AKAI Professional MPC One+ Standalone Drum Machine, Beat Maker and MIDI Controller with WiFi, Bluetooth, Drum Pads, Synth Plug-ins and Touchscreen

Product Information

The MPC One features a 7" (5.9” x 3.7”) full color, multi-touch display (resolution 1280x800, aspect ratio 16:10) for navigating and controlling the internal software. This means that not only is it touch-capable, but it can handle multi-touch gestures like pinching to zoom in/out and double-tap for advanced settings. There is MIDI I/O available for connecting the MIDI tools, effects, and synths. It has a USB input available for composing music with the help of a controller. The unit is suitable for beginners who don’t have extensive information about sound engineering, sound editing, and DAW tools. It is designed with sixteen velocity-sensitive pads to create melodies, bass lines, and beats. You may have noticed that most of these MPCs support ‘Ableton Live Control’ and Ableton Link. So what’s the difference? With the MPC One Plus, MPC Key and the MPC Live II, there’s only 4 physical dials – to access the other 12 Q-Links you have you hit a button to select the appropriate virtual Q-link ‘bank’, This is of course nowhere near as intuitive as the MPC X and (for me at least) means that the Q-Links tend to be used a lot less on these MPCs.

The pads allow convenient recording of the pattern, and you can manually input everything with the sequencer grid. You can also use the touchscreen for making deep sequence edits. Includes acclaimed instruments, including Electric, Tubesynth, and Bassline, and AIR FX mastering processors MIDI devices can be connected via the traditional MIDI DIN ports, via bluetooth, or via USB (up to 32 devices via a USB hub). You can also connect USB-to-MIDI interfaces to increase the available MIDI DIN ports.It's a shame the excellent Hype synth has not made its way from the Force to the MPCs yet. I hope that will happen. Akai have also been teasing some drum synths that will bring dynamically generated sounds to the Drum Programs, which have previously been entirely sample based. Sampling Now, you don’t specifically need wifi for any of this, the original MPC One had an ethernet port for these network related tasks, but wifi is certainly more convenient as many people simply don’t have a nearby ethernet port to use (but see my workarounds later in this article) What is Bluetooth used for? The max recording resolution in standalone mode is 24 bit, 44.1kHz. When using the MPC One in controller mode the recording resolution can be set up to 24 bit, 96 kHz.

These MPCs are all completely standalone units – that is, they don’t need to be plugged into a computer, they provide a complete ‘in the box’ workflow all controlled by the large touchscreen UI and a combination of buttons, dials, knobs and pads. They can all also function as dedicated controllers for Akai’s DAW-like MPC Software (which comes free with all these MPCs). For customers in outlying areas of the country, the price of the Extended Warranty may be marginally higher, due to the potential for higher collection and redelivery transport costs.

A new suite of AIR vocal effects: Tuner to make your vocals sound perfect, Vocal Harmonizer, a four-part vocal-harmonizer effect and Doubler, to add presence to your vocal line or create realistic double effects. New AIR insert effects Ableton Live Control Mode is a special MPC mode that allows you to directly control a running installation of Ableton Live, so you can launch clips and scenes, mixer parameters and a variety of other functions. It effectively turns the MPC into a very basic Ableton Push. Currently the MPC Key does not support Ableton Live Control (it has not been confirmed why). Comparison: Portability & Size

No, this is not true. The MPC One Pus has the exact same memory (2GB) and same CPU as the original MPC One. There is no change whatsoever in this regard. There were rumours that this new MPC One would have 4GB memory (like the MPC Key and MPC X SE), but this turned out to be incorrect. Some retailers even state that the MPC One Plus has ‘more memory’, but this is wrong; it has more internal storage space, but as stated above, this is used for ‘storing’ data, it’s not ‘memory’.What is Ableton Link? This allows you to synchronise multiple devices over a network and is included in a lot of music apps, this means you can sync up apps to then play alongside the MPC One+ or even another unit without the need of extra cables. A friend or colleague brings over an MPC One+ to your house or studio? Connect to the WiFi and their device will sync with your Link enabled devices. This is a compact unit with various advanced features; for instance, you can connect a MIDI interface or external audio for recording the sessions. It is an all-in-one sequencer and sampler and is powered by MPC Software 2.

Oh, and about those ‘compact’ pads on the MPC One Plus ands MPC Key – in my opinion they are absolutely fine (I have average size fingers). If you are used to the normal sized MPC pads it will take you a few hours to adapt, no problem at all. If in doubt, try them out in a music store. RAM & CPU The most recommended USB interface for the MPC (and the one used by Akai in their promo videos) is actually a complete mixer and recording solution, the Tascam Model 12, which effectively provides your MPC with 12 inputs, 10 outputs, hands on dials, knobs, EQ, FX, mic preamps and a host of other features. So if you’re happy ‘outsourcing’ these tasks to an additional device like this, even the MPC One Plus could be used as a studio ‘hub’. ErgonomicsThere are various instruments available, including tube synth, electric, and bassline instruments, along with AIR FX processors. The pads themselves have been downsized a little, making them closer in size to those found on the Novation Launchpad Pro, but they still feel excellent to play and are up there with the most responsive you’ll find on any MIDI controller. Given the MPC One Plus has the same RAM, CPU and software features as the original MPC One, this is really quite a tame update, so you’ll have to decide whether the new features are worth the outlay. Solution home Akai Pro | MPC Series MPC Series | Frequently Asked Questions Akai Pro MPC One | Frequently Asked Questions Finally there’s also the ‘beats on the go’ factor – whether it’s banging out a tune on the train or in the park, or lounging around chopping breaks on your couch, these smaller MPCs again have the MPC X nailed. But with its internal battery and built in speaker, the MPC Live II is of course the ‘out of the box’ winner here – just pull it out, turn it on and make beats anywhere (but you might want to use headphones if you’re sitting on a train!).