Man. Wether I agree or disagree with your opinions you always have the most balanced opinions and by far, the best visual presentation of them all. Again, well done! Props on all the videos. Keep them coming. Signed A fan
Omg that's the sickest intro I've ever heard/seen. When you THX'ed it. 😭 I'm going outside for a walk to process this then I'll come back and watch the rest of the review.
Watch closely to this video my dear people at Native Instruments! Because this is how you use your build in display(s) to enhance the user experience when using plugins. Not the boring NI way of displaying the plugin name in a gigantic font and some white numbers in the lower part wasting all that nice double screen space of a Machine or S49.
On the bright side NI will probably sticks to the multiple-screen paradigm of their controllers and I'll be able to have a mixer on one, a multi-track view with clip capabilities on the other, and instruments and effects controls on a third although many instrument controls will be hardware. Anyway someone will eventually make a workstation like that.
as a maschine user since 2012 or so- i believe native instruments is done as far as innovation goestheir entire last 4 years has been a money grab and bs development just to say they "did" something. I dont see them rising to this occasion anytime soon- maybe theyll surprise me but even if they do they would want to charge 5 or 6 grand for something like this- noway theyre going to push it at an 1800 retail price ensuring most of us will never buy it except on the black market.
Montage/MODX also have a great integration with the DAW via Montage/MODX Connect, which synchronizes the performance in the synth and saves it in the DAW, and also lets you drag and drop your patterns from the synth into the DAW. So great for the described workflow of sketching on the synth and developing in the DAW.
Great overview. I’ve been using mine for a few weeks. Love it. More cons (not specific to Key 61) include 1) you can’t just connect to your computer and choose MPC as your sound interface. You must open the MPC software to connect it as an interface. MODX is much nicer in this regard. Plug and play. 2) controller mode doesn’t maintain user defined icon positions, so if you’re switching back and forth between standalone and controller modes, at least as of now, I’d recommend leaving the default icon positions, which sucks. 3) there’s pretty long load times for the new plugins and a lot of the new expansions. But Hype and the older ones still run as quickly as they did in prior OS. It’s unusual to have such lags when switching presets on a software synth today. And some expansions that load up drum samples on several pad layers can take a notable amount of time to load. Not sure if that’s the case on Live and One etc. but overall this latest OS just feels slow to load presets and change projects - which is a serious negative vs MODX. You don’t cutoff sounds when switching tracks so that’s key for gigging but I wish a key combination would hold the track matrix view achieved by holding down Menu. That would be analogous to MODX live mode where you have a grid of performances to select as you’re gigging. I want that grid of tracks to stay up on the MPC screen
I love the way you get straight into it, no monotonous intros and needless jabbering (those guy just love the sound of their own voices) Very informative and to the point. Bravo 👍
Imagine if this thing had USB 4, and could drive a second external display over USB C. I think Akai could really compete with DAW's if they advance this stuff enough.
One thing I think mpc need to update is audition actually. You should have the option to audition kits playing an already inputted midi drum loop. Being able to audition that on the fly would be much more useful to the user. I don't think that's been implemented but it should be.
Oh, Akai is definitely primed to win the workstation wars. It’s already probably the most relevant widely used hardware sequencer/sampler in music. If they can match or beat the top 3 companies with sound libraries and price... yeah, game over... Well, until Native Instruments blends Machine and Kontakt🤯
@@leonaRt7470 nope its 1800 and i thought that was surprisingly affordable considering the price of the maschine+ at 1399 for just a drum controller thats not true standalone.- sweetwater has it at 1899 or somethin like that- its in my cart lol
Thanks, perfect review for me😀 you mentioned in first minute & didn’t assume it would just interest current mpc users. I’ve never been interested in an MPC but a Decent keyboard intergrated with first rate sampler plus hardware sequencer is a very appealing combination to me. Can’t wait to try one store when they become available.
Pro: Don't forget, you can also take the advantage of of using Autosampler to clone other keyboards with ease, something that was sorely missed with former Open Labs owners who are used to using MimiK.
Akai did their thing on this one it might be up there with the Great keyboard workstations if they keep updating the software like they have been the past 2 years
More like the past 5 years! The difference between the first MPC Live/X at launch in 2017 and today is simply mind boggling, and all for free (well aside from the new plugins that are being sold optionally now)...
*they addressed most of my cons from the previous video, however don't worry I have a bunch of new ones later on" ... I died laughing lmao 👊🤣👍 your vids are great and love the in depth discussions regarding features and function. Great work brother!
The loading times would be really difficult for this as a live tool. It reminds me a bit of my old Alesis Fusion, which would load sample-based patches into RAM as needed, which is cool except for load times. That’s a surprisingly big deal when you’re trying to react in anything other than a very “scripted” type performance. If you’re in an improv situation, you need to be able to change and find sounds unexpectedly. The instant loading and smooth sound transitions on something like Kronos/Nautilus are hugely helpful (and they also allow cross-engine sound searching/categorization). Since they are attempting to compete in the workstation market, it’s unfortunate that features from 2012 are missing here, even if this innovates in some other ways.
"akai" just makes toys ....if someone can have fun with them and get creative, cool ...but unfortunately nothing about this is professional...but costumers don't mind and just buy the next toy akai brings out, still complaining or hoping in the forums that it will get better next update, and that for years
@@CaidicusProductions which of akais products do you have? ....i read that the force is a few steps ahead of all their other products but i just have experience with the mpcs
@@CaidicusProductions I couldn't even say I respected the opinion much. The MPC has been used in professional production since the dawn of time. To say they just make toys is a ridiculous statement. This is like saying Shure make only toy microphones, or Technics make toy turntables.
@@snubdawg1386 I've owned an MPC Live since 2017 and have made a lot of music with it, it being the center of my dawless setup. With all of the updates Akai have put out for it, it has only gotten better over the years. That is, at least, how I feel about it. It's unfortunate that you haven't been able to enjoy a similarly rewarding experience with your device.
Plug in keyboard to Akai Force and you get disk streaming, arranger view and multi-track view which this lacks (neither mentioned as cons on this video) and clip launching (mentioned as lacking) View and lots of buttons. Worth checking out price for other MPCs of new software instruments it’s ridiculous! $500!! Oh but Akai didn’t update the Force’s operating system or give these instruments to any of their other MPCs, ensure you couldn’t just plug in a keyboard to your MPC. The MPC community is really upset about this. Thank you for another excellent video.
Thanks for the kind words about the video. I mentioned Force has better sequencing (I meant the arranger too...) and re lack of disk streaming indeed I don't think it's a "con" in light of the 2x free memory (at least) but of course the comment section is what other opinions are for :)
I feel the complaint but I also see why they are paying way more for the keys and other platforms get the luxury of the software because of the technological age we're in. The price tag is steep for the plugins but then again they are deep, like similarly priced PC or Mac VSTs. Cross genre pricing is tough. I just hate the DRM is all. Great video as usual LP!
Guys, you do realize that the creative music industry is waaaaay to picky and finicky to please everyone. I have the Force, never could get into it, even with the latest updates. Ended up giving it to my 5 year old so that he can grow into it. I’m an MPC workflow type of guy, and bought the MPC Key 61 yesterday…it’s a BEAST! It’s gonna make me get into keyboarding
@@Peezy71421 wow you can afford to give a £1000 piece of kit to a 5 year old guess you can afford to buy any kit you like. …but we’re not being finicky pointing out obvious general omissions we’re actually acknowledging what needs to be addressed
Great overview as always. Seems like a big mistake to keep the screen the same size as previous MPCs. Found it quite frustrating at times on the Force. Twice the size would allow for a much easier workflow. Also the loading times seem a bit last last gen. It does look fantastic apart from those issues though
Probably a cost effective move to make use of the hardware they have already developed and currently produce without spending more money on testing and development.
I wish they had Matrix view / record mode on here, like they have on the force. So much easier to lay things down instead of the traditional Mpc method.
@@patricetarabbia1810 hope so, look forward to the reviews of these actual synths. Akai is clearly trying to market them as a feature for the keys that you can also buy separately for other MPCs. Once the dust settles and the people who didn’t sign up for early access get their hands on them we should have a better idea.
I would love to see you do a review of the Fractal Axe Fx 3. I know it's marketed for guitar players, but it works great as a outboard effect unit. You can run it without any of the guitar stuff and only use it for effects. With 4 stereo ins and outs, it fits perfectly into a multi synth setup. Kinda like a budget version of the Eventide H9000. With how awesome your reviews are, in sure Fractal would send you one to demo.
I don't think I'll be getting this (anytime soon, though maybe later?), but I'll be damned if this wasn't entirely enjoyable to watch. Thank you, Loop.
