Akai MPC Studio

DISPLAY: The teeny LCD is the smallest on any
MPC product. It defi nitely saves real estate, but it is
full-colour, still able to provide visual feedback, and
cuts down on mouse or trackpad time
PADS: It wouldn’t be an MPC if it didn’t have pads,
and these examples seem to be the same as the
pads on the MPC One or Live; a good thing. Colours
change according to function or velocity
TOUCH STRIP: Assignable to any MPC Studio
knob, or any of the many software parameters,
whether for simple pitchbend/expression, or as just
an example – to control an LFO rate
play, with a vertical bar next to it,
similar to Apple’s (now abandoned)
MacBook Pro Touch Bar, showing
symbols relevant to the current
parameter. The RGB LCD display is
very small, but it’s crisp, the text is
legible and the colours help convey
the necessary info. This obviously
isn’t a screen you’d spend a lot of
time looking at, but it’s still useful.
The buttons are very good at reducing
mouse-time – it’s possible to select
tracks, browse and load presets, zoom
the computer screen, and apply
quantisation, amongst other things.
that’s over-served by MIDI hardware,
if anything. We remapped the
incoming MIDI note numbers to the
16 pads in Ableton drum racks, but
that’s easy enough. In this ‘dumb’
mode, all the MPC buttons send MIDI
too – they work for turning effects on/
off, or launching clips and scenes.
The MPC Studio won’t be much
appreciated by standalone die-hards,
nor by users who are already
irrevocably attached to other DAWs.
But if you’re interested in using MPC
2 as a DAW, or a plugin, and you want
those MPC pads, this is a good way to
get it. The MPC Studio doesn’t
convey the full glory of the MPC
experience, but you get some of it,
and that’s fair at this price; it’s a good
‘breakout box’ for the software.
FM VERDICT
8.0
A low impact way of adding
the MPC fl avour to your
setup. These pads certainly
bring something extra to
beat production
The mode button is the key to
accessing many other functions
directly from the pads, for example,
the step sequencer – hardware
sequencers are always fun to use and
this is no exception; in fact that was
probably the most enjoyable time we
spent with the Studio pads. You
might also choose to enter Pad
Perform mode to play a single sound
pitched across all of the pads, or to
trigger chords or scales, or even use
the pads to enter locators in the
project timeline. We couldn’t resist
trying it with Ableton Live, a DAW
SELF CONTAINED
The MPC 2 software is undeniably a fully functioning
DAW. You can use it to capture and edit samples, apply
effects, play the included instruments or other plugins,
and fi nally, bash all of that into some kind of
arrangement and export the result. We can’t help think
most users see the MPCs as beat-making devices, and
use other DAWs to fi nish projects. To this end, it’s good
to see that MPC 2 can also run as a plugin in other
DAWs, like Ableton Live. But, if you peak your budget on
the MPC Studio, just install the software and get going.
No excuses applicable – it can do everything you need.
THE ALTERNATIVES
Akai MPC One
£585
As mentioned
elsewhere, the MPC
Studio’s prime
competitors might be
other Akai hardware,
for example the MPC
One sequencer/
sampler, which adds
a 7” diagonal touch
display. It’ll integrate
with the MPC
software on a
connected computer,
but it’s also a
standalone, fully
functioning machine
in its own right.
akaipro.com
NI Maschine
Mikro £200
The Akai MPCs and
the Native
Instrument
Maschines are
clearly lined up
against each other.
Both ranges are
capable of producing
any variety of sound,
but both skew
towards beatmaking.
The Maschine Mikro
is a hardware
controller, coming in
a bundle that
includes the full
Native Instruments
Maschine software.
native-instruments.com
Reviews | Akai MPC Studio
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