Akai MPC Key 61: Is the Hype Over? A Five Month Review
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- Опубликовано: 13 июн 2024
- The Akai MPC Key 61 has been a rather polarizing keyboard. It is the new kid on the block battling for marketshare amongst Korg, Yamaha, Roland and Kurzweil. How is this new workstation keeping up with the established keyboard brands? Watch this five month review of this powerful keyboard.
MPC Key 61 Overview Link:
• Akai MPC Key 61: Gamec...
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
0:54 Build Quality/Layout
2:17 User Interface
17:06 Sampler/Backing Tracks
32:40 Getting Around 8 Plugin Limit
50:39 Dislikes/Areas of Opportunity
Feel free to contact me at www.darrickkeels@gmail.com
THE BEST KEYBOARD I've ever owned......
Survived a nearly fatal road accident and now 1.5 years later still suffering sometimes, so I thought I could buy the key61 from the insurance money to make those painful days brighter but I wasn’t sure if it is the best choice for me. Now your video showed me it is a must have for me. Thanks for talking about both positive and negative things, that’s how all review should be done. Subscribed …
That’s rough… Blessings to you..
Hope you heal completely friend.
Playing my keyboard cheers me up in tough times. Good luck with your recovery.
I have been watching music production vids on youtube for almost 10 years. You are by far one of the best content creators I have watched. Don't know how I haven't come across your page before buying the mpc key 61 a few days ago. Keep up the good work and thanks for the knowledge!
Thank you so much for watching and the kind words! I appreciate it!
Great work! I am currently working on my year 2 video for the Fantom, so the timing is perfect. It is always good to hear your perspective. Although the MPC Key 61 is essentially everything I wanted (pads and sampling) I am definitely holding off, until Akai resolves some of the issues. That said, I have been digging into Native Instruments, and will probably spend some time with the Maschine, this next year. I am also curious about that next Fantom update. Keep it up, my friend. We appreciate you! 🙏
Thank you Sir! Always good to hear from you on my channel.
In the Fantom do you know if there is any possible way to side chain a kick drum to a bass using any of the fx parameters?
As a keyboard player for over 50 years.....thanks for your great reviews Darrick! Just got my MPC key 61 and I am new to using the Akai platform , so your videos are so helpful. Keep you the good work my brother. Happy New Year to you and family ...
Thank you W Wayne! I appreciate that.
Great review I just bought 1 added the mini moog plug in and flavor pro..have owned fantoms and Yamahas and Korg..but love this keyboard!!excellent sounds sequencing sampling drums fxs etc…because of your previous reviews I bought it..I agree with u no matter what anybody else disrespectfully says!!!keep up the great work you have my full support!!
Well done man! Good to hear your input!
Definitely appreciate this deep overview of the MPC Key 61. Good job on the review 👊🏼
Thank you for watching!
As always, great video, this Key 61 Sounds so much better in person. It is also so intuitive! I have an arsenal of boards and software , and I'm always craving for more and better. I probably will never fill like I have enough. You have really inspired me to learn and maximize all of my equipment. That alone has made me better at everything!
Great review, very helpful indeed. Thanks a lot Darrick!
Thank you for watching!!!
cheers Darrick , awesome 5 month review
Good thing i watched till the end, that audio bounce with the plug in was exactly my question/solution if it could do that. Good stuff, subbed.
Hi my friend,
Thanks for this feedback ! you mentioned the trick to avoid the limitation of plugins, bouncing tracks to audio, but you did not talk about the key groups use even though they are very useful in the MPC/Force echo system!
By the way, I wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year for you and your family!
Regards,
Huge thanks for the review
Thank you Derek I love how you explain about the build quality of the product the metal chassis and all that you tell the truth about the product .I'm a producer myself understand where you coming from. Thanks for your input and your help on perfoshnal and personal views on gear. If I have a question I will hit you up bro.
Another hour well spent watching this. Thanks Darrick.
Thank you!
Deluxe! a Comprehensive - even-keeled & 'fair' sounding analysis on a very comprehensive, & capable musical tool. Great plying also, which well 'complemented' your personable points. 👍 🙌
Blessings for the transparency & your due diligence in detailing Darrick. (Very enjoyable.)
