Akai Professional Sampling Sequencers

Seems a bit dated by todays standards. I wish it had effects but judgeing by what i hear about AKAI doesn't have the best effects. Nothing can touch the timing feel of this beast and to this day it is STILL the only sequencer i use. Price paid: $2200 UTILIZATION Very easy learning curve. I have not had such fun since my ENSONIQ EPS days. Once you get into this everything is second nature. I just wish it had a grafical screen. Durability: Like a BULL on steroids! My son got a piece of gum stuck inside my floppy and it still worked like charm! (yes the gum is out) SOUNDS Great Quality for HIP-HOP! That's mostly what i use it for. OVERALL OPINION I have have RM1X,MC909,and MP-7 sequencer(s), but the MPC is the only one i use. It's still that good! If i could put a pair of 42(.)(.)double dees, i would marry her Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: elmcity (January 0-, 2004)

The MPC 100 is full of great features. Usb, effects, 3 filters (high,low and band pass), up to 128 mb of ram, and you can save to compact flash cards. It is missing timestrecth and zoning but those can be done outside of the mpc via computer. I don't necessarily do either cause when I want to change the speed of my sample I'm used to just pitching it down and also the extract feature is very easy to get used to. (The extract feature does the same thing as zoning basically). UTILIZATION This mpc is very, very easy to use. Some things I needed the manual to figure out. But most of the stuff I figured out on my own. I wish they would've made the layout more like the 60's though. Plus the stock sounds on it are horrible, you will def need to upload your own kits as soon as you power it up. Do not use any of the stock kits and sounds. They are very unprofessional and everyone will be able to tell you used the stock kits. SOUNDS It has a nice quality sound. It doesn't sound as warm and thick as other samplers I have messed with but, when you know what your doing you can make it sound really warm and thick. Basically it doesn't anything extra to the sound like lower bit rate samplers do. What you put in is what you get back out. OVERALL OPINION I really love the MPC 100 because it was my first but I think I might be upgrading soon. Everything just seems so hard to do on a little screen, that makes it very hard. But for the price you really cant beat it. You get a MPC (legendary machine) for a low price and can still do almost everything the others can. But It.

Akai Mpc 500 Specs and Features Battery powered/AC powered 16 midi channels/48 track sequencer 32 voice sampler 128 ram max velocity sensitive pads (12) USB port (storage/transfer usage Compact flash storage Wav/Midi file support Headphone/Analog/Midi I/O Low-pass filter On-board effects UTILIZATION Like other mpcs it's best used for 4/4 timing pattern based music. I've used it for other types of music again as most music production applications or hardware units, it all comes down to the units and the needs of that producer. I like to use the little box to get ideas out while I'm traveling on the road, it comes in handy when doing production projects for clients: Artists TV companies Video game companies Websites That's just a small list but I think you get the what throwing out there. SOUNDS The akai mpc 500 comes with some pretty good stock sounds, nothing I would throw away but nothing I would use for all of my production. The sounds are good but please do consider getting your sound by purchasing them or creating them yourself. The A/D converters are not bad I would suggest getting a third party sampler such as a Sp303,akas950 or something with a little bit of character in it. This will give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to production as well as your own sound. OVERALL OPINION The akai mpc 500 comes with some pretty good stock sounds, nothing I would throw away but nothing I would use for all of my production. The sounds are good but please do consider getting your sound by purchasing them or creating them yourself. The A/D converters are not bad I would suggest getting a third party sampler such as a Sp303,akas950 or something with a little bit of character in it. This will give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to production as well as your own sound. In my personal opinion If you are after portability then this is a great unit if you are after more features then the mpc 1000 would be a better option. The 500 unit is a really slim cut version of the 1000 and you can't install JJOS on it which means you will have to get use to the OS that Akai supplies which isn't so great but again that's my person opinion. Also, you can't directly record into the 500 (this is a big draw back) but again still a great machine if you are needing to creat music while you travel

The Akai MPC 4000 is a powerful sampler, much like all of Akai’s sampling machines they have come out with over the years. If you are into hip hop and rap music, then having an MPC is what you need to get. They are priced high but its well worth the money. The Akia MPC 4000 has a great sample right and still keeps that gritty sound of hip hop that we all love. UTILIZATION The MPC 4000 isnt easy to use when you first start using it, it will look like a space ship if you are new to using the MPC brands. But once you get the hang of it and know where all of the menu’s buttons and how to get your workflow together on it you will be on your way to being a great producers. SOUNDS Sounds are great, but not the stock sounds that come with the MPC. You will definitely need to load up your own kits, because all of the stock drums are very boring, kind of like when you purchase a software music program and they come with the basic drums and sounds. They aren’t very good so have your own ready to go. OVERALL OPINION Overall you cant beat going with the MPC, you can have all of your kits loaded onto the memory card and have them load up automatically right away as soon as you turn the mpc on. Downside of the MPC 4000 is that the screen is small. So if you are coming from a software program like cubase or fl studio you are use to editing midi notes on a big screen. You will have to do this on a little screen with this machine, it can be a pain. But you can always sync it up with your software and do it all on the computer anyways!

