New Akai MPCs

Meet the compact MPC Live and flagship MPC X

Ever since Akai launched the Renaissance, their first ‘controller’ MPC, in 2012, there have been calls from certain parts of the music production community for a return to the classic standalone, laptop-free MPC format. Now, with the launch of a new generation of the Music Production Center, Akai are answering those requests. This latest line of MPCs comes in two flavours: the compact, portable MPC Live and the flagship MPC X. Both straddle the divide between newer and older generation MPCs with their ability to run both as standalone production tools and as controllers for the MPC software.

The MPC Live is the smaller of the two, housed in a relatively compact, touchscreen-equipped chassis that isn’t massively dissimilar to that of last year’s MPC Touch. It’s equipped with 16 velocity and pressure sensitive performance pads, which act as the main tool for playing and sequencing. Around the back it features six configurable ¼-inch outputs along with a mini-jack headphone output and two inputs (RCA and ¼-inch jack). There are also two USB ports and an SD card slot for loading samples into the machine, along with MIDI in and out.

Under the hood, the MPC Live has a multicore processor with 2GB of RAM and an expandable 16GB drive for storage. Possibly the most interesting aspect of the MPC Live is the fact that it runs off a built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, meaning it can be used to record, perform and sequence away from any power source – making it arguably the most ‘standalone’ MPC ever.

The X factor

The MPC X, meanwhile, is something of a behemoth. Alongside the expected 16 pads, the X features a 10.1-inch touchscreen, an array of 66 buttons promising “direct access to all aspects of the MPC software” and 16 touch-capacitive, fully configurable control rotaries with their own OLED displays.

It pulls no punches on the connectivity front either, boasting eight balanced ¼-inch jack outputs, four inputs covering XLR, RCA and instrument jacks, dual headphone outputs, USB, SD card and four MIDI ports. It also has eight configurable CV/gate outputs for sequencing analogue or modular gear, and 16GB of expandable onboard storage.

Both MPCs natively run the same MPC 2.0 software used by the current generation of MPC controllers. Each unit has 10GB of sound content and a full licence for the software, which can run either standalone or as a plug-in on Mac and PC, so projects can easily be transferred between a computer and the MPC units.

Both MPCs are due within the first quarter of 2017, the MPC Live at £819 and the MPC X at £1,499.