The Pad control buttons along the top of the unit have shuffled together to make room for four more, along with a much better master volume pot. A while back the Live gained shortcuts from the drum pads, but the MkII goes one better and squeezes in some extra dedicated buttons. However, as the MPC user interface sprawls across multiple views, direct mode buttons really speed things up. The MPC One is also small, but made room for more function buttons by reducing the size of the pads - I'm glad they didn't do this on the Live. The compromise with the Live is limited panel space. Which brings us on to the reorganised panel. the pads now remember their positions from one track and view to the next.
The software update that comes with Live II takes some big strides here. There's now a global switch for Time Correction (Quantise), accessed from the screen or with a double-click of the new TC button. (If I was being picky I'd say there's no need for this to be a long press). Simply hold Main for a second and the track selector pops up on screen. This was super frustrating before.Īlso really welcome is the ability to switch Track focus from anywhere. You can now continue playing your selected scale while in, say, Program Edit or XYFX modes. One that has my name on it is that the pads now remember their positions from one track and view to the next. Something I've criticised about the MPC is the sometimes disjointed nature of its various views and modes. These split out from stereo mini-jacks, as on the One, but are all independently assigned Gate, Note or modulation connections. The Live II has gained eight channels of CV, bringing it up to speed with the MPC X and One. Using the MPC Live also felt less anti-social, like picking up an acoustic guitar instead of plugging in an electric. It's surprising how off-putting dragging a PSU out from under the desk and finding headphones can be. In April 2020 I'm not getting out much, but the built-in speakers meant that I frequently plonked myself down around the house for a few minutes of play time.
This is a portable music workstation you can take out to jams. Or - and this is what got me thinking - an old-school ghetto blaster.
It's comparable to home sound pods like the Amazon Alexa, or a basic TV sound bar. The angled, front-firing speakers kick out a surprisingly big sound, with respectable, punchy low end and an appreciable stereo width from the playing position. But having played the MPC Live II, I quickly came down on the genius side. the speakers in my Circuit and OP‑1 have little useful function.
Is this a moment of madness, or a moment of genius from the Akai Pro product team? I was sceptical. Wait, what? What looks like a new arm rest (adding about an inch to the device's front-to-back measurement) is in fact a metal speaker grille.
Oh, and they added a big-ass sound bar along the front. The MkII has the same internal workings as the original but refines the externals, with an expanded panel layout and CV connections to match the other models. Take this to a gig instead of your laptop, and it'll keep running when someone kicks out the power cable. The Live's defining features within the portfolio are its form factor and internal battery. Boom BoxĪll the MPCs are the same at the core: they are multitrack production workstations with dedicated track types for drum kits, the three on-board synths, loops and MIDI/CV sequencing. This latest revision of the Live hardware shows that MPCs aren't being phased out in favour of the Force the two will run in parallel, and might hopefully cross-pollinate in cool ways. The MPCs have seen numerous software updates, and now feature on-board synth plug‑ins and Ableton Live control.Īlong the way the Akai Force emerged, sharing many of the MPC's features and technology, but with a different approach to making and performing music. The Live was joined by a flagship studio model, the MPC X, and recently by the compact and affordable MPC One. It's been two years since we reviewed the MPC Live, which was Akai's return to stand-alone music workstations. With battery power and built-in speakers, the MPC Live II is ready to rock some blocks.