I'm an owner of the current Fantom and a professional user. I'm so happy the MPC Key is on the market now. The Fantom is a workstation full of compromises and bad decisions. Roland's lack of communication adds to the bad value of the machine. While they brought some major upgrades most of theses should have been there right from the beginning. Honestly: looking back at what you got back then for the Fantom's price tag is ridiculous. It's a great synth but that's too little, I could use my Virus TI2 for that. Thus it's one of the few machines I constantly feel I paid way to much and the value isn't there. So again, very happy the MPC Key is out now as it might force the major manufacturers to step up their game and deliver more than just marketing or cloud subscriptions.
My thoughts exactly. Sampling is absurdly limited in such a expensive machine. I considered the Fantom, but its price increased and, as is customary with Roland, there have been no signficant updates since its release. Akai, on the other hand, keeps adding and adding features to my OG MPC live.
@@djdigital3806 I've owned the Fantom-8 twice. Depending on your needs, it does have some shortcomings. The V-Piano (to my ears) sounds thin and a bit artificial. The SuperNatural acoustic pianos sound dated. Aftertouch on the 88-key weighted version is all but useless. You have to push down extremely hard to engage it... making it difficult to use... and it's more of an on/off vs smooth/gradual control. When playing live, for songs like "Here I Go Again", I need a dense layer of four separate sounds (acoustic piano, electric piano, choir, and synth pad). With Fantom-8, on sounds like this you can quickly run out of polyphony. Yes, you can thin out the sounds (cut down on partials used), but then the sound just isn't the same. Getting your own custom samples into the Fantom-8 (mapped and ready to play as a multi-sample) is slow/tedious. To be fair, though Kronos streams samples straight from SSD (like a DAW), getting custom samples into it is also cryptic/tedious. Using Montage, I can create the dense layer mentioned above (no voice stealing). Using 3rd-party tools (John Melas' Waveform Editor and Sample Robot), it's relatively easy to get custom samples into Montage. Fantom's UI is excellent... as are the filters (a weak spot for both Kronos and to a slightly lesser degree Montage). In any event, all of the current generation Workstations have both shortcomings and great features. The new K2700 is no exception. It has good/great overall sounds and deep programming with VAST... but the UI is a royal pain (feels like stepping back in time 10-15 years). The K2700's filters are also (compared to the current competition) weak.
Hopefully Native Instruments learned from their shortcomings with maschine+, and are going to finally compete in this space and give us the maschine kontrol we all want
That would be nice but unfortunately they have alot more software issues. Komplete Kontrol has alot of sound quality issues / bugs. especially with windows 11. I own the Komplete 13 ultimate edition and compared to ableton 11 suite or MPC2 the quality of sound is HUGELY noticeable and alot more unstable. Atleast with Akai i know the quality is allways there and reliable.
@@bharumusic he’s a troll… no one in his right mind will ever compare Komplete Ultimate EC with any other sound bundle whatsoever, and surely not Ableton Suite or Akai MPC bundle. There’s a reason why K14UCE cost $1,700… it’s full packed of high quality sounds. Don’t trust the trolls on internet, even more when they’re named “MPC…” and start trashing NI. Same with trolls named “Maschine warrior” when they would trash Akai.
Another excellent video, thank you. AKAI are on to something here obviously. The biggest cons for me remain 1) the limitations in the workflow and arrangement functions. This is where Maschine is superior , 2) the inability to support VSTs. As a Maschine MK3 user I am now looking for Native Instruments to come with a response to this. The Maschine+ doesn’t do it for me as I compose with a keyboard. Finally, AKAI a did make a mistake with the price for this. It is essentially an MPC One with an aftertouch keyboard and a bundle of new plugins. So about 1500€ feels right. I suppose as long as NI has no alternative, they can probably get away with it…
@@inf0tr8r You are right of course, but having one single integrated device has a lot of advantages, which is why I think the MPC key 61 will be a success.
Yeah, the workflow and arrangement options are a weak point. Akai's Force does that a lot better, but it doesn't have the same name recognition and doesn't sell as well... so they've focused more on MPC since it's more popular. Perhaps some day there will be a Force Keys... or they'll merge the product lines and let MPC use clips and an arranger.
That's the million dollar question. A lot of the stock sounds in MPC sound like cheaper VST instruments. I'm thinking the popular hardware synths still sound more premium and professional
Excellent video as usual! I'm wondering, is the main body made of hard plastic or does it have that soft rubber-like coating? Because that stuff usually turns into a sticky mess just after the warranty expires.
This looks completely redundant for most people who already own MPC and a midi keyboard, but you gotta give it to Akai for pushing things forward. It’ll be interesting to see how NI follows up.
Loop goes over some of the differences. Also, the latest update is amazing and it’s clear that it was inspired by the new keyboard release. I’m loving the new update.
This is a dope product, but I have an X so this doesn't really check any boxes for me. But, I like how they have their hands on many different needs, some people need a workstation-> MPC key, some people want Ableton style workflow->Force, some need traditional MPC-> X,Live,One and it's all under one OS. So I think updates will continue to trickle down to the entire Akai product line and their consumers. I mean the standalone product is so good, I can't remember the last time I went to my PC for production.
Dunno, I like keys but they make things huge, right now I use Maschine just by itself, with a M32 on the go and a 49keys at home so even if I'm a fan of keys I'd say pass. Also NI keyboards are well integrated into Maschine, even the cheap M32 + Mikro is a pretty nice combo.
Except midi learn is awful - and to STOP you just connecting a keyboard - obviously their fear and why it’s the first talking point on the video - they’re charging $500 dollars for the new instruments and NOT giving it to any MPCs and the best Akai product to connect keyboard to with disk streaming and arranger mode they’ve made sure they didn’t update it to the latest firmware all the other MPCs got.
It has me curious, and it looks like it has a cool feature set, but having owned other workstation-type synths (Kronos, Fantoms, etc), I always found myself much happier just working with a laptop and software for 95% of my sequencing and editing efforts. Much appreciate the standard, insightful, well-presented loopop video though...great work!
Akai’s update record alone destroys the competition. When.... if the CPU, capacity, & loading time can be adequately addressed, this will be a phenom. Should this be a huge hit... I can almost guarantee the release of an MPC X Keys along with a deeper VA synth to take advantage of the extra Q Links then, potentially, an 88. 🤩 I just hope they take the VST approach with their instruments in the future and employ key switching for strings, brass, woodwinds, bass, and guitar Instead of totally static samples & modeling like traditional workstations. But, those could take terabytes.
@woody forrest Which makes me really sad, since they didn't release this with 16 Qs. Like, whyyyyyy? All that space and still need to flip between 4 sets of knobs? I just can't even...
@@sadakojh A Quad processor is a joke(with only 4GB of RAM), when you are running multiple tracks with CPU-heavy plug-ins like Fabric XL(case in point, you can only run 8 plug-ins per project.) There's no way to produce a complete song on this keyboard(unless you mix down some of the tracks as audio.)
I was excited to hear about this because I've been hoping somebody would make a system on par with the Kronos but with a better workflow/updated hardware. But the lack of scene remain shows me this isn't what I'm looking for. What I really need is scenes that can be changed in a predefined sequence with a MIDI foot switch, good integration with a DAW, doubles as an audio interface (like this or the Fantom), a good keybed, and of course good sounds!
Sounds like you're describing the strengths of a Fantom or Fantom 0. But keep in mind, on the Fantom 0, scene remain cuts out zones 9-16 on all scenes.
@@sjpachica3 An astute observation. I've looked into the Fantom quite a bit and I think I could do a lot with it. But I'm also interested to see competition, since there's no such thing as a perfect system.
@@StevensSounds exactly. I never could get along with the MPC workflow (I own and love the Force and a Fantom 06), but love to see this MPC Keys. It looks awesome with great capabilities. That being said, Fantom would probably be a better gigging board (quick scene changes etc) and better in it's synth capabilities. But MPC does live audio recording and traditional linear workflows better. Fantom + Ableton or Logic is amazingly well integrated. All have their strengths/weaknesses and use cases. But this is exciting!
Without arranger its really strange workflow, Force based keyboard would be more suitable as a workstation. Not shure about the sounds, but new plugins sounds kinda meh compared fe to internal fantom 0x sounds...
@@stre8media167 Insuch a price, it is definitely not for me, :D Honestly speaking, it is difficult to understand why someone would buy an MPC Key, when you can buy the new MPC ONE & Yamaha MODX6 cheaper and with much better sounds, greater polyphony and a full-fledged 6-operator FM synthesis. But there are certainly some reasons ...
I don't think this is something I would use personally, it is too big and cumbersome for me, I have enough sequencers and I like smaller devices dedicated for specific duties. I can see it working for others but it takes up too much space where space is a premium for me. Great video, thanks for the upload. Loop.
This is so freaking tempting. It's kind of exactly what I want. I really need to be saving my money for a new PC first though since I think I'll do a lot more "in the box" stuff overall.
@@esterix101 Yeah, I think you're right. I don't really need this. I already have a PC, a Focusrite 4i4 3rd Gen, a guitar, a bass, Ableton, a bunch of plug-ins, a Maschine Mk3 and an NI Komplete Kontrol M32. I'm considering upgrading the M32 to a larger Native Instruments keyboard (since I use a lot of their plug-ins and enjoy playing keys) and (like I said) my computer could use an upgrade, but otherwise this is just way more than enough gear for my purposes. Thank you for the reality check.
