Corry BanksToday, Pete and Geoff from Akai Professional revealed a look into the MPC 1.8 update.
Looks like Akai Pro is working hard to satisfy the needs of the MPC heads. Thats a good look, indeed. Still, some features may be a bit unappealing to those that aren’t MPC heads. One such viewer and none MPC Head mentioned to me that the software looks more complicated with each update and that, for him, is not appealing. I think thats a valid point, especially with the added menu diving. I mean really? 4 additional pages on the sample tab for non destructive chops?!?! Great feature, but I’m not so sure about hiding it in some drilled down menu. But to be fair, these are features we want and have requested. Not sure we could get around the menu diving.
At any rate, this update looks to be huge and I can see a good deal of useful updates here. Some of which I can’t believe took so long. For instance, the “Ability to to record through VST and AU effects chains”. I actually sample thru with effects on my MPC 5000. Nice to see this feature there.
On a personal note… I dig the “Non-destruction chop” option. This absolutely kills me in my own workflow. Making tons of derived samples is a memory killer and can eventually lead to corrupt programs because of the huge load placed on memory with duplicative samples. Good one.
Admittedly, this looks like a really good update for MPC REN and Studio users. I can’t imagine what 2.0 will be like. More vintage modes are never a bad thing, by the way. Not to mention, the pad perform mode is huge with the way you can map various scales and chords across pads. An overall good showing for Akai Pro with this 1.8 update.
Check out the update video below.
► Dramatically improved sample editing experience
► Non-destruction chop
► implemented in both the sample world and in pad parameters
► Live sample chop
► Ability to to record through VST and AU effects chains
► Input insert effects
► Built-in live looper
► Pad perform mode
► Vintage emulation
► Comprehensive non-destructive chop
Other enhancements include non-destruction sample reverse and pad offset parameter, but the big news for 1.8 is that we’ve added the non-destructive sample chop with two variations.