The 500 ships with four demo tracks which do a good job of showcasing the MPC's sound and playability. Immediate, fun and intuitive are the three words that spring to mind with this latest MPC. The front panel features a slot for a Compact Flash card, while the underside of the unit reveals a big feature of the MPC500 a battery compartment for six AAs.Īdd this feature to the new compact size and it's clear Akai want to push this box as a creative solution for live musicians. Round the back, you'll find line level stereo in and out, MIDI In/Out, USB and headphone ports and a toggle switch to power up the LCD's backlight. The rest of the top panel features transport controls, a volume control and gain dial for input sources, plus Akai's Q-link controller.Įlsewhere, assorted buttons provide access to the MPC's various modes, which we'll get to very shortly. The 500 also breaks with the MPC tradition of offering 16 pads, with 12 instead present the 500 is considerably smaller than its peers, so this is simply a decision designed to save space. Sequences can be ordered and saved into songs, 20 of which can be held onboard. The sequencer offers 100,000 steps, with capacity for 99 sequences. On the sample front, the 500 offers 16-bit, 44.1kHz sampling with 16MB of memory. The MPC500 joins the range at the bottom of the ladder at the bottom of the ladder, offering an affordable way to get your hands on the technology. For as long as this remains true, the legend will endure. It's easy to find interviews and testimonies from countless producers who continue to swear by their Akai units. The immediacy of the system described above shouldn't be underestimated and neither should its playability.Īlso, the early days of DAW development, particularly when MIDI and audio were first housed under one roof, had many of us recoiling from horrible timing clashes between different types of data - none of which troubled the trusty MPC range. The MPC has endured, in part, as not everyone is as taken with the DAW concept as us studio types. So, what does the MPC have to offer us now? And how does this latest model, the MPC500, Fit into the rest of Akai's range? But in these days of all-singing, all-dancing DAWs, our needs have changed and functionality of this type isn't just standard, it's been equalled and surpassed by the functions offered by software-based sequencers.
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