@@thehomienicked8208 haha it's nice toy to have if one has extra $$$ but it's not needed and you can spend it more wisely. If this mpc keys cost that much, I would expect it to be a way better than it is. I can buy cheap arturia semi weighted keys like mpc keys, map buttons to FL studio or ableton and basically has same and more keys. I read somewhere it's impossible to use mpc keys as midi controller because it has to be hooked up with mpc software. That's sound like garbage to be honest. We all have music gear addiction, sound addiction, always want more but certainly not needed. If I have too much $$$ I would buy it, just for fun lol!
I forgot to ask you on my earlier post -- what is your opinion on the playability of the keybed? I have read some reviews where the posters have complained that the keys are too short and difficult to play compared to other similar keyboards eg. Fantom-0 series. How do you find the keys for composing music that has a lot of chords or arpeggios? If the keybed is difficult to play for a piano player, maybe I'll wait for a modular version of this unit ie. no keybed but 4 gigs of RAM and all the plugins. Thanks.
Hey, it's true that the keys aren't as long as on some other instruments but it never bothered me. That said, I'm not a virtuoso player, so I think it's best you try one yourself in a store.
Here I was thinking I had sold the last MPC I would ever own after 30 + years of using them. Now I’m truly thinking this is a must buy for me as a semi retired producer who just wants simple easy production.
No, I wanted a keyboard sampler with Poly Aftertouch so I could finally have an updated Ensoniq EPS16+. 30 years later and still nothing takes it's place. Major fail from AKAI.
Of all market segments to start heating up again it's workstations 0_0 This is a pleasant surprise, seems at the very least Akai is going for Korg's crown in the price segment and market with all the synth focused stuff they added to this. Sampling based stuff on this is first in class from the look of things but I expect that from something with the MPC name attached to it. Glad to see the workstation market heating up but after watching this I think I'll take the trade offs the Nautilus has in comparison for my needs as it's still from where I'm standing has the lead when it comes to just synth engines. But I'd definitely put this right up there with the Nautilus feature wise and I think the choice between the two comes down to what you want and prefer out of a workstation as obviously they all overlap a good bit. Let's hope this not only gets Korg on the ball with the Nautilus more but also helps wake up Roland and Yamaha to the fact this market still has a place outside of people looking for a more studio focused option. Yamaha feels like the one dragging their feet about this market segment the most, while the MODX works great for live users it just doesn't seem like a good option if it's going to be stuck in a studio home or otherwise. But honestly that is kind of par for the course out of Yamaha as they have felt like they are kind of asleep at the wheel synth wise for what feels like years now. Roland at least realizes there are still those of us that want workstation keyboards for studio and recording use even if at times the Fantom feels like it's more focused on live use it doesn't feel as lack luster as the MODX and Montage come across for that use case.
Korg, Roland, and Yamaha are all dragging their feet when it comes to sounds. Especially Roland, their sample ROMs are dated and lo-fi as heck for the asking price when it comes to the Fantoms. Perhaps Akai stomping on their toes will motivate them to get on the ball.
Relax! MPC 61 is great when it comes to sampling and sequencing. Thats because it's an MPC sampler and sequencer. However, it's no where near Nautilus, beyond sampling and sequencing. Nautilus has 16 mono 80 minute maximum audio tracks. MPC 61 has 8 stereo 5 minute maximum audio tracks. Air synth engines cant touch any synth engine in Nautilus. Most people who want the best of both worlds will get an MPC for sampling and sequencing and a Korg/Yamaha/Roland for patches. MPC 61 is just a MPC One with a 61 key controller and the premium Air synths.
@@dianevrules I heard some killer keys in demos, Nautilus can barely keep up, a few really great synth sounds, some mediocre patches (like anything else), all not as lo-fi as Roland/Yamaha patches typically are. (sampled sounds) Roland VA oscillators in Fantoms, JD-Xi, FA, and Jupiter-80 are nice and all, but lo-fi next to anything else like the Micromonsta2, Mininova, Microkorg, Cobalt8, Massive, Dune3, and the list goes on. Those Roland sounds don't cut through the mix quite like, well, practically everything else, but they are not bad either. Demos so far are covering only a fraction of what the MPC Keys comes with, I'd like to hear more. I really want Akai to hit Korg/Yamaha/Roland's real hard. And the winners in all this will be us end users anyway. 😎
since it has its own built-in processor inside, it has to be in a different pricing. akai is still one of the cheapest global brands. this product is competing with roland fantom 6, which is being sold for €2800 excluding vat.
This could be interesting, could take the place of my midi keyboard, digitone and digitakt. Very different, but having one device to control/sequence my whole studio of hardware synths while having samples for drums sounds like a nice option.
@@alienanxiety it’s true, I’m a huge fan of elektron stuff. If I’m trying to get technical or finish a production, I’m using Logic anyway. My hardware setup is mostly just for late night jamming by myself and everything real happens in the DAW anyway. Will probably skip something like this for now but would consider if downsizing.
Elektron products are beast you must be in the mood for something different which is good sometimes but I think you would miss your Elektron gear after while
I switched from Elektron to an Akai Force, and I'm much happier now. I don't miss the old devices at all, and I no longer need a computer to finish songs. It has allowed me to make better songs, faster, with less gear, without ever touching a mouse. I particularly like being able to use clips and an arranger instead of patterns... plus basically unlimited sequence length and complexity, basically unlimited number of tracks, a ton of drums per kit, and the ability to record whole-kit sequences real-time using Nick Trik style drumming. It's the best of MPC, plus the core workflow of Ableton+Push, in one standalone device.
I would just add it… keep the elektron gear. I love the digitone, don’t have a digitakt but I have a octotrack. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of them. They’re too much fun.
Hello. Great video! How can someone like me who is blind use this? Also, is there an easy way of getting in contact with the company? Would love to help make this accessible for all to enjoy.
Another great choice for people. I’m leaning towards this now, after looking hard at Roland’s new Fantom 06. Having an aftertouch keyboard makes it a better controller, and being able to switch projects to MPC software on computer and drop it in any DAW you use (it can run as a plugin) is a killer feature that wasn’t mentioned here (I’m sure it was covered in his MPC One video).
I have a fantom 06. The sounds are amazing but the workflow seems a little clunky even though I like how they are going for pattern based recording. (I use ableton for sequencing). Given the choice now I'd probably pick the keys.
I sold the Fantom 06 since I’d had since April. I got the MPC yesterday and made two tracks already. I made like 1/2 a track in all my time with the Fantom.
Thank's for the awesome review. I am new to the workstation keyboard and need all the info I can find to help me decide on which keyboard to purchase. Have a great day.
Excellent review -- it's difficult to find info on the maximum polyphony of the key 61. Fabric / XL are supposed to use 2 / 3 voices respectively per note but I can't find documentation to confirm this. What has been your experience while composing songs? Have you noticed notes dropping off when composing complex songs using multiple plugins such as Fabric XL, Stage Piano OPX4 etc. in one sequence? Keep up the good work!
As much as I think I will be getting this I think whatever the next updated model of this is, that will be the legendary one we all look back on as THE ONE. So I really think I’ll wait.
One thing I miss on it is that there are no faders and too few knobs, specially for when you want to send the song to finish on another daw like ableton, studio one, Cubase, etc. It would be needed another controller for that... Fantom/fantom 0 and montage doesn't lack this for ex.
@@stm.natural_selection and drum machine, and sampler, and synth, and groovebox/sequencer, and effects processor, and the list goes on, I think Fantom and Montage are much more limited in effects and effects quality, they are less than basic as far as sampling, and they are mediocre sequencers.
@@stm.natural_selection I'm not sure about the value this thing presents to existing MPC users. Getting a MIDI controller to go with your Live is a better deal than picking up an MPC Keys, it looks to me, and you'll save hundreds that way and miss out on nothing. I think the value in this keyboard is for keyboardists looking for better sounds, sampling, and sequencing and do not have a modern MPC of any kind.
Invaluably detailed review! The lack of seamless patch changes is a killer for me. I wonder if that's beyond the ability of the hardware or if it's something they could add through firmware updates.