This is great for drums! It would be nice to get the FX board standard for the money spent. Price paid $1400 UTILIZATION Right outta the box you can lay down drum tracks. Its got a lot of hidden features not covered in the manual- so it takes a while to master. Perfect for gigging. Adds live feel to a show. SOUNDS Excellent sound and sampling engine. Pro quality all the way. OVERALL OPINION This is a great machine for making beats. Get this and a synth or sampler and you're good to go! Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: Unknown (January 0-, 2002)

I know this would be expecting too much, but I wish it could have transpose function+ bit faster time stretching Price paid 1350$ UTILIZATION Very easy to use, but if you are newbie for a drum machine, U might get into trouble understanding the system. the manual is ,,well,, wrttien in such dry language(since it is direct translation of japanese..) I hope they could be little bit more descriptive. After U fully comprehend the system of MPC, there is a lever where you press buttons and pads on mpc fast than you type. the soft rubber pads do excellent job at programming with dynamic drum hits, you can even control the sensitivity of the pads. I never had any mecanical problems, but being made from factory does not guarantee you that yours will have the same quality as mine does. I have heard couple of my friends saying their mpcs freeze a lot, and somehow mine does faster time stretching than theirs....... SOUNDS Good OVERALL OPINION Where I have used 3 drum machines(mc307, Dr202, mc 505) and 2 samplers(mpc and sp-808), and even though these are disparate machines, mpc's Drum machine+sampler feature outstands. Dynamic pads and slice function will leave you with full of space to fill in your creative and experimental ideas on the pads. If you are into producing dirty and gritty hip-hop I suggest MPC-60(lower sampling bit), but if you want next sequence+track mute function, get mpc2000XL, I find track mute function quiet useful Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: Unknown (January 0-, 2002)

It's missing a faster processor. Timestrecth is SLOW! 8 outs should be standard. I LOVE THE SCREEN! Price paid $1250.00-NEW UTILIZATION I managed to figure out how to scale the keys in order on my rack so I can play the pads like a piano. If you are a newbie I suggest you master the 2000 first. SOUNDS No complaints. Everything is good. OVERALL OPINION Built FORD TOUGH. Never had to get it repaired 10--makes the 2000 seem like crap. I waited years to get this thing and I appreciate it. It's the center of my studio. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: bhardman ( 9-, 2005)

The features on this machine are hot, there are some things I feel that AKAI could have improved on or done differently such as the effects, the effects in this new machine are hot but why change the layout? The way the layout was in the 2000XL was good, you could use 5 effects on 1 sound and you had reverb 1, 2 and Multi 1 and 2. Here on the 2500 you can only chain 2 effects together then you have one main effect. The machine has its good and bad parts, but who am I to talk, I’m just an Invisible man! All in all I like it. Price paid 3 months teaching private gym lessons=1999.00 UTILIZATION If you are new to the sampler/sequencer lingo you will get lost of course but MPC's have always been some easiest machines to use, I have owned the ASR 10, MPC 2000, 2000XL, Triton and now the 2500 and the MPC's have always been the easiest machine to use. I think AKAI should have never changed the functions off of the number keys but it is something that all the new cats to MPC's won't have issues with all the old heads are still looking for the same layout but we will get used to it. I have only had it for a few weeks and it looks very sturdy. AKAI seems to make very durable stuff; I don't intend to put it in the cage with my Assonate gorilla so it's durable enough. SOUNDS I think the sound quality is better than the 2000Xl and I own both machines. Strong points-AKAI added new features such as chop shop, Grid edit, four MIDI outs etc. Weak points- some of the things like chop shop need OS system upgrades before the will work at full capacity (It works great on small loops w/ drums only but once you go beyond just drums and a certain length, you will run into issues) Due to experience I know how to get around the those things OVERALL OPINION I'm feelin it enough to know that I will have it for years to come, so the love is there. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: The Invisible Men (January 2-, 2005)