Great review! Sequence to sample is a great tool to have for large sequences.
Thank you for a solid work around.
Yamaha, Korg & Roland are you taking note??
Akai is kicking y’all s butt!
Great, honest review my guy!😎
If I had to summarize this fine machine, I would say it has the most “soul” of any synth I’ve ever owned.
Think thick & spicy barbecue sauce.
Lololol 👍
And it’s not air fried or pan fried it’s,.. “A Barbecue Sauce!” 😅
That’s what I’ve been looking for. Does anyone know if it’s better to get a newer MacBook Pro and repurchase Logic Pro x or just go with the MPC key? I’m not a live musician, but more so a songwriter/ composer.
Thanks.
Lol, no. It doesn’t have access to Roland IP. Akai is good with drums.
Thank you Sir! Your objective prospective is appreciated. I play bone(slide & valve). Gettin ready to get moving! Grand Rising to New Mercies!
Great reviews. Greeting from the North of England.
Loving your content my brother. I'm learning so much.
Thank you for watching!
Yup, his content is on point.
Hi Darrick
Another excellent review of this hardware -- I have a couple of questions that perhaps you could assist me and other mpc newbies with:
Is the global polyphony available at any time simply the sum of the maximum polyphonies of all the loaded plugins at any time?
Also, if a single instance of a plugin is loaded, can the "patches" from that single instance be used across multiple midi tracks, or do you have to load multiple instances of a given plugin to use those plugin sounds in more than one midi track?
Thanks, and keep up the good work!
Another great video, I appreciate how your break things down and save me a lot of leg work trying to search these things out on my own. I love your passion Darrick, I can see it in your piano skills and your knowledge of the gear. Thank you for what you do!.
Thank you for watching! I appreciate it.
Hey Darrick, just wanted to clarify a few things in regards to flash memory, SSD and RAM.
When the keyboard (any) is booted up, it first load the OS, then it loads the wave data from the NAND flash chip/SSD (a mix of NAND flash chips and a memory controller (optional DRAM for cache which increases the read/write performance) or a preload buffer file (like in the Kronos and Nautilus). It does this because when the player switches sounds, the keyboard doesn't have to read from the storage but rather directly from the wave data that was preloaded into the RAM at boot-up. This is why there is no latency when switching between sounds in keyboards such as the FANTOM, Kronos, Montage and K2700.
What Akai's MPCs and our computers do is load only the OS when we boot our computers. The DAW and the plugins must be loaded manually and every time you open a new plugin, it has to find the file from your storage location (if you haven't predefined it, which takes longer time), load the file into the RAM (this is where the loading comes from) and then only are you able to use it. And you have to keep doing this for every plugin, which puts huge amounts of stress on the CPU. If you have a big project with loads of audio units and VIs, you will notice that the computer will take at least a minute to load everything, this is because it wasn't loaded when the DAW was loaded, and every-time you switch between projects this loading time is always there.
To avoid this loading is why keyboards takes time to boot up, so that all the resources are quickly available when you need it without requiring to wait for it to load. The loading time also depends on the interface that is used. These are some of them, SATA (Kronos/Nautilus), ONFI (Montage/MODX), eMMC controller (FANTOM), PCIe Gen (x) (Dexibell) and instead of NAND flash, companies sometimes use NOR Flash (Roland in their Zen-Core products with a custom System on a Module and BMC chip) which is basically like non-volatile RAM, so the sounds are always there and do not need to be loaded at all. These are more expensive though and only come in small storage sizes. The Fantom-0 deploys one 128MB NOR Flash chip (for the Zen-Core wave-forms) and one 256MB one (for the expansions), therefore, it loads faster than FANTOM.