It's definetly not a "limitation" of the hardware. Purely software. I really thaught this sounded like a promising board, but after seeing this demonstration, this doesn't even come close to rivalice Roland or Korg or Yamaha. I won't call the Montage or ModX a "workstation, but this is a complete joke compared to Any Fantom model, Korg Nautilus / Kronos or Kurtsweil board. This is basicly an expensive toy. The lack of seamless sound switching, and you have to "load" every performance into memory. completely useless for live performance, but I might get ahead of what Akai intended with this. The Kronos have had streaming samples for over a decade, which btw works much better than even Kontakt streaming. The price for that is you have to load it in for a range of performances if you still havn't got enough memory to load every sampleset you need for a full gig, but It's amazing how many samples the Kronos can actually access with its 4gb of Ram. You can without a problem access 25+ Gb without having to load anything into ram. Why go with yet another propriatary format in 2022 when everyone is using VST's ? The sound examples played was very sporadic. but none of the sounds I heard sounded very interesting. I really can't see that many " Musicians" will find this very interesting. Maybe a DJ or beat makers will. The sound material is simply too dull and features lacking. And yes working with multi samples on the Kronos is a horror if not combined with some PC or Mac software. but once you have the multisamples ready to load into it the possibilities is a thousend times more, and also a steep learning curve.
Love that intro sound. Is there a special feature that allows you to shift the pitch of patches like that ? (Did not see what you did, but it sounded great)
My only question went unanswered. I wanted to know what was the specifics of the included plugins. For instance, if it came with all of the new plugins that’s a game changer and difference maker. If you still have to pay $500+ for the new synths that pretty much kills it for me. Still not too terrible a price for it but couldn’t you get away with a Live 2 or One and a Keylab Essential 61 or MPK 261 plus all the synths for the same price?
@@loopop wow, that amazes me. Here’s my perspective, I bought a Live 2 last June and a Keylab 49 mkii months earlier. Being that I bought they mkii open box and saved a bit, I’m still invested at around $1,600+ not including extended warranty/protection. I heard a demo of the new plugins and they sound amazing so I’ll probably purchase it at another $500. In other words, I’ve already bought this thing minus 12 keys and the built in audio interface! 🤦🏾♂️
compare this to the fantom or the asr10? As their first foray into this realm I think I'll wait for a second iteration but I am glad they're putting it out.
Not so easy to work for easy song/ tracks use and save quickly as its use plugin software.. unless user is familiar with its MPC hardware and software. Though it has a powerful engine on board with good connections, by today's P.C standard, it should have 32 or 64 GB Ram, 60 to 100 SSD on board to hold its sounds.. by specifications it looks great to link with a DAW for home studio use. I could spend hours just loading and playing sounds, to find 12 sounds you need to load up into a song via its sequencer and save the project needs a lot of hands on at this synth.. Synth lovers will face a love and tricky relationship with this synth.
@@VictorGaleskas You are certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't agree. The flagship Fantom is in a completely diffferent league in terms of power, connectivity, features, sounds, etc... The MPC Key 61 is in direct competition with Fantom 0 series. I don't think you're going to find too many who agree with you that Key 61 is comparable to flagship Fantom but to each their own. ✌️
I got an email from akai today with the usual upgrade options…since the 2.11 just dropped, noted that they didn’t include the new air ‘sound’ modules. So if you want the piano you have to pay… 150usd. It does make me wonder if that was deliberate with the release of the key…
Not really, I purchased the v synth many years ago and that was like $4200 au and a studio electric se1 mono synth was like $3000au we have just been lucky over the years things have gotten cheaper but u can thank China and poor build quality to get those lower prices.
you do not want to know what mpcs cost back i nthe day and workstations( and they were super limited too) so for this to be the price it is today and offering this much bang for this buck we are truely spoiled.
Great video as always! Quick question : Does this come with all of the plugins when you purchase it? (No additional purchases) & Any idea if we can activate these plugins on our MPC Live 2 or X ?
You just described Akai Force. Plus, you can use it like an Ableton Push in controller mode while STILL working standalone simultaneously on the Force.
If there is a video made by this guy about an item I want to purchase, I would NOT buy it without watching his exploration first. The best online, I dare to say. Thank you for the guidance!🤩😎🧐
Man. Wether I agree or disagree with your opinions you always have the most balanced opinions and by far, the best visual presentation of them all. Again, well done! Props on all the videos. Keep them coming.
Signed
A fan
Thanks very much!
Loopop seems more like engineers final verdict than an opinion😎
IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE ALIVE!!!! Thank you for this review.
Omg that's the sickest intro I've ever heard/seen. When you THX'ed it. 😭 I'm going outside for a walk to process this then I'll come back and watch the rest of the review.
Watch closely to this video my dear people at Native Instruments! Because this is how you use your build in display(s) to enhance the user experience when using plugins. Not the boring NI way of displaying the plugin name in a gigantic font and some white numbers in the lower part wasting all that nice double screen space of a Machine or S49.
On the bright side NI will probably sticks to the multiple-screen paradigm of their controllers and I'll be able to have a mixer on one, a multi-track view with clip capabilities on the other, and instruments and effects controls on a third although many instrument controls will be hardware. Anyway someone will eventually make a workstation like that.
as a maschine user since 2012 or so- i believe native instruments is done as far as innovation goestheir entire last 4 years has been a money grab and bs development just to say they "did" something. I dont see them rising to this occasion anytime soon- maybe theyll surprise me but even if they do they would want to charge 5 or 6 grand for something like this- noway theyre going to push it at an 1800 retail price ensuring most of us will never buy it except on the black market.
Annnnd, they blew it. They almost done.
I've been waiting decades for this!
Montage/MODX also have a great integration with the DAW via Montage/MODX Connect, which synchronizes the performance in the synth and saves it in the DAW, and also lets you drag and drop your patterns from the synth into the DAW. So great for the described workflow of sketching on the synth and developing in the DAW.
Just to add that modx/montage always streams USB audio and midi unlike my mpc where it only does this in controller mode, which for me is annoying :(
Yes,and you can connect pads to it
If you didn’t have enough for a montage, what would you recommend for melodic techno/psytrance, MODX 6 or MPC Keys 61 or something else?
Great overview. I’ve been using mine for a few weeks. Love it. More cons (not specific to Key 61) include 1) you can’t just connect to your computer and choose MPC as your sound interface. You must open the MPC software to connect it as an interface. MODX is much nicer in this regard. Plug and play. 2) controller mode doesn’t maintain user defined icon positions, so if you’re switching back and forth between standalone and controller modes, at least as of now, I’d recommend leaving the default icon positions, which sucks. 3) there’s pretty long load times for the new plugins and a lot of the new expansions. But Hype and the older ones still run as quickly as they did in prior OS. It’s unusual to have such lags when switching presets on a software synth today. And some expansions that load up drum samples on several pad layers can take a notable amount of time to load. Not sure if that’s the case on Live and One etc. but overall this latest OS just feels slow to load presets and change projects - which is a serious negative vs MODX. You don’t cutoff sounds when switching tracks so that’s key for gigging but I wish a key combination would hold the track matrix view achieved by holding down Menu. That would be analogous to MODX live mode where you have a grid of performances to select as you’re gigging. I want that grid of tracks to stay up on the MPC screen
That’s odd.
I use my MPC L2 as an interface all the time without opening the software.
This is the heart of everything. You don't need anything else it seems. Keep up the great work!
I knew this vid was coming - What a way to start my morning!!
I love the way you get straight into it, no monotonous intros and needless jabbering (those guy just love the sound of their own voices) Very informative and to the point. Bravo 👍
Clear, concise and comprehensive.
Imagine if this thing had USB 4, and could drive a second external display over USB C. I think Akai could really compete with DAW's if they advance this stuff enough.
That just sounds like using an mpc as a controller for mpc software. Which is already a thing 🤷
One thing I think mpc need to update is audition actually. You should have the option to audition kits playing an already inputted midi drum loop. Being able to audition that on the fly would be much more useful to the user. I don't think that's been implemented but it should be.
Brilliant, if I hadn’t already bought the MPC One, I’d order this ASAP ! Great review
Perfectly explained! THX-a-LOT for that!
Absolute CLASS ( pun intended ) of a review / tutorial as always ..... just cannot thank u enough !!🙏
Wow what a music hub...Amazing explanation as always....😄👍
yes! AWESOME AKAI. AWESOME LOOPOP
Definitely the review that matters in my book!!
Oh, Akai is definitely primed to win the workstation wars. It’s already probably the most relevant widely used hardware sequencer/sampler in music. If they can match or beat the top 3 companies with sound libraries and price... yeah, game over... Well, until Native Instruments blends Machine and Kontakt🤯
Or Ableton with Push Keys.. honestly, given the mpc keys is 3.6k acvording to sweetwater, I think this might be too steep for the average
@@leonaRt7470 what? 3.6k in what currency? It was $1.8K USD which is more than I'd expected, but still the least expensive workstation.
@@Daring2Win somehow my reply has been deleted but according to sweetwater the mrsp is 3.699 usd
@@leonaRt7470 nope its 1800 and i thought that was surprisingly affordable considering the price of the maschine+ at 1399 for just a drum controller thats not true standalone.- sweetwater has it at 1899 or somethin like that- its in my cart lol
@@leonaRt7470 oh, msrp. Yeah, i.e., the specious sucker price to trick us into believing we’re getting a bargain at the inflated regular price. lol
thank you for the thorough & competent review!
