Akai Professional MPC Live II – Battery Powered Drum Machine and Sampler With Built in Speakers, Beat Pads, Synth Engines and Touch Display

Product Information

The full Undo history can now be accessed via the TUI so you can rapidly jump through a project’s lifespan.

Versatility is crucial for all producers. Being able to easily pivot from creator to performer means more people have the opportunity to see and hear your music. The new MPC Live makes the process of performing your studio inventions on stage incredibly seamless by combining the power of a production centerpiece with the portability and rugged design of an on stage workhorse. Probably the best sampler on the market, with ease of sample editing, auto chop and a wonderful auto-sampler which allows use to easily capture any synth or sound modules as a multisample key group.

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Unlike the Force and MPC X, the Live and One encoders (Q-Links) don't have displays. I've generally found the red outline on the screen to work fine for showing what the encoders are controlling, but the new version adds a graphical overlay that pops-up when you touch the encoders. This is especially helpful if you're not in Screen follow mode, and is great in most of the instrument and mix effect views, as these have margins at the sides. For other views, though, the overlay obscures what's on the screen, and I ended up turning the feature off. A wide array of connections, including a SATA port to have your samples library and project everywhere. Your MPC can now automatically calculate the key of a sample. Add any audio file with melodic content and let it do the work!

The convenience of the MPC Live II really is irresistible. You don’t need cables and you don’t need headphones. If the battery is fully charged, you don’t need a mains plug either. Most of our time with this review model was conducted cable-free, and it’s an enormously enjoyable way to work. We even took it outside, to a local park, to remove the model from the studio context, and it proved easily loud enough to irritate passers-by. Yes! The MPC X and MPC Live will recognize MPC projects, programs and sequences made with earlier versions of the software and even older MPC hardware project and program formats. The MPC will convert them to the modern formats upon importing.

It also features a large data knob and four smaller multifunctional Q-Link knobs. These interface elements were combined in various ways to manage drum kits, software instruments, pattern and song creation, sampling, and audio and MIDI inputs and outputs. Of course! MPC 2.0 will support VST2 plugins, as well as AU plugins for Mac, just like the previous MPC software versions. Can I open my current MPC projects in MPC 2.0?