Why do manufacturers put so little expansion space for user samples? Good question, here is the simple answer. Because they want to reduce the amount of production costs and only have enough memory for the preset samples they have preloaded. For every MB of wave data, there must be an equivalent MB of RAM. If you put in a 128GB library, then the keyboard must have 128GB of RAM to load that library. To avoid this, a company must implement sample streaming, which Yamaha, Roland, Kawai, Nord and Dexibell have not done yet. Korg has implemented this in their Kronos, Nautilus, PA4X, SV-2 and the recent PA-5X. The PA5X has over 10GB worth of sample content yet Korg doesn't need 10GB of RAM to hold it. It only needs about 1.5 GB with sample streaming. The cost of the flash memory/SSD has only little to do with the final product pricing. If a company wanted to put 128GB of space in their product, they absolutely could do that and not inflate the price. The reason they do not do it, is because they would require more capable hardware (faster SoC/CPU and loads more RAM) which would jack up the price of components, which would increase the retail price if they wanted to sell that board. The Montage has only 2.2GB of compressed AWM2 samples, so Yamaha decided to put a 4GB SLC flash, with 2.2GB going for the internal wave memory, and 1.75GB going to the user. They only need that much, so they opted for a reasonable amount and only put in what was necessary. And the rest of the space they decided was going towards users custom content. Then marketing hypes all this up but from a development standpoint, it all makes sense. So the expense of Flash memory is just a small part of the equation, the bigger picture comes from its implementation and how the development team designs this board to be used and how marketing/sales decides which price point it should be positioned in.
As for why these companies cannot use the latest Intel/AMD/Qualcomm chips in their products, first is price (in bulk quantity), second is availability, third is power consumption and thermal wattage. Keyboards are embedded system products that require chips which will continue to be in production for more than 5 years. The latest offerings from IAQ (Intel, AMD, Qualcomm) only remain in production for the maximum of 3 years and are then dropped. Keyboard software is developed around a certain chip to take full advantage of it. If the chip goes out of production after two years, the keyboard production has to be held until they can transition the platform to a new chip. This is not supposed to happen with keyboard products and could end up as a disaster for any manufacturer. Third reason is thermal wattage and power consumption. Chips created for embedded systems (in this case keyboards) must have a low TDP of 10W or less. Also, power consumption should be under 15W of power (less than 10W on lower end boards). The current chips from Intel and AMD take way more power than they are supposed to so they are not an option. The only option is Intel's latest Atom series, which are looking pretty powerful in terms of performance and efficiency. Qualcomm chips can deliver low-power, high-performance, but again availability is still an issue in the long term. All in all, if lot of heat is generated within the chassis of a keyboard without a way to dissipate them properly (fans are not an option since they generate unwanted noise), it may lead to huge problems that we wouldn't want out of a keyboard.
Have a great day Darrick.
@Able You really should email me at darrickkeels@gmail.com so that we can chat offline. 🙂
@@darrickkeels6387 Will do Darrick, but as part of Christmas preparations and New Year, will be busy for the next week (church rehearsals) and after (for other reasons), will catch up when free.
@ablesam how would you know this?
@@Leo_prado teardowns, investigations, studying IT for a career, asking the right people the right questions, watching, observing and learning semiconductor and various other technological industries, looking the stock market and a few more major things.
You have to learn to think as a customer and as a business when analyzing or creating a product/service.
Excellent insight, well done and thankyou.
Great showcase of this synth! ❤ If you change the parameters of a certain sound, can you save these preferences?
Great video as always!!! This is a great borad, I wish it had a set list and smooth sound transition, untill then, I see it as a studio keyboard more than a machine for gigs. It sounds pretty well, but man, any keyboard would sound great as long as you play it 😄 (your palying is amazing). As for “easy or difficult”, I think it depends. Every new machine has its learning curve. The Korg kronos may seem difficult to use, but that`s the only keyboard I have, so I use it so much that for me it is second nature.
I’m sure I saw a video when the 61 was launched that showed a ‘work-around’ to achieve a set list and smooth transition.
That board is killing ! Great video bro🔥🔥
Thank you for watching!
Hey my brother, we had a chat about this board earlier. I'm the guy with the Kronos 2, I have to say my fiend, i have fell in love with this Akiai MPC Key 61 So much so, that Im getting one for my son. I have been impressed on further investigating about the production side of things and the quality of the sounds and the interface. I still think for me though, they really need to hurry and make an 88 note just for me. Thanks for reviewing it brother. Yes, there are things that one can critique but instruments are personal. There is more good about this board than a few bads. Its awesome. Thanks.
