Akai ProfessionalMPC One+ Standalone Drum Machine, Beat Maker and MIDI Controller with WiFi, Bluetooth, Drum Pads, Synth Plug-ins, Touchscreen, and Native Instruments Integration

For years I've flirted with the idea of trying an mpc, and in a moment of spontaneous must have it, I decided I was finally going to order one, in fact a one+.After opening the Akai One+ box, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice colour high quality card with an image of the One+ and all it's function buttons explained on it, nice touch Akai.The One+ is a very nice looking piece of equipment, the red livery isn't a bright red, but a deep sumptuous red like a plum tomato, and everything is laid out very logically, with a lovely clear touch sensitive screen that is pretty responsive and very legible.The pads themselves I found a bit hit or miss, and I couldn't get them to trigger very accurately, but after a small tweak in the sensitivity settings, they were absolutely amazing.Then there's the WiFi for downloading your purchased plugins, and Bluetooth too.Booting up the One+ for the first time, I had that sinking feeling that I would be lost, and wouldn't have a clue how to use it, but that idea was quickly diminished and in literally no time I was knocking out beats.Over the last few days since it arrived I've delved further into what it can do, and I'm finding new tricks and workflow techniques that just seem to emphasise just how good this little red box is, I find myself spending hours in my living room, headphones on, just getting lost in music, and that's where I'm happiest, my wife describes my look as perma grin when I'm playing around on the One+.The mpc One+ plus can run 8 instances of Akai plugins, which are very good I may add, and multiple expansions including one hits, samples, and drum kits, and initially I thought this was quite limiting, but oh, how wrong I was.Not only can the One+ run it's internal goodies well, but it can also control external midi gear very very well, I've had an Access Virus Ti and a Roland JD-XI connected to it, and the world of what the One+ can do suddenly becomes a universe.And then there's the sampling, where you can record in audio and manipulate it to your hearts content, pitching and stretching and chopping, it's just fantastic.I'm kinda mind blown with the One+ can do, and this is the baby of the mpc family from Akai, so I can't even begin to image what it's bigger siblings can do, but for me, I'm a happy chappy right now, enjoying making beats and tunes.I'm an Ableton guy, and I know the One+ can use the link feature, but I've not even got that far yet,Are there downsides to the One+?Well yeah, but more gripes than real flaws, the headphone jack input is a bit lackluster, it's a bit wobbly and causes sound drop outs, and I'd much have much preferred it to be for 1/4 inch jacks, but really in the few days I've had it, that's all I've found so far.I love the One+, and I'm sorry Akai, I should have bought an mpc years ago, my bad.So my final closing statement can only be...... Wow, I love it, it makes music and it makes me smile, and that's really all that matters.

I bought this rather than a high spec looper pedal for my guitar and am so glad I did. I have a digital work station but prefer to do all the recording on the Akai as it is quick to try things out. I then transfer all the tracks to my laptop for final editing. It took a bit of getting used to setting up my first project, but once you get used to the workflow it is so quick to try things out. I audition using the looper play8ng a section of the track in as a background loop. I then record in the looper and save it out, then import it into the track as a sample. Once you get the sequence of activity clear you can create lots of tracks segments ready to slot samples in. You can use the empty framework as a template for further projects. There are many other ways to use this product you can use it as a live station cuing prerecorded segments or even mix this with live input once you have learnt how to record a sample and assign it to a button. Love the free instrument samples, I chose string wnsemble to give my tracks some orchestral backing. In summary, highly recommended but be prepared for a learning curve and new way of pricing a track together. I recommending watching a few of the videos showing how others are using it. Essentially this makes recording fun and much closer to jamming .

This is probably the best synth/sampler I have (I have too many maybe). I’m forever learning more and it’s kept me busy. Definitely better than Maschine.

A subtle hum is audible through my headphones. I purchased a new pair of Pioneer headphones from Amazon to address this, but the issue persists. This appears to be a prevalent problem with these MPCs. I have contacted Akai for technical assistance. Despite this, I am otherwise satisfied with the device's performance.*UPDATE*Following up on the recent issue, Akai and Amazon provided exceptional customer service. The defective MPC is being returned, and a replacement unit has been shipped..

Ordered the Akai MPC One + as i always wanted a MPC.Took me a little while to get around at 1st then i got in to it.Nice screen is the best feature which is touch screen with the ability to use VST plugins & 3rd party.I highly recommend the purchase of a SD card too.SDHC or SDXC card will work just fine when downloading & installing VST plugins, projects & Samples.I purchased a SDXC SanDisk 128GB Extreme.The internal storage is 16gb where half is used for the system & everything else.Overall great standalone groove box that does it all.Hope this helps.

Amazing piece of kit, all in one hardware where you can produce and sample at your pleasure. Great connectivity with DAW and huge choice of plug ins

Its a good standalone box. I can do all the things I want with it but it does have a bit of a learning curve but once you get used to the work flow it's a capable machine.The pads are a bit of a dust and dirt magnet and the main roatry nob has scratches on it and I dont how. Overall the nobs could be better.The headphones jack feels flimsy and feels like it could break if I was too rough with it.And it could do with some more ram! Lol