Thanks, perfect review for me😀 you mentioned in first minute & didn’t assume it would just interest current mpc users. I’ve never been interested in an MPC but a Decent keyboard intergrated with first rate sampler plus hardware sequencer is a very appealing combination to me. Can’t wait to try one store when they become available.
the keys are not even half weighted
Pro: Don't forget, you can also take the advantage of of using Autosampler to clone other keyboards with ease, something that was sorely missed with former Open Labs owners who are used to using MimiK.
Great tip!
Very nice presentation on that keyboard you did a hell of a job
Weapon Of Mass Desire 💥💣🎹❤️
My GAS if off the scale!!!
Woo this one's gonna get views!! I already have mpc one but this is neat yes
Akai did their thing on this one it might be up there with the Great keyboard workstations if they keep updating the software like they have been the past 2 years
100%
More like the past 5 years! The difference between the first MPC Live/X at launch in 2017 and today is simply mind boggling, and all for free (well aside from the new plugins that are being sold optionally now)...
I’m still not convinced; why doesn’t it cue??
Everything with a mixer should allow me to cue; why doesn’t the Akai 61 keyboard allow me to cue??
@@snubdawg1386 they’re semi weighted
Finally Akai show it
It's so cool that John Malkovich does these gear reviews.
oh god why did you say that, I can't listen anymore
*they addressed most of my cons from the previous video, however don't worry I have a bunch of new ones later on" ... I died laughing lmao 👊🤣👍 your vids are great and love the in depth discussions regarding features and function. Great work brother!
The loading times would be really difficult for this as a live tool. It reminds me a bit of my old Alesis Fusion, which would load sample-based patches into RAM as needed, which is cool except for load times. That’s a surprisingly big deal when you’re trying to react in anything other than a very “scripted” type performance. If you’re in an improv situation, you need to be able to change and find sounds unexpectedly. The instant loading and smooth sound transitions on something like Kronos/Nautilus are hugely helpful (and they also allow cross-engine sound searching/categorization). Since they are attempting to compete in the workstation market, it’s unfortunate that features from 2012 are missing here, even if this innovates in some other ways.
"akai" just makes toys ....if someone can have fun with them and get creative, cool ...but unfortunately nothing about this is professional...but costumers don't mind and just buy the next toy akai brings out, still complaining or hoping in the forums that it will get better next update, and that for years
@@snubdawg1386 While I respect your opinion, I couldn't disagree more.
@@CaidicusProductions which of akais products do you have? ....i read that the force is a few steps ahead of all their other products but i just have experience with the mpcs
@@CaidicusProductions I couldn't even say I respected the opinion much. The MPC has been used in professional production since the dawn of time. To say they just make toys is a ridiculous statement. This is like saying Shure make only toy microphones, or Technics make toy turntables.
@@snubdawg1386 I've owned an MPC Live since 2017 and have made a lot of music with it, it being the center of my dawless setup.
With all of the updates Akai have put out for it, it has only gotten better over the years.
That is, at least, how I feel about it. It's unfortunate that you haven't been able to enjoy a similarly rewarding experience with your device.
Plug in keyboard to Akai Force and you get disk streaming, arranger view and multi-track view which this lacks (neither mentioned as cons on this video) and clip launching (mentioned as lacking) View and lots of buttons. Worth checking out price for other MPCs of new software instruments it’s ridiculous! $500!! Oh but Akai didn’t update the Force’s operating system or give these instruments to any of their other MPCs, ensure you couldn’t just plug in a keyboard to your MPC. The MPC community is really upset about this. Thank you for another excellent video.
Thanks for the kind words about the video. I mentioned Force has better sequencing (I meant the arranger too...) and re lack of disk streaming indeed I don't think it's a "con" in light of the 2x free memory (at least) but of course the comment section is what other opinions are for :)
@@loopop great point on the memory thanks
I feel the complaint but I also see why they are paying way more for the keys and other platforms get the luxury of the software because of the technological age we're in. The price tag is steep for the plugins but then again they are deep, like similarly priced PC or Mac VSTs. Cross genre pricing is tough. I just hate the DRM is all.
Great video as usual LP!
Guys, you do realize that the creative music industry is waaaaay to picky and finicky to please everyone. I have the Force, never could get into it, even with the latest updates. Ended up giving it to my 5 year old so that he can grow into it. I’m an MPC workflow type of guy, and bought the MPC Key 61 yesterday…it’s a BEAST! It’s gonna make me get into keyboarding
@@Peezy71421 wow you can afford to give a £1000 piece of kit to a 5 year old guess you can afford to buy any kit you like. …but we’re not being finicky pointing out obvious general omissions we’re actually acknowledging what needs to be addressed
Thank you so much loopop!
Great overview as always. Seems like a big mistake to keep the screen the same size as previous MPCs. Found it quite frustrating at times on the Force. Twice the size would allow for a much easier workflow. Also the loading times seem a bit last last gen. It does look fantastic apart from those issues though
totally agree
Probably a cost effective move to make use of the hardware they have already developed and currently produce without spending more money on testing and development.
@@MSNGR415 well yeah but it could have just a bit more wow factor with a big 'stage ready' screen. It's just too fiddly to be a good live option
@@DanChippendaleMusic for sure it would be nice
But I think they'd can offer so much and keep upgrading with the money they save by keeping everything similar with same o.s.
I wish they had Matrix view / record mode on here, like they have on the force. So much easier to lay things down instead of the traditional Mpc method.
Agree,,, the MPC way lacks overview for me..
I have the Force and MPC. Akai is smart not to cannibalize it’s units. This was made for those who are use to using a MPC and sound modules.
@@CXtheproducer1 well hopefully we have a force keys at some point. 😀
@@CXtheproducer1 it would be nice if this gets the linear arranger like the force
Same. I got spoiled by a Force, so the MPC workflow seems like a downgrade now.
Thanks for this, just justified me buying a Volca FM 2 to use with my MPC One :P
OPX4 is a whole different beast than Volca FM2.
@@patricetarabbia1810 hope so, look forward to the reviews of these actual synths. Akai is clearly trying to market them as a feature for the keys that you can also buy separately for other MPCs. Once the dust settles and the people who didn’t sign up for early access get their hands on them we should have a better idea.
Gotta get this‼️
Very helpful thank you so much for the detailed video!
Awesome thank you for such a wonderful breakdown, wow. Awesome
G.A.S. reaching new heights. Thanks for the awesome talk!
I would love to see you do a review of the Fractal Axe Fx 3. I know it's marketed for guitar players, but it works great as a outboard effect unit. You can run it without any of the guitar stuff and only use it for effects. With 4 stereo ins and outs, it fits perfectly into a multi synth setup. Kinda like a budget version of the Eventide H9000. With how awesome your reviews are, in sure Fractal would send you one to demo.
I don't think I'll be getting this (anytime soon, though maybe later?), but I'll be damned if this wasn't entirely enjoyable to watch.
Thank you, Loop.
I'm an owner of the current Fantom and a professional user. I'm so happy the MPC Key is on the market now. The Fantom is a workstation full of compromises and bad decisions. Roland's lack of communication adds to the bad value of the machine. While they brought some major upgrades most of theses should have been there right from the beginning. Honestly: looking back at what you got back then for the Fantom's price tag is ridiculous. It's a great synth but that's too little, I could use my Virus TI2 for that. Thus it's one of the few machines I constantly feel I paid way to much and the value isn't there.
So again, very happy the MPC Key is out now as it might force the major manufacturers to step up their game and deliver more than just marketing or cloud subscriptions.
What exactly are the shortcomings of the Fantom? Thx
Do you work for Akai?
Fantom have no short comings.
My thoughts exactly. Sampling is absurdly limited in such a expensive machine. I considered the Fantom, but its price increased and, as is customary with Roland, there have been no signficant updates since its release. Akai, on the other hand, keeps adding and adding features to my OG MPC live.
It's awful and they are trying to charge 500 for their wack plugins. Pssshhhht
@@djdigital3806 I've owned the Fantom-8 twice. Depending on your needs, it does have some shortcomings. The V-Piano (to my ears) sounds thin and a bit artificial. The SuperNatural acoustic pianos sound dated. Aftertouch on the 88-key weighted version is all but useless. You have to push down extremely hard to engage it... making it difficult to use... and it's more of an on/off vs smooth/gradual control. When playing live, for songs like "Here I Go Again", I need a dense layer of four separate sounds (acoustic piano, electric piano, choir, and synth pad). With Fantom-8, on sounds like this you can quickly run out of polyphony. Yes, you can thin out the sounds (cut down on partials used), but then the sound just isn't the same. Getting your own custom samples into the Fantom-8 (mapped and ready to play as a multi-sample) is slow/tedious. To be fair, though Kronos streams samples straight from SSD (like a DAW), getting custom samples into it is also cryptic/tedious. Using Montage, I can create the dense layer mentioned above (no voice stealing). Using 3rd-party tools (John Melas' Waveform Editor and Sample Robot), it's relatively easy to get custom samples into Montage. Fantom's UI is excellent... as are the filters (a weak spot for both Kronos and to a slightly lesser degree Montage). In any event, all of the current generation Workstations have both shortcomings and great features. The new K2700 is no exception. It has good/great overall sounds and deep programming with VAST... but the UI is a royal pain (feels like stepping back in time 10-15 years). The K2700's filters are also (compared to the current competition) weak.
