Akai Professional MPC One – Drum Machine, Sampler & MIDI Controller with Beat Pads, Synth Engines, Standalone Operation and Touch Display

This thing is crazy. I absolutely love it.Most of you buying this are either familiar with the legacy of MPC or just want an all in one standalone music production hardware solution.Here are some things you should know before buying:- It comes with1] 3 Months Splice Membership(with the Ethernet port you can connect it to internet and integrate your splice sound library)2] Full MPC DAW (You can use this inside your existing DAW like Ableton/Studio One etc. or as Standalone with the MPC One in Controller Mode)3] F9 Instruments, The Vault 2.0, Essential Instruments 2.0, Deep House, Drum n Bass, Techno, EDM & Future House , The Bank, The Wub, The 809 etc. (These are Expansion packs for the MPC)4] AIR instruments like Hybrid 3, Xpand 2, Loom, Velvet etc. (These can only be used in the Desktop software with your MPC in controller mode)- It has and SD card slot for memory expansion(I am using a 64 GB card and it is enough for now)- The back has only one USB 2(you can use this to connect MIDI keyboards, Hard drives, Pen drives etc.).You can use a USB hub to connect multiple devices- MIDI in and MIDI out for sending direct MIDI messages to your DAW/External Synth(Best use case is using the pad perform mode to play chords on an external synth/iPad/desktop)- 4 stereo(or 8 mono?) CV ins for modular gear connectivity(I don't have modular gear so don't know how that works)- 1 Stereo(or 2 Mono) IN, 1 Stereo OUT and 1 Headphone outNow coming to the experience:- If you are not familiar with the MPC flow it might take sometime getting used to since it is not linear like in most DAWs. But once you learn that workflow the possibilities become endless with this machine. Its a beast honestly. It took me about a week to get hold of how things work. YouTube videos have helped me a lot to understand. (Hint: "Programs(Drum Kits, Instruments)" make "Sequences" make "Songs")- The pads are smaller than you would expect but are nice and responsive(you can change the setting according to your wish).I found them a little stiff to be honest but that means I can bang on them with my fingers haha- It doesn't seem to accept any soundcards as of now(maybe future updates will solve that),so you are limited to two line inputs. But you can use a soundcard's preamps if you want by by connecting your soundcard to an external USB device or power supply and then using its stereo out to MPC stereo in.-The Step Sequencer is crazy especially for automation.- Sampling obviously is the USP of MPCs and this doesn't disappoint. You might need a Stereo Split TRS to 3.5mm jack to sample from your phone but you can also put samples on your SD card/USB device and start chopping them up. The Audio Warp Algorithm can be better(maybe next update?)- Features like XYFX 16 Levels/Pad Perform, Note Repeat/Arpeggiator make it more like an instrument, less like a computer for programming beats.- Oh also there's a looper to which I plug my guitar and start looping.- It comes with 3 VSTs inbuilt Tubesynth, Bassline and Electric. For other sounds you can use Keygroup Instruments(Sampled instruments). You can also Auto Sampler your favourite vsts, external synths etc.-The inbuilt effects are from AIR and Akai and they are pretty good. MotherDucker is my favourite lol It is a sidechain plugin.Now everything is not great. At the end of the day I had to export the audio stems (which took me 1 hour and 2 YouTube videos to figure out lol) to Studio One to layer down my vocals and do the mixing. So yea, while you can complete a beat in this and probably also mix it using inbuilt plugins I prefer my DAW since it is faster that way. So you better think of this as an instrument like your guitar or synth and enjoy discovering yourself through it.I have had it for a month now and I'm already making more songs and beats than I used to. I feel when you are creating something you want to be inside this new world that you have created inside your head and this machine exactly does that. It helps you discover this world, pushes your limits unlike Desktop DAWs where you get distracted and lost with loads of options(and internet lol).For the same price you wont get a full standalone DAW experience. You can get the Ableton Push 2 with Live 11 Suite but for the 69k(nice lmao) but you also need a laptop. So for me this was the best investment. Switch it on and in 5-10 secs you are ready to go. Using this makes me feel the same way I felt when I started learning guitar(a new way of expressing myself and that freedom is priceless).Ok! This has been a long review but I hope this is all you need to make your decision. I should probably start a music gear review channel hahaAnywaysMake music, change the world :)

Simple to use, provides easy control and is a monster of a hardware device.

Excellent