys part of their identity to do so. So they just go along with it like everyone else smiling and clapping like that animatrix scene with the machine with glowing red eyes holding the apple at the UN meeting before it goes nuclear.

<edit redacted ranting>
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By Menco Fri Dec 26, 2025 6:42 pm
Only consistent factor in life is change.

MPC60 and 3000 were high-end studio sampling midi sequencers, marketed at professional studios. Akai's user base has shifted from professional studios and engineers, and slowly shifted to a wider audience. Professional producers and DJ's, but also the hobbyists where most of their income comes from. Don't forget Akai Pro faced financial difficulties and even bankruptcy a couple of times. Hence the fact Akai Pro stopped working with Roger Linn after the MPC3000 because they didn't want to pay his royalties anymore.

Around the turn of the century when Akai Pro changed hands hardware studio equipment was on a decline, software was the future, and with every right to be so. I am typing this on a MacBook Pro equipped with Logic Pro, basically turning my laptop into a portable studio with all the piano's, guitars, effect racks and a recorder/ sequencer with virtually an unlimited amount of tracks. The only way to make hardware still relevant in a digital world is by offering nearly as much features and flexibility as a DAW, because the few hundred of hardcore hardware sampler geeks and nerds are too few to keep a commercial bussiness afloat with.

Can't stop the change of times. I do have an MPC X SE with the latest OS, and love all the Plugins and FX it boasts, even though it's way more than I usually use on average. I do prefer the workflow on the older machines, but am also fully aware of the fact that this way of working is not on top of mind with the Akai development crew. So for that reason I stick to my MPC2500 and 500, despite the extra time and hassle it takes to maintain the machines, or do other tasks on it like multitracking/ mixing and file management.
So you either embrace the future with the new MPC's, and if that's not your thing just stick with the old. Simple as that.
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Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By kja Fri Dec 26, 2025 8:55 pm
Ultros wrote:
datamancer wrote:Hey folks,
Long time MPC user here. Started with an MPC Studio in 2012, decided it was bollocks, bought an MPC1000 with JJOS2XL - made many hundreds and hundreds of beats. Preordered the MPC Live - submitted bugs and watched it mature into a decent platform.

Recently my Live 1 kicked the bucket and started glitching out during live performances so it was time to upgrade. I use Keygroups a lot so sprung for the Keys 37

All I can say is, Akai/Inmusic, you have completely ruined the MPC experience and lost me as a customer forever. Your software reeks of non-musicians building slop that no one asked for, while axing crucial workflows that have been the defining feature of the platform for decades.

You have alienated your key userbase and I will no longer be purchasing anything you create. MPC2 was stable, used the classic workflow, and familiar to any MPC user. In fact, it was the absolute best tool for live improvisation available anywhere (except maybe a push.......)

Loading programs, running multiple tracks through those programs was THE KEY workflow for the MPC experience. Your decision to remove this feature and workflow has rendered your device a literal paperweight to me and many of your longtime users. Also who decided what buttons to expose on the Key 37? A blind dog? You guys are idiots. For years I wanted to work for Akai designing MPC software - I can now confirm that I want nothing of the sort, because you are operating like a ship of fools, unmusical nerds who don't know flow state if it punched your mom in the face.

BOO Akai. All you noobs talking about arranger mode should go back to fruity loops. Shit is absolutely terrible. I bought another 1000 with JJOS because at least you guys can't **** that up.

I want my money back. I supported you for years.


This is how I feel about it too. Some of their ideas were really good but their implementation is @#$%ED RIGHT UP. It takes me away from the music I'm making and distracts me into learning and experimenting with stuff and I really just wanna lay down the melodies in my head and chop up sounds and crap the way we always have. This whole.. clips and clip matrix thing didnt have to mutilate the workflow. -That was someones choice or perhaps it was someones *vision*. Either way it sucked the wind outta the MPC's sails...

So many users are such fans of MPC and the culture they can't think realistically about the device and make a honest critique on it because in doing so it some how destroys part of their identity to do so. So they just go along with it like everyone else smiling and clapping like that animatrix scene with the machine with glowing red eyes holding the apple at the UN meeting before it goes nuclear.

<edit redacted ranting>

I don’t feel like this, I love the live 3, I have no idea how to use clips or the clips matrix.. I have never used it and probably won’t ever. I use it just like I always have since the 2000xl. I do like having the extra plug ins and being able to work with audio files now. I don’t feel it is that big a deal though, it took a few weeks to get comfortable but it wasn’t anything that would put me off any new mpc’s going forward.

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By jpeg Fri Dec 26, 2025 10:07 pm
Ultros wrote:
This is how I feel about it too. Some of their ideas were really good but their implementation is @#$%ED RIGHT UP. It takes me away from the music I'm making and distracts me into learning and experimenting with stuff and I really just wanna lay down the melodies in my head and chop up sounds and crap the way we always have. This whole.. clips and clip matrix thing didnt have to mutilate the workflow. -That was someones choice or perhaps it was someones *vision*. Either way it sucked the wind outta the MPC's sails...

So many users are such fans of MPC and the culture they can't think realistically about the device and make a honest critique on it because in doing so it some how destroys part of their identity to do so.


u can still lay melodies and chop sounds in the same way as before, u dont have to use clips.

some people are offended by new features; just ignore the features that dont interest u or that dont fit ur workflow.

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By B-Wise Fri Dec 26, 2025 11:17 pm
jpeg wrote:
Ultros wrote:
This is how I feel about it too. Some of their ideas were really good but their implementation is @#$%ED RIGHT UP. It takes me away from the music I'm making and distracts me into learning and experimenting with stuff and I really just wanna lay down the melodies in my head and chop up sounds and crap the way we always have. This whole.. clips and clip matrix thing didnt have to mutilate the workflow. -That was someones choice or perhaps it was someones *vision*. Either way it sucked the wind outta the MPC's sails...

So many users are such fans of MPC and the culture they can't think realistically about the device and make a honest critique on it because in doing so it some how destroys part of their identity to do so.


u can still lay melodies and chop sounds in the same way as before, u dont have to use clips.

some people are offended by new features; just ignore the features that dont interest u or that dont fit ur workflow.

You can even use the clip-matrix as you would sequences, where each row=a Seq, but with the flexibility to play different clips outside of that row/seq. Plus, they added the row follow action (a basic but important feature, Force users had to wait about 6 six years for).

The other benefit of of the matrix is that you can see 8 row/seqs & 8 tracks at once, as well as see the whole project via the Navigation menu, which can be used to quickly jump to other parts of the matrix.

I think some will never like somethings & others will change their minds. People in drug recovery say that, the worst addicts makes for the best councilors...

Re: MPC 3 - WTF, AKAI?

By robleighton22 Sat Dec 27, 2025 1:15 am
I gave the clip workflow a go. Was an Ableton user, Push 2 & 3. etc as well as old school MPCs.

Love the fact its an option, hate it as the dominant workflow for song creation. Whilst it adds flexibility i find it forces me down rabbit holes. Whereas working within a defined 2, 4 or 8 bar sequence is a more limited but focused workflow. But having the ability to add one or two variations, or solo tracks that are not coupled to the main sequence is amazing.

I disagree that working in clip matrix is easier. If you use upto 8 tracks maybe, but if you use more than 8 tracks it gets confusing. I prefer track mute style sequencing as that allows you to work with 16 tracks in one view.
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