Thanks for that video
I have the MPC Key 61. I really appreciate this video. I am learning alot from your workflow. I love this keyboard, and now I love it more. Peace and blessings.
Thanks 4 sharing my friend!
Really enjoyed your videos and review of the mpc key 61. Been trying to research and compare, and your videos were very informative, thorough, and, straight up. Your playing is amazing as well, and the projects you had made, and used as examples sounded awesome. Thanks for what you do. It's funny, I have wanted the Roland back when it was the fa-06. I owned a juno di, and really enjoyed it, but, mostly I'm trying to remove clutter. I live in a dust bowl in the high desert, and, it gets old dusting under 12 different hardware devices and 30 patch cords. I'm kind of hoping to just utilize the mpc, and keep it simple. I'm brand new to the akai mpc platform. Curious what brand hard drive you installed, as I'd like to do that if I get the mpc keys. Thanks again.
Very nice video and explaination of your interesting workflow, Thanx!
One question regarding that workflow and samples (new to me): the track that you convert into a sample: does this sample take up an audio track or is it stored internal and played back from that internal storage when triggered?
I'm used to linear sequencing (MIDI and audio), hence the question (limits of polyphony, cpu, memory and so on)
Kind regards, Theo
Great piece of equipment! I think it's a great investment. I currently have the Mpc Live 1 which works well. I am looking to upgrade soon!
Amazing machine..I'd love to have a shot of one..a full stand alone work station
I didn't know it is possible to copy a track, then delete the plugin with midi "data" saved. It is a real 8 plugins walkaround !!! Thank You !!!
Thank you for watching
You nailed it on Polyphony
I’m really wanting to get this keyboard
If only it could hold more sounds at a time without having to load, this could be my main gigging board. At the moment I take it to my duo gigs where switching sounds quickly isn't something that I'd worry about. The sounds, particularly the electric pianos are good enough to rival the best out there.
Then I'm afraid it would meet the same fate of the Kronos with the boot-up time issue Francis. Considering the amount of sample memory you'd have to load for each of the instruments and then the samples that are used in the song, 4GB is absolutely nothing in that aspect. Yes, the sounds on this keyboard rival some of the best VI's and hardware boards.
Kronos takes time to boot up, but when its done the instrument is very quick to operate and everything is already loaded and ready to use.
@@leonardovmusic476 What you said is all true, but the bootup time is still a problem. Almost 2 mins on the Kronos with the preset preload buffer file and over 2 mins 30 secs on the Nautilus. This is a real pain considering keyboards of the past used to load within 15-20 secs or less. The Kronos would be able to boot faster if it had a faster and updated CPU and an NVME SSD. Hardware always plays major role in these situations, and embedded systems cannot always have the most powerful components due to thermal and power constrains in regards to the keyboard chassis and many other things.
Or if it could switch programs like the MODX. This thing should have preset per pattern and Akai should be embarrassed.
That's the problem with it, the seamless transitions is so poor on this keyboard. The UI is amazing, the screen is amazing but the editing leaves a bit to be desired and it takes forever to load sounds and look for workarounds for basics. The Kronos cando it, the Montage can do it, the Fantom can do it, Kurzweil can do it. If they can sort it out in the future it would definitely be able to rival the other brands because their screen tech is so mature and intuitive.
Late on this one but great (and honest/unbiased) review man
Thank you for watching!
really impressed by the onboard sounds (or maybe it was your wonderful keyboard skills) - if only it had a built in speakers! how do you find 'arranging' on it? compared to linear timeline on a daw? it doesn't have such features right? the 'arranging by pad/scene' seems odd to me.
Darrick.. thank you for your review..really clear and nice review. This just come to my country Indonesia.. do we need 88 keys version of this ? or just because of for more music production, 61 keys more than enough .
They don't have an 88 version of it.a But I am sure there are some musicians that would appreciate it.
