Akai MPC Live - First Look

Akai give us a close up look at the new MPC Live standalone MPC. We examine the new features and hardware. New features include: audio tracks, clips launch and real-time timestretch.
£799/$1199

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[tsuobachi]

I've been using MPCs since 1996 when I spent 6 months saving up for my first mpc2000. 32 seconds of sampling, no fx, just bare bones. It changed my life for the better to say the least. I loved it. By 2004 I was 100% in the box and I'd sold all my hardware. It took another 10 years to reach the point that hardware had finally gotten good enough to be preferable to being in-the-box (imo, at least). Since 2004 I've been waiting for someone to put everything I've ever wanted from both a software AND hardware sampler into one device. This looks like the one I'd design for myself, so I'm really excited by this. I'm blown away so far by everything I've seen and heard--the time strecthing sounds really good! Finally! The octatrack had the only hardware time stretching I could tolerate before this, but this sounds better. I've been producing electronic music for just over 21 years now and this is the first sampler I've seen that gives me that warm feeling I got the first time I saw an MPC2000.

[AveMcree]

CAN'T WAIT TO OWN ONE OF THESE!!!! BUT GOODNESS THAT MPC X LOOKS

[Chevytravelleruk]

The first genuinely impressive product from Akai for a great many years.. If this machine delivers what it promises, it could be a genuine alternative to the laptop for live performance..
Well done Akai, well done..

[JakeWorrell]

The first MPC that has really interested me. Looks great!

[andreypapin]

Every review... I understand that MPC is made for me <3

[Funkbutterfly]

Thanks for asking good questions, Nick, per usual.

[oorcinus]

LOL, love the robotic "16 gig" overdub at 2:57

[sunilsolanki]

Brilliant new machines. Thanks so very much Akai for listening. If only the Live had cv outs it would replace a bunch of my gear for playing out.

[Racingheartrecords]

Nicely done! I'd also like to see a demo showing how to set up patterns in advance and chain them together to create a pre-programmed song, and then have fun with the song during the live performance: looping a pattern for a break, effects, launching clips, etc.

[ritec]

This thing is amazing, as a long time MPC user I am really happy about both the MPC Live and X.

[DanielDavissynthman]

Nick seems kind of blown away. :). So am I.

[kixxalot]

To be honest I lost my faith in Akai many years ago, but this managed to spark my interest somewhat. I'll keep an eye out for how well it does in the wild: bugs, latency etc.

[ryanjones]

Great job Andy! Particularly the mini jam at 18 mins and onwards - really showed off the screens responsiveness.

[truecuckoo]

This seems like a good one. I hope it'll be at Superbooth! Thanks Nick and Andy!

[satyanpatel]

So glad MPC is going to release standalone devices again. Many people struggled with the PC slave of their current devices. What's amazing is that MPC tried to release a identical model to this with Windows OS built in to it. So glad they didn't. Google MPC with Windows built in to see the unit I speak of.

[krakapoww]

as for the timestretch, the roland mv had this over 10 years ago. but i cant lie, the portability and daw interaction makes this a must have

[BigBadWolf..............]

I remember the touch review and Nick kept saying "yeah but this has to be hooked to a computer "
In this review, he's like " well fuck yeah" haha
I'm buying this thing. It's exactly what I want. I wanted a portable workstation, battery powered. I wanted no tiny screens and no endless stupid scrolling. I used a Korg kaossilator pro a while back for quick ideas and wished they would make a 16 track version but this is way beyond that. I have been looking for a good battery powered drum machine to go with my battery powered synths. I have a setup waiting for this so I can sit down with no mouse, no computer, and make music again like I did when I was 20. I am going to be so productive. I'll be sitting on the couch editing my tracks. Damn. I was going to save up and get an iPad Pro. Now I'm going to sell my boss rc 505, and save for this. Great time to be a musician, we are so spoiled.

[EliahHoliday]

I think they did a good job of addressing what customers have been wanting as well as adding some nice features. It's pretty pricey though, at least in CDN dollars.

[bassism]

As somebody running an MPC1k on JJOS, this looks pretty brilliant. If they manage to keep the things I like about my old box, and give me back some of the functionality I lost when I ditched my laptop, this thing could do very well.

[TeleporterM]

I think he meant you can only have 8 stretched audio tracks. He did mention that you can bounce them to disk and reopen them to have more. It may be cache or memory safeguard limit.