To recap what MPC has to offer, it’s a multitrack workstation offering drum kits, sampled and synth instruments, loop launching and sample chopping.
It’s a perfectly sized addition to a laptop setup, and the drum pads are the usual MPC quality. The Studio relies on your computer system and other peripherals for audio I/O, but it does act as a single‑port MIDI interface via a pair of mini‑jack connectors. The hardware will automatically spring into life any time the MPC app or plug‑in is running on your computer. In fact there are a number of tasty new instruments and effects since the last time we reviewed an MPC: see the ‘Force 10’ box. The MPC Studio comes as a combined hardware and software package, with the full version of the MPC software, a library of kits, instruments, loops and samples and the complete suite of virtual instruments you get with any other MPC. It made me excited to get stuck into playing it. It has my favourite set of physical properties for a hybrid controller: it slots tidily between a keyboard and computer display, is powered by USB, and fits in a bag. My first impressions of the MPC Studio were really positive, it’s an attractive and low‑profile slab, it feels really good and seems solid and well built.
MPC and MPC Beats actually have generously open MIDI control mapping capabilities, and factory templates for other popular controllers, but it’s always hard to match the integration of a purpose‑designed tactile surface with control sets, workflows and visual feedback aligned with software. Studio is Akai’s next‑generation hybrid MPC, a pure controller that acts as a hardware front end to the MPC desktop software and plug‑in. This may have been an effective gateway drug strategy: if you’ve been hooked into MPC as a plug‑in, the natural next step would be to add a dedicated hardware controller. More recently, a very capable free version of the MPC software, dubbed MPC Beats, has brought new users to the MPC platform. The MPC has reclaimed a lot of lost ground in the last four years, thanks to the excellent standalone workstations, MPC X and Live. The MPC Studio provides an affordable middle ground between Akai’s software and hardware MPCs.
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