Awesome vid Darrick, thank you. I've been looking for someone to address this issue. My interest in this board is also like you - for Backing Tracks (and ease of editing). I do have a MPC ONE, but haven't really dug into it and will likely sell it to help buy the MPC KEY. For my Live shows, I use a MODX7, Deepmind 12 and JDXi live with a RC-505 to run my backing tracks which gets tricky sometimes trying to make sure all the 505 tracks get triggered in right time - this board would be easier on that issue. BUT, I can have stack vocals sometimes alot of them to beef up a vocal track for effect - Question for you on this MPC KEY - how would recording vocals, say I record 6 part harmony - if that is recorded as "audio" does that mean that's being counted toward the "8 plugin limitation"? It sounds like even if it was I could take that audio and assign it to a sample just like you showed here. Plus, I could even record the vox on the 505 (single track overdubs) and play that entire stacked track into the MPC Key too I suppose... Thoughts? (Again - Love your vids, keep em coming! And you're playing is dope!)
The use of backing tracks in live performances is becoming more and more popular. Often it is the keyboard players in bands that are responsible for preparing and sometimes managing the backing tracks during the show. While most people use a DAW live to do handle that task, I've been actually using the MPC One and the MPC Key 61 for playing back my backing tracks. Currently I record all of my vocals in Ableton Live and save them as wave files. Then I bring all of the files in to the MPC and add them to the pads. Pad 1 might be Soprano, Pad 2 Alto, Pad 3 Tenor, etc. The MPC gives me the ability to mix levels on the pads. I can literally get all of my vocal tracks on MPC track. Remember a track can have 128 pads. I could however record directly into the MPC Key using my studio microphone by enabling the phantom power on the MPC Key. I would simply record each part separately into the sampler and then add the samples to the pads. I use Ableton because I can use 3rd party plugins for pitch correction and a whole host of other professional tools to make my vocals sound great in a short amount of time. But technically a lot can be done with just the MPC.
Great video! To play sampled backing tracks or loops you could use Launchpad. However for ease and inspiration this looks like a great keyboard. Could you make a video specific to audio recording? Specially vocals. That would be helpful. I also agree with you it should have streaming. Can you also make a video of all the bugs you have ran into. I have the. Autobús and I ran i to bugs with the Audio Recorder and I found the Nautilus as a DaW replacement falling short. And I think this MPC looks like a lot closer to a DAW then anything else. Thoughts?
Thanks brother, this was frustrating for me, thanks for explaining
1) You are an amazing pianist / keyboardist (?)
2) Your videos have convinced me that this is what I need. I've been in music for over 20 years, got into DAW-less about 3 years ago and tried various equipment and modules.
Having everything available in the same bit of gear is invaluable, and the Key 61 seems to have absolutely everything.
Cheers for the in-depth info on it!!
Thank you for watching!
I'm still loving my Key 61! It reminds me of the X compared to the One, Live & Live II...I like having the smaller form factors for mobility, but you just can't beat the functionality of the Big Boy!!! #KeepCreating 💯🤘🏾
Great review. Is the guitar sound a keyboard patch ? It sounds like the real thing .
I like what Akai is doing overall with all the products they have implemented. I don't like their regression testing for firmware updates. I am a force user and like the workflow because it allows me to mimic the Ableton workflow. I have not been able to really get into the MPC workflow as it doesn't have a traditional arranger, whereas the force has a linear arranger. The only thing that is missing is the ability to change tempo... via arranger or macros yes... it's missing. I think I would be on the fence with the key 61 if I didn't have any keyboards in my setup. Although Akai was nice enough to allow us to have access to the same sound library as the mpc keys via purchase so I don't feel like I am missing out on not having the mpc keys.... I totally agree that mpc keys is an industry changer. I think this will push Korg, Roland, and Yamaha to really make real workstations with better GUI and a serious focus on fixing the bad sequencers and samplers that they have subjected us to for more than 20 years.
great channel . just wondering what happened at 1.45 , the screen went all funny.
Thanks Derrick for the review...I have all of todays best keyboards already...do I need the MPC61 or would the MPC+ do everything shown here? Are there sounds like fabric XL in the MPC One Plus?
If you have the OnePlus you should be good to go. The main difference is that you have only half the RAM of the MPC Key 61. This means loading up Fabric XL plugins will eat all of your memory quickly. But all of the sounds and kits available on the MPC Key 61 are available on every modern MPC, though you may have to buy them separately.