You did a wonderful job on this tutorial !!!!!!
Hopefully Native Instruments learned from their shortcomings with maschine+, and are going to finally compete in this space and give us the maschine kontrol we all want
YES! 💯
id rather have a MPC studio2 than the overpriced flop I call the Native instruments Maschine+
That would be nice but unfortunately they have alot more software issues.
Komplete Kontrol has alot of sound quality issues / bugs. especially with windows 11.
I own the Komplete 13 ultimate edition and compared to ableton 11 suite or MPC2 the quality of sound is HUGELY noticeable and alot more unstable.
Atleast with Akai i know the quality is allways there and reliable.
@@MagnificentMercer damn I didn’t know that about sound quality, that’s crazy!
@@bharumusic he’s a troll… no one in his right mind will ever compare Komplete Ultimate EC with any other sound bundle whatsoever, and surely not Ableton Suite or Akai MPC bundle. There’s a reason why K14UCE cost $1,700… it’s full packed of high quality sounds. Don’t trust the trolls on internet, even more when they’re named “MPC…” and start trashing NI. Same with trolls named “Maschine warrior” when they would trash Akai.
great review! thanks!
Another excellent video, thank you.
AKAI are on to something here obviously. The biggest cons for me remain 1) the limitations in the workflow and arrangement functions. This is where Maschine is superior , 2) the inability to support VSTs.
As a Maschine MK3 user I am now looking for Native Instruments to come with a response to this. The Maschine+ doesn’t do it for me as I compose with a keyboard.
Finally, AKAI a did make a mistake with the price for this. It is essentially an MPC One with an aftertouch keyboard and a bundle of new plugins. So about 1500€ feels right. I suppose as long as NI has no alternative, they can probably get away with it…
you could easily hook up any keyboard you want to the maschine+ though, it has midi in
@@inf0tr8r You are right of course, but having one single integrated device has a lot of advantages, which is why I think the MPC key 61 will be a success.
Yeah, the workflow and arrangement options are a weak point. Akai's Force does that a lot better, but it doesn't have the same name recognition and doesn't sell as well... so they've focused more on MPC since it's more popular. Perhaps some day there will be a Force Keys... or they'll merge the product lines and let MPC use clips and an arranger.
I was thinking the same thing! 🔥🔥😖😕😤🔥🔥
How are the extra synth engines/instruments? In my MPC-One the sound and effects are decent but not comparable to those of other hardware synths/gear
That's the million dollar question. A lot of the stock sounds in MPC sound like cheaper VST instruments. I'm thinking the popular hardware synths still sound more premium and professional
Excellent video as usual! I'm wondering, is the main body made of hard plastic or does it have that soft rubber-like coating? Because that stuff usually turns into a sticky mess just after the warranty expires.
Thanks! It’s hard plastic unlike the MPC live - more like the One I think and doesn’t feel like it will become sticky
This looks completely redundant for most people who already own MPC and a midi keyboard, but you gotta give it to Akai for pushing things forward. It’ll be interesting to see how NI follows up.
Loop goes over some of the differences. Also, the latest update is amazing and it’s clear that it was inspired by the new keyboard release. I’m loving the new update.
maybe going bankrupt. again.
This is a dope product, but I have an X so this doesn't really check any boxes for me. But, I like how they have their hands on many different needs, some people need a workstation-> MPC key, some people want Ableton style workflow->Force, some need traditional MPC-> X,Live,One and it's all under one OS. So I think updates will continue to trickle down to the entire Akai product line and their consumers. I mean the standalone product is so good, I can't remember the last time I went to my PC for production.
Dunno, I like keys but they make things huge, right now I use Maschine just by itself, with a M32 on the go and a 49keys at home so even if I'm a fan of keys I'd say pass. Also NI keyboards are well integrated into Maschine, even the cheap M32 + Mikro is a pretty nice combo.
Except midi learn is awful - and to STOP you just connecting a keyboard - obviously their fear and why it’s the first talking point on the video - they’re charging $500 dollars for the new instruments and NOT giving it to any MPCs and the best Akai product to connect keyboard to with disk streaming and arranger mode they’ve made sure they didn’t update it to the latest firmware all the other MPCs got.
It has me curious, and it looks like it has a cool feature set, but having owned other workstation-type synths (Kronos, Fantoms, etc), I always found myself much happier just working with a laptop and software for 95% of my sequencing and editing efforts.
Much appreciate the standard, insightful, well-presented loopop video though...great work!
you sound fun
@@jayluubeats5901 He is fun, his channel is great, and he has a valid point too.
Akai’s update record alone destroys the competition. When.... if the CPU, capacity, & loading time can be adequately addressed, this will be a phenom. Should this be a huge hit... I can almost guarantee the release of an MPC X Keys along with a deeper VA synth to take advantage of the extra Q Links then, potentially, an 88. 🤩 I just hope they take the VST approach with their instruments in the future and employ key switching for strings, brass, woodwinds, bass, and guitar Instead of totally static samples & modeling like traditional workstations. But, those could take terabytes.
they did give the 61 a quad core processor this time around
@woody forrest Which makes me really sad, since they didn't release this with 16 Qs. Like, whyyyyyy? All that space and still need to flip between 4 sets of knobs? I just can't even...
@@sadakojh This is same CPU like in the MPC Live or Force, quad core ARM Cortex A17 Rockchip RK3288 from 2014.
@@sadakojh A Quad processor is a joke(with only 4GB of RAM), when you are running multiple tracks with CPU-heavy plug-ins like Fabric XL(case in point, you can only run 8 plug-ins per project.) There's no way to produce a complete song on this keyboard(unless you mix down some of the tracks as audio.)
What’s the record update
Daaaamn. I can't wait to see what Arturia does to the KeyLab mk III after seeing this.
If nothing happens, I may just get this.
Any word on a fully weighted 76 or 88 version 🙏🙏🙏
I was excited to hear about this because I've been hoping somebody would make a system on par with the Kronos but with a better workflow/updated hardware. But the lack of scene remain shows me this isn't what I'm looking for.
What I really need is scenes that can be changed in a predefined sequence with a MIDI foot switch, good integration with a DAW, doubles as an audio interface (like this or the Fantom), a good keybed, and of course good sounds!
Sounds like you're describing the strengths of a Fantom or Fantom 0. But keep in mind, on the Fantom 0, scene remain cuts out zones 9-16 on all scenes.
@@sjpachica3 An astute observation. I've looked into the Fantom quite a bit and I think I could do a lot with it. But I'm also interested to see competition, since there's no such thing as a perfect system.
@@StevensSounds exactly. I never could get along with the MPC workflow (I own and love the Force and a Fantom 06), but love to see this MPC Keys. It looks awesome with great capabilities. That being said, Fantom would probably be a better gigging board (quick scene changes etc) and better in it's synth capabilities. But MPC does live audio recording and traditional linear workflows better. Fantom + Ableton or Logic is amazingly well integrated. All have their strengths/weaknesses and use cases. But this is exciting!
dRambo?
@@mooseymoose Huh, never heard of that before, though it seems like a cool system. If I ever have an Apple product, I'll be sure to check that out.
would really love to see you making a in depth video of the opx4#
Without arranger its really strange workflow, Force based keyboard would be more suitable as a workstation. Not shure about the sounds, but new plugins sounds kinda meh compared fe to internal fantom 0x sounds...
I see what you did there 😉
I couldn't agree more! I wouldn't e surprised if a Force keyboard was in the works.
ok if it’s not for u then stick to your Casio I’m getting this bad boy 😬
@@lotdproduction I very strongly doubt it.
@@stre8media167 Insuch a price, it is definitely not for me, :D
Honestly speaking, it is difficult to understand why someone would buy an MPC Key, when you can buy the new MPC ONE & Yamaha MODX6 cheaper and with much better sounds, greater polyphony and a full-fledged 6-operator FM synthesis. But there are certainly some reasons ...
Akai it took you long enough. 🔥👍🏿
SPECTRUM ANALYER IS NEEDED FOR THIS
Sounds painful
Very good video
Comprehensive and like the intro music
this was so helpful thank you so much you did an awesome job !!!!!
I don't think this is something I would use personally, it is too big and cumbersome for me, I have enough sequencers and I like smaller devices dedicated for specific duties.
I can see it working for others but it takes up too much space where space is a premium for me.
Great video, thanks for the upload. Loop.
This is so freaking tempting. It's kind of exactly what I want. I really need to be saving my money for a new PC first though since I think I'll do a lot more "in the box" stuff overall.
