Akai MPC is one of the most storied names in music history. But over the last decade, it’s strayed pretty far from its roots as a humble sampler. The modern MPCs run virtual synthesizers, have complex arrangement tools, and sport large touchscreens. They have more in common with your computer running a DAW than they do with the original MPC60. The MPC Sample is both a return to basics and Akai’s triumphant foray into the growing market for portable, battery-powered, and affordable music gear.
The MPC Sample has everything you need to make beats right out of the box. There’s a reasonably bright 2.4-inch color screen for editing samples and navigating the UI, a mediocre built-in speaker, an extremely sensitive mic, and a rechargeable battery, and it comes preloaded with hundreds of samples to get you started.
Now, you’re unlikely to be deciding between the MPC Sample and other MPCs, like the Live III or the One+. It’s partially a matter of price (the Sample is $399, and the next-cheapest model is the One+ at $699), but it’s also completely different from everything else in the MPC lineup. It allows you to record, edit, play back, and arrange samples into patterns. That’s a bit reductive, but it covers most of the core features. That’s not to say the Sample is hamstrung — its limitations are part of its appeal.
The MPC Sample takes inspiration from the MPC 60 in both workflow and design. It sports the same beigeish-gray body, a vintage-styled Akai Professional logo, a parameter fader, and even a wrist rest (which is mostly cosmetic). The difference is that the MPC Sample is much smaller. It’s not quite as portable as the Teenage Engineering KO-II or the Roland P-6, but at just over nine inches long and seven inches wide, and under two inches at its thickest, it will still easily fit in a backpack for some on-the-go beat making.
Of course, the pads are what make an MPC an MPC. Like any other entry in the pantheon, there are 16 velocity-sensitive pads arranged in a four-by-four grid. In my opinion, Akai’s are the best in the business. Only those on the Roland SP-404 come close.
But, because the Sample is so tiny, the pads are much smaller. It’s not the same luxurious experience you get on other Akai devices. They’re better than the pads on MIDI controllers like Novation’s Launch series, or on the P-6 or KO-II, but they’re not as nice as those on the Roland 404. I’m already a pretty crappy finger drummer, and with smaller targets, I was more prone to mistakes.
Connectivity is surprisingly robust. There are balanced 1/4-inch stereo ins and outs, 1/8-inch TRS MIDI in and out, analog sync, and a headphone jack, plus USB-C for power, MIDI, audio, file transfers, and firmware updates. There’s even a microSD slot for expanding the internal 8GB of storage.
There are a few quirks of the Sample workflow that I found annoying. There is resampling, which I use constantly on the SP-404, but here it just turns the current sequence into a new sample. There’s no way to resample live playing or sample manipulation at the moment. I also find the step sequencer cumbersome. You have to scroll through each step rather than programming a four-on-the-floor beat on the pads.
Beyond that, the MPC Sample is a joy to use. It’s incredibly intuitive. I was able to sit down and start making music immediately without consulting a manual. This isn’t because I’m an experienced MPC user. In fact, I’ve only ever used an MPC once before, and I found it quite confusing. The Sample’s limited feature set means you’re not trying to wrap your head around complex sequencing parameters, spending minutes diving through menus, or memorizing unlabeled four-button shift functions (looking at you, Roland P-6).
One of the great joys in life is chopping up a sample and rearranging it by banging on some pads. The MPC Sample makes this a seamless joy. There’s a button clearly labeled chop. The third context-sensitive knob then changes the chop type from transient (which kinda sucks), to region (four, eight, or sixteen equal chops), or manual, which also allows you to perform lazy chops (tap the pads where you want the chop as the sample plays).
You’ve got a lot of room for samples, too. There are eight banks of 16 samples at your disposal per project, with as many projects as the 8GB internal storage or a microSD card will hold. Each project can also contain 128 sequences, which you can then arrange in a simple song mode and export as an audio file.
The MPC Sample isn’t a complete throwback. There are modern amenities, like time-stretching and re-pitching, as well as a ton of built-in effects. The effects are set up in a slightly confusing manner, but it’s not too hard to get the hang of. There is a dedicated compressor that lives in its own menu. Then there is Knob FX, which allows you to choose between 28 different effects and apply one to any number of pads. So if you want to put some auto-wah on a bassline you sampled while leaving your drums clean, you can. Or you can apply it to all if you want.
Then there are Pad FX, which gives you 16 performance-focused effects that you apply to an entire sequence. The effect’s intensity changes depending on how hard you press the corresponding pad. This is similar to how Teenage Engineering handles punch-in effects on the KO-II, but Akai’s effect selection and implementation aren’t quite as good. The granulator and comb filter, for instance, feel almost unusable at all but the subtlest of settings — and those are not particularly subtle.
The most fun is Flex Beat, a collection of pitch- and time-based effects for things like beat repeats, scratch-like effects, and even a tape stop. If used sparingly, it can add some spice to a performance, but it can definitely get tiresome if overused.
The biggest issue for the MPC Sample is that it just has so much competition. The Roland SP-404 MKII ($499.99), Roland Aira Compact P-6 ($269.99), Teenage Engineering EP-133 K.O. II ($329), Elektron Model:Samples ($349), the Sonicware SmplTrek ($399), Lofi-12 ($259), and Lofi-12 XT ($399) all focus on making music with samples and are all in roughly the same price range.
The SP-404 is the bulkiest, most complicated, and most expensive of the bunch. But it’s also got the most insane effects, the best vinyl simulator, and the best pads. The Model:Samples has the best sequencer. The P-6 doubles as a granular synth. And the KO-II has the best re-pitching engine for playing melodic samples, as well as the best performance effects.
What the MPC has going for it is the most intuitive workflow and the best balance of features. It’s not necessarily the best at any one particular thing, but it’s above average at almost everything, which makes it easy to recommend to most budding beat makers.
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