I've had the MPC Key 61 for just a week. Can't understand why people say the learning curve is steep. Yes, some things work different from what I was used to (I started working with DAWs in early 1990s with Atari, Cubase, Roland D50 and Casio VZ). But everything here is logical, so it is not difficult to get accustomed to the interface and workflow. What won me over was the ease of working with samples, both as drummaps and keygroups. The autosampler in the MPC software is a killer and a great timesaver. As for the plugins the only thing I am missing are quality woodwind patches. Obviously I can make my own keygroups with all the flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassons, but a woodwind plugin would certainly be welcome.
Great video Darrick, I like the theory, and the explanation of the Mpc keys, do you think the keys has better workflow than the X, ps...Kool name sir.
I cannot say that it has a "better" workflow than the X. I think if you are primarily a keyboard player who is accustomed to using workstations like the Korg Triton, Yamaha Motif, Roland Fantom, etc, then the answer is yes. If you are a producer or composer that really prefers using pads, creating sample based beats by sampling from vinyl, then the MPC X is the clear winner, in my opinion.
Love this video dude! Question, is there any way to make the strings do that crescendo upward sound while hitting the notes and not gliding?
Sure. I would use an expression pedal to achieve that. I have personally never done it on the MPC Key but that is how I do it on the Montage.
@@darrickkeels6387 I'd love a video on that, it's interesting to see how others approach things. I have the Renaissance and I attempt it with note repeat, how real it sounds? we won't discuss that! Lol
My comment will vanish among the 700+ others. But your videos sold it to me. I experienced the same thing by buying the sequential pro 3 with crackling problems. Thanks to outstanding sequential customer support, I’ve got that rebel puppy and am happy with it.
Your productions here are awesome and I’m almost sold to that Akai. I have Ableton, plugins etc but I now realise that computer stuff don’t last. Updates, companies running out of business and you loose everything with time. Not hardware (in most cases). I released an album in 2004 and I can’t access it anymore, as my old cs2x slept for years in my cellar in its case and still have the sounds.
I’m rambling, sorry.
So thank you for those videos, and peepeace on you!
I'm going to buy this board soon! My father has a Motif 6, Juno, MPC key61 and 4 others. I have a mpk 245 and mpk mini but I want a workstation. I want to get away from laptop and pc completely so I'm buying this very soon. Will be the best $2000 I ever spent in my opinion
aside from the stock plugins, can you built your own sounds (subtractive or fm synthesis?)
When you’ve made all the editing adjustments to a particular patch - for example the electric piano you demonstrated in the video - how do you save it for future performance- I’ve tried everything and it keeps defaulting to the factory preset sound .
Hello, good time. Can I record and play Korg Pa 4x samples or rhythms on the keyboard?
Please guide me??
You made that MPC sound like a group musicians with live engineers too
Do you by chance have an accurate measurement of the height of the mpc key 61? I'm trying to get a case with my key 61 order, but, there are conflicting measurements from 3.54 to 3.75 to 3.8 height. TIA
I should clip that 8 bar loop scene and count it as my weekly piano lesson.
What case are you using for the MPC Key 61? I tend to use Rifle/Shotgun cases when I can as they tend to not make me CRY like “Keyboard” hard cases tho have yet to find an affordable hard case for my Yamaha Arranger board.
My Roland’s and Native Instruments S series boards are in Plano cases
I just use a Gater soft case. Nothing fancy.
Definitely my fav
So, I’m looking through all the comments and I’m trying to decide on this keyboard or fantom/Kronos. Three things are key for me: keybed feel, piano sounds work flow. Can someone confirm their opinion on three of these characteristics?
Thank you for the review. Been patiently waiting before making my decision.
I no longer have my MODX since the past 2 months. Trying to decide whether to replace it with MODX+ or mpc61.
I love the realism of the acoustic sounds on the modx.
The things that I see on mpc which are lacking on modx are:
1. Extra outs: where I can send my bass through a separate channel to the front of the house.
2. Ribbon slider
3. After touch
4. More modern and upgradable (ssd)
Only these things have me considering.
It really depends on how you use your keyboard. If you want to do a lot of recording on your keyboard itself...the MPC Key is definitely better equipped. If you are playing live or simply recording your keyboard into a DAW, the MODX+ is honestly probably the better choice.