Learning daw + pc + USB controller is way better option. Workstations has limits. DAW doesn't have limits and dirty cheap vst plugins
@@esterix101 Yeah, I think you're right. I don't really need this. I already have a PC, a Focusrite 4i4 3rd Gen, a guitar, a bass, Ableton, a bunch of plug-ins, a Maschine Mk3 and an NI Komplete Kontrol M32. I'm considering upgrading the M32 to a larger Native Instruments keyboard (since I use a lot of their plug-ins and enjoy playing keys) and (like I said) my computer could use an upgrade, but otherwise this is just way more than enough gear for my purposes. Thank you for the reality check.
@@thehomienicked8208 haha it's nice toy to have if one has extra $$$ but it's not needed and you can spend it more wisely. If this mpc keys cost that much, I would expect it to be a way better than it is. I can buy cheap arturia semi weighted keys like mpc keys, map buttons to FL studio or ableton and basically has same and more keys. I read somewhere it's impossible to use mpc keys as midi controller because it has to be hooked up with mpc software. That's sound like garbage to be honest.
We all have music gear addiction, sound addiction, always want more but certainly not needed. If I have too much $$$ I would buy it, just for fun lol!
I forgot to ask you on my earlier post -- what is your opinion on the playability of the keybed? I have read some reviews where the posters have complained that the keys are too short and difficult to play compared to other similar keyboards eg. Fantom-0 series. How do you find the keys for composing music that has a lot of chords or arpeggios?
If the keybed is difficult to play for a piano player, maybe I'll wait for a modular version of this unit ie. no keybed but 4 gigs of RAM and all the plugins.
Thanks.
Hey, it's true that the keys aren't as long as on some other instruments but it never bothered me. That said, I'm not a virtuoso player, so I think it's best you try one yourself in a store.
Here I was thinking I had sold the last MPC I would ever own after 30 + years of using them. Now I’m truly thinking this is a must buy for me as a semi retired producer who just wants simple easy production.
AKAI managed to build what we all wanted...a standalone Kontakt player keyboard :)
Well done...the 500€ plugin pack is already queued for Black Friday
No, I wanted a keyboard sampler with Poly Aftertouch so I could finally have an updated Ensoniq EPS16+. 30 years later and still nothing takes it's place. Major fail from AKAI.
came here after seeing AR RAHMAN was using in the concert in KUALA LUMPUR last night on the stage, sounds so great.
The key length, how do they compare to that of the Fantom/Montage? They seem a bit short for some reason.
Of all market segments to start heating up again it's workstations 0_0 This is a pleasant surprise, seems at the very least Akai is going for Korg's crown in the price segment and market with all the synth focused stuff they added to this. Sampling based stuff on this is first in class from the look of things but I expect that from something with the MPC name attached to it. Glad to see the workstation market heating up but after watching this I think I'll take the trade offs the Nautilus has in comparison for my needs as it's still from where I'm standing has the lead when it comes to just synth engines. But I'd definitely put this right up there with the Nautilus feature wise and I think the choice between the two comes down to what you want and prefer out of a workstation as obviously they all overlap a good bit. Let's hope this not only gets Korg on the ball with the Nautilus more but also helps wake up Roland and Yamaha to the fact this market still has a place outside of people looking for a more studio focused option.
Yamaha feels like the one dragging their feet about this market segment the most, while the MODX works great for live users it just doesn't seem like a good option if it's going to be stuck in a studio home or otherwise. But honestly that is kind of par for the course out of Yamaha as they have felt like they are kind of asleep at the wheel synth wise for what feels like years now. Roland at least realizes there are still those of us that want workstation keyboards for studio and recording use even if at times the Fantom feels like it's more focused on live use it doesn't feel as lack luster as the MODX and Montage come across for that use case.
Korg, Roland, and Yamaha are all dragging their feet when it comes to sounds. Especially Roland, their sample ROMs are dated and lo-fi as heck for the asking price when it comes to the Fantoms. Perhaps Akai stomping on their toes will motivate them to get on the ball.
Relax! MPC 61 is great when it comes to sampling and sequencing. Thats because it's an MPC sampler and sequencer. However, it's no where near Nautilus, beyond sampling and sequencing. Nautilus has 16 mono 80 minute maximum audio tracks. MPC 61 has 8 stereo 5 minute maximum audio tracks. Air synth engines cant touch any synth engine in Nautilus. Most people who want the best of both worlds will get an MPC for sampling and sequencing and a Korg/Yamaha/Roland for patches. MPC 61 is just a MPC One with a 61 key controller and the premium Air synths.
@@dianevrules I heard some killer keys in demos, Nautilus can barely keep up, a few really great synth sounds, some mediocre patches (like anything else), all not as lo-fi as Roland/Yamaha patches typically are. (sampled sounds)
Roland VA oscillators in Fantoms, JD-Xi, FA, and Jupiter-80 are nice and all, but lo-fi next to anything else like the Micromonsta2, Mininova, Microkorg, Cobalt8, Massive, Dune3, and the list goes on. Those Roland sounds don't cut through the mix quite like, well, practically everything else, but they are not bad either.
Demos so far are covering only a fraction of what the MPC Keys comes with, I'd like to hear more.
I really want Akai to hit Korg/Yamaha/Roland's real hard. And the winners in all this will be us end users anyway. 😎
0:20 - 0:29 .....if I could. I would sub again just for that.
Otherwordly editing.
Good job 👍
It's very interesting, but I feel the price is a bit too high. $1500 would have been a sweet spot, and $1900 is too high in my opinion.
Inflation my guy.
since it has its own built-in processor inside, it has to be in a different pricing. akai is still one of the cheapest global brands. this product is competing with roland fantom 6, which is being sold for €2800 excluding vat.
@@PoboyMusic doesn't really make the price any better tho, does it?
@@erengoztepe_ Roland Fantom 06 is $400 cheaper than MPC Key 61 though. ($1,500 vs $1,900)
@@MusicWizard85 I have the fantom 06. Although it probably has better sounds than the mpc, the workflow is quite clunky. I still like it tho
This could be interesting, could take the place of my midi keyboard, digitone and digitakt. Very different, but having one device to control/sequence my whole studio of hardware synths while having samples for drums sounds like a nice option.
I think you would miss the immediacy of the Elektron, but having an all-in-one package is appealing.
@@alienanxiety it’s true, I’m a huge fan of elektron stuff. If I’m trying to get technical or finish a production, I’m using Logic anyway. My hardware setup is mostly just for late night jamming by myself and everything real happens in the DAW anyway. Will probably skip something like this for now but would consider if downsizing.
Elektron products are beast you must be in the mood for something different which is good sometimes but I think you would miss your Elektron gear after while
I switched from Elektron to an Akai Force, and I'm much happier now. I don't miss the old devices at all, and I no longer need a computer to finish songs. It has allowed me to make better songs, faster, with less gear, without ever touching a mouse. I particularly like being able to use clips and an arranger instead of patterns... plus basically unlimited sequence length and complexity, basically unlimited number of tracks, a ton of drums per kit, and the ability to record whole-kit sequences real-time using Nick Trik style drumming. It's the best of MPC, plus the core workflow of Ableton+Push, in one standalone device.
I would just add it… keep the elektron gear. I love the digitone, don’t have a digitakt but I have a octotrack. I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of them. They’re too much fun.
sometimes I click on these videos just to hear this voice
He should sell a sample pack
I do it to hear some pleasant sounds
Weirdo
🥰
Hello. Great video! How can someone like me who is blind use this? Also, is there an easy way of getting in contact with the company? Would love to help make this accessible for all to enjoy.
Another great choice for people. I’m leaning towards this now, after looking hard at Roland’s new Fantom 06. Having an aftertouch keyboard makes it a better controller, and being able to switch projects to MPC software on computer and drop it in any DAW you use (it can run as a plugin) is a killer feature that wasn’t mentioned here (I’m sure it was covered in his MPC One video).
I have a fantom 06. The sounds are amazing but the workflow seems a little clunky even though I like how they are going for pattern based recording. (I use ableton for sequencing). Given the choice now I'd probably pick the keys.
@@PoboyMusic Roland is always a little clunky, and Yamaha and Korg gear are usually worse.
I sold the Fantom 06 since I’d had since April. I got the MPC yesterday and made two tracks already. I made like 1/2 a track in all my time with the Fantom.
Akai should release a bigger version loaded with more sounds and MPC X style Q links and chords and scales and more keys and features.
Thank's for the awesome review. I am new to the workstation keyboard and need all the info I can find to help me decide on which keyboard to purchase. Have a great day.
Excellent review -- it's difficult to find info on the maximum polyphony of the key 61. Fabric / XL are supposed to use 2 / 3 voices respectively per note but I can't find documentation to confirm this.
What has been your experience while composing songs? Have you noticed notes dropping off when composing complex songs using multiple plugins such as Fabric XL, Stage Piano OPX4 etc. in one sequence?
Keep up the good work!
Thanks! My music is relatively minimalist but I'll try to find an opportunity to do some load testing...