@@darrickkeels6387 I play live. And being able to call up patches on the fly between songs is key.
Apart from what I mentioned earlier, Im also drawn to mpc key due to it's modern approach. But I guess they left out a main function I needed. And I don't want to be doing a lot of "working around" or waiting hoping for an update. Although they seem to keep updating their devices.
@Sylburn Arthurs For live playing I would certainly go with the MODX+. Its flash memory architecture will allow you to switch performances instantly. It also has seamless sound transitions as well. I believe it's better suited for the live performer.
I love mine, but the pitch bend spring failed after 3 months, sent it for warranty fix, not seen it for 6 weeks now☹️
You nailed it on streaming from SSD 🤘
Thank you for watching! I appreciate it!
@@darrickkeels6387I’m buying this anyways, and I’ll cut through in mix quite sonically 🤟✌️
Great job, is this thing a autocomp-keyboard , in the style yamaha-Tyros or similar ?
No. It is not an arranger.
Can it be used as a regular controller with any daw
Thanks, Bro! Can the MPC key61 receive midi on 16 different channels simultaneously? Also can the pitch bend range be increased to an octave? Thx
Yes and yes
We have to remember that while the Kronos has disk streaming and really advanced engines for certain instrument types (piano, organ, EPs, etc.) we also have to remember that it's in a significantly higher price bracket. I encourage Kronos users to get the Funk Horns and String sample expansion libraries, btw.
There are a few areas where I'd like to see improvements in the Akai engines but overall to have these available within the MPC environment is pretty damned impressive.
Kronos 2 has no retail value. As its been out of production for almost a year. Besides, Nautilus has the same engines as Kronos 2. But Nautilus is only $300 more than MPC Key. Not significantly more to have " really advanced engines for certain instrument types (piano, organ, EPs, etc.)."
@@dianevrules You bring up great points. The Nautilus brings all the Kronos sound and functionality, minus the excellent control surface at a lower price point not so far removed from the MPC Key 61.
Nautilus is nowhere near the functionality of Kronos 2. But thanks for the chuckle.
@@ErraticFaith I was incorrect to say the functionality, but it has all the sound engines, does it not? FWIW, I'm not a fan of the Nautilus as the interface is SO scaled back.
8:55 the EP-1 engine on Kronos absolutely gives you quick access to all sorts of electric piano parameters
Sure it does. I never said it didn't. In fact, what I said was I prefer its sound to the Akai's EP's.
I wish it had sliders and buttons like the mpk series
As you play the keys : the pads seem to follow
can pads be assigned independently to trigger one shots as you play the EP ?
Cheers !
Yes you can actually.
what do you think about the new montage?
What keyboard or program would you recommend for electronic music Drake or a combination of both
If you are trying to produce music on your keyboard that sounds like Drake, I would recommend the MPC Key 61 over every other keyboard on the market. No keyboard beats an MPC at Hip-Hop. Now, if you plan on using software, any DAW will do. Purchase Native Instruments Komplete and a controller and you are off to the races. Maybe a Maschine MK3 and a MIDI keyboard. However, if you play keyboards in live scenarios, it's hard to beat a Fantom or Montage.
Do you go onstage with it? Its all fun and games but this review has no “Meet” when it comes to a sequencer review. At this point we are with the same question, is this a good sequencer? How easy it was for you to create a song? How easy was it for you to create a play list? If i want to play roads on stage i will not use a 61 keyboard. How easy it is to pass through presets on stage?
Darrick, what are your thoughts on the Isla S2400..?
It seems like a fun piece of gear to mess around with but I wouldn't use it for serious work.
Nice synth / workstation, but there’s only 2 stereo outputs , 6 would be better I think. For backing tracks ,I use the B-Beat (M-live). This one has 6 separated outputs (1&2: drums, 3&4: bass and 5&6: instrument’s, … ). You can play audio, midi at the same time and even a movie if you wish 😊.
Remember that TV show "Eight Is Enough?" That's how I feel about AKAI's plugin limit 😂❤️
An affordable, small sound module/instrument player /mpc vst-host able to use all the plugins live without any sequencer, extra ins/outs or any other bells and whistles within the MPC would be great. Priced around 400-500 bucks. Perfect if you want to use a 73/76/88 keyboard on stage.