@@loopop Thank you -- look forward to seeing the results of your loading testing of the key 61.
Just a kind reminder that this is about the same price as the OP1 Field!
🤣🤣🤣
As much as I think I will be getting this I think whatever the next updated model of this is, that will be the legendary one we all look back on as THE ONE. So I really think I’ll wait.
Im from the future. The keys 37 is pretty awesome. All it lacks in xlr inputs 😢
One thing I miss on it is that there are no faders and too few knobs, specially for when you want to send the song to finish on another daw like ableton, studio one, Cubase, etc. It would be needed another controller for that... Fantom/fantom 0 and montage doesn't lack this for ex.
@@mattmurphy7030 yeh it's more of a glorified MIDI keyboard.
@@stm.natural_selection and drum machine, and sampler, and synth, and groovebox/sequencer, and effects processor, and the list goes on, I think
Fantom and Montage are much more limited in effects and effects quality, they are less than basic as far as sampling, and they are mediocre sequencers.
@@Jason75913 yeah it's solid I'm gonna buy one after I get home from Europe. MPC live is the hub of my music production this keyboard looks amazing
@@stm.natural_selection I'm not sure about the value this thing presents to existing MPC users. Getting a MIDI controller to go with your Live is a better deal than picking up an MPC Keys, it looks to me, and you'll save hundreds that way and miss out on nothing.
I think the value in this keyboard is for keyboardists looking for better sounds, sampling, and sequencing and do not have a modern MPC of any kind.
@@mattmurphy7030 you have faders on touch screen no?
Invaluably detailed review! The lack of seamless patch changes is a killer for me. I wonder if that's beyond the ability of the hardware or if it's something they could add through firmware updates.
It's definetly not a "limitation" of the hardware. Purely software. I really thaught this sounded like a promising board, but after seeing this demonstration, this doesn't even come close to rivalice Roland or Korg or Yamaha. I won't call the Montage or ModX a "workstation, but this is a complete joke compared to Any Fantom model, Korg Nautilus / Kronos or Kurtsweil board. This is basicly an expensive toy. The lack of seamless sound switching, and you have to "load" every performance into memory. completely useless for live performance, but I might get ahead of what Akai intended with this. The Kronos have had streaming samples for over a decade, which btw works much better than even Kontakt streaming. The price for that is you have to load it in for a range of performances if you still havn't got enough memory to load every sampleset you need for a full gig, but It's amazing how many samples the Kronos can actually access with its 4gb of Ram. You can without a problem access 25+ Gb without having to load anything into ram. Why go with yet another propriatary format in 2022 when everyone is using VST's ? The sound examples played was very sporadic. but none of the sounds I heard sounded very interesting. I really can't see that many " Musicians" will find this very interesting. Maybe a DJ or beat makers will. The sound material is simply too dull and features lacking. And yes working with multi samples on the Kronos is a horror if not combined with some PC or Mac software. but once you have the multisamples ready to load into it the possibilities is a thousend times more, and also a steep learning curve.
Thanks for this. Hype and Tubesynth I think were quite limited in terms of polyphony before. Is this also the case and with the newer instruments too?
160 poly
Now we wait for a NI Maschine Key+ with internal komplete kontrol layer with layer options.
cross your fingers
Magnifique analyse du instrument. Toujours très professionnel et musicien
Love that intro sound. Is there a special feature that allows you to shift the pitch of patches like that ? (Did not see what you did, but it sounded great)
I’d love to take credit for it but it’s a preset :) A regular pitch envelope
@@loopop Thanks very much, great demo btw
My only question went unanswered. I wanted to know what was the specifics of the included plugins. For instance, if it came with all of the new plugins that’s a game changer and difference maker. If you still have to pay $500+ for the new synths that pretty much kills it for me. Still not too terrible a price for it but couldn’t you get away with a Live 2 or One and a Keylab Essential 61 or MPK 261 plus all the synths for the same price?
I must have missed it. yes, it comes with all the new plugins
yes i called akai it comes with all the 25 plugins
@@loopop wow, that amazes me. Here’s my perspective, I bought a Live 2 last June and a Keylab 49 mkii months earlier. Being that I bought they mkii open box and saved a bit, I’m still invested at around $1,600+ not including extended warranty/protection. I heard a demo of the new plugins and they sound amazing so I’ll probably purchase it at another $500. In other words, I’ve already bought this thing minus 12 keys and the built in audio interface! 🤦🏾♂️
@@someguynamedlarry the plugins sound amazing to you?
@@snubdawg1386 from the promos and from what Bolo Da Producer demoed, yes. Compared to what I heard at that price point, best bang
compare this to the fantom or the asr10? As their first foray into this realm I think I'll wait for a second iteration but I am glad they're putting it out.
same here, I might jump onboard with a Mk2 with a better CPU if it happens
Not so easy to work for easy song/ tracks use and save quickly as its use plugin software.. unless user is familiar with its MPC hardware and software. Though it has a powerful engine on board with good connections, by today's P.C standard, it should have 32 or 64 GB Ram, 60 to 100 SSD on board to hold its sounds.. by specifications it looks great to link with a DAW for home studio use.
I could spend hours just loading and playing sounds, to find 12 sounds you need to load up into a song via its sequencer and save the project needs a lot of hands on at this synth..
Synth lovers will face a love and tricky relationship with this synth.
"Play the tones, Kevin! 20 metrones forward! Open up a gateway to Eternia!!!"
That's what the sounds of this synth reminds me of.
Akai Force + controller of your choice up to a full 88 keys OR MPC Key 61? 🤔 Price is too high at $1,900...$1,500 - $1,600 would be better.
A keyboard that is comparable to a Fantom ($4199) , is 1899 and you think it’s expensive?
@@VictorGaleskas I think you're confused. It's comparable to Fantom 0 series, not flagship Fantom. Fantom 06 is $1,500.
@@MusicWizard85 I didn’t mean the light version. I believe this keyboard is Capable enough to beat the high end workstations. (Montage, Fantom)
@@VictorGaleskas You are certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't agree. The flagship Fantom is in a completely diffferent league in terms of power, connectivity, features, sounds, etc... The MPC Key 61 is in direct competition with Fantom 0 series. I don't think you're going to find too many who agree with you that Key 61 is comparable to flagship Fantom but to each their own. ✌️
@@VictorGaleskas you delusional and you will get disappointed if you want to use the mpc61 professionally
22:16 You have to delete the plug-ins and it will free up the memory. Deleting the tracks doesn’t get rid of the plug-in or program assigned to it.
😂 "Who doesn't want another Pandemic?" No joke, I'm laying bundled up on the couch destroyed by COVID, and that still made me laugh out loud ✌️
Be well soon!
@@loopop Much thanks! I appreciate the entertainment. It's helping me get through 😌👍
I got an email from akai today with the usual upgrade options…since the 2.11 just dropped, noted that they didn’t include the new air ‘sound’ modules. So if you want the piano you have to pay… 150usd. It does make me wonder if that was deliberate with the release of the key…
Well duh
The price of the new instruments is insane. Particularly if you already bought one of the 'premium' MPC units.
Not really, I purchased the v synth many years ago and that was like $4200 au and a studio electric se1 mono synth was like $3000au we have just been lucky over the years things have gotten cheaper but u can thank China and poor build quality to get those lower prices.
you do not want to know what mpcs cost back i nthe day and workstations( and they were super limited too) so for this to be the price it is today and offering this much bang for this buck we are truely spoiled.
@@krushingbro6620 yeah, but if you own an MPC and a midi keyboard, why would you even consider buying one of these?
If you already own a MPC and a midi keyboard you should be good...this is great for keyboard players or a center piece for the studio...💯👍
@@GarthVader666 you answered your own question there.
Great video as always! Quick question : Does this come with all of the plugins when you purchase it? (No additional purchases) & Any idea if we can activate these plugins on our MPC Live 2 or X ?
mpc key 61 comes with ALL the plugins already preloaded..so open box and get to beat making. Also, the plugins can be put on all Newer MPCs.
You have to buy the plugins on all other mpcs. They're not cheap either
@@motherbrain2000 This is incorrect. You are allowed to activate the plugins on up to three devices simultaneously.
@@IsshmanGarcia You are correct, thanks!
I stand corrected
This makes me dream about an Ableton Live Push standalone.
Roland MC707 comes pretty close as a clip based machine.
Isn't Akai Force similar to Push ? Force is clip based ?
You just described Akai Force. Plus, you can use it like an Ableton Push in controller mode while STILL working standalone simultaneously on the Force.
@@redsquares thanks. I have to look into it then.
loopop, you didn't cover much on the sampler. Can you assign sampled chops to the keys just like the pads?
yes the keys play samples across the banks
@@loopop Yes! Yes! Yes! just ordered
If there is a video made by this guy about an item I want to purchase, I would NOT buy it without watching his exploration first. The best online, I dare to say.
Thank you for the guidance!🤩😎🧐