I think AKAI would have a top seller here for people like me who own Fabric XL, OP-4x, Stage EP/Piano/Strings and so on.
7:38 says it all, I had a Kronos 2 and I have a Modx7, the Akai needs virtually no reference manual, it's so easy, whereas I felt like the Kronos needed a degree in rocket surgery.
A fantom 06/07 any day, blows this away
Not…..
My mind is on Montage or old Phantom 2019
can you make a video how record and sample guitar or bass and chopt it up? like a ton loc song?
In the settings you can change the startup menu and one of the options will be start with empty project.
Ah...okay. Good to know.
My only concern is the memory limitation. 8gb would be nice, as well as dynamic stream loading as opposed to static loading of plugins.
switch to controller mode and only limited by the pc you plug into.
@@WinZard Then that defeats the object of buying the machine 😆 🤣 😂
@@EdgyNumber1 no it doesn't. Standalone is cool n all. However as a controller in controller mode the mpc any of them have far more capabilities then will ever be in Standalone mode. Standalone will always be a slim downed version of the full software.
@@WinZard Well then you might as well just get a quality controller keyboard and the MPC software on a tablet PC and pay extra for the plugins. Your argument makes no sense.
@@EdgyNumber1 no.... the x integrates best with the mpc software.... or any mpc. You obviously dint know the difference or have a pc that can run the software properly. I give up no reason to keep responding.
People should also remember that while you have eight plug ins, you STILL have Keygroup programs in addition to that. I recommend that users get F9 Instruments. That said, it could use a dedicated library of typical workstation type sounds that are memory efficient. Even a Korg M3 from 15 ish years ago only has 256MB of memory but it has tons of instantly accessible sounds.
Re: sound transitions: if you use playlists, you should be able to have all the sounds you need for a set ready to go and then switch between them on the fly without having to reload.
Very true, keygroups are still available for use in addition to the 8 plug-ins. And if used effectively and strategically they can add to your sounds setup. The issue with keygroups, though, is memory. While in theory you can have 128 keygroups in one project, you will likely be out of RAM far before you hit the 128 limit. So if I have 8 plugins all loaded at once I can easily hit 75% of the available RAM, that doesn't leave much room for keygroups. The Korg M3 (like most other keyboards) has a completely different internal architecture that allows every sound to be loaded during the boot up. It doesn't have an SSD and RAM. It has "Wave ROM." The reason why the Akai has such power underneath the hood is because it is basically a PC housed in hardware. It has an SSD, RAM, and a Quad-Core ARM processor. The issue with load times has less to do with file sizes and more to do with its internal architecture.
As far as sound transitions issue, I think it is just a little overblown by the keyboard community. Like you said with a setlist, you really shouldn't be fussing around with "searching" for sounds during a performance. Most sounds take 2 seconds or less to load. And when I watch live music, I see far too many Tritons, Motifs, XP-80s, Fantom Gs, and such still being used on stage. None of those keyboards have smooth sound transitions either lol! But they can switch sounds instantly. I think the best solution under the current architecture of the Akai is streaming. If we could play sounds directly from the SSD and bypass the RAM (for the most part), you could load up a 9GB piano instantly. Keygroups could be played directly from the SSD making the memory issue a thing of the past. The Akai Force can stream files directly off of the SSD. They simply have to implement the same concept into the MPC Key 61.
@@darrickkeels6387 Thanks for the detailed response. BTW I'm digging your channel and have subscribed.
Comparing the wave Rom of an M3 or a Motif XF (which I think was 741mb or thereabouts), to the Akai makes me wish that someone would release a bank of sounds with lots of presets which would use maybe 1GB of internal ram and then have lots of sounds available similar to how a standard workstation operates. Even without smooth transitions, it would be valuable for keyboard players if they wanted the MPC to serve as a sound module or Receptor replacement. Even if they did a high quality GM bank, like what's available on the Integra-7, most keyboard players could probably cut a gig with that, combined with the various internal plug-ins.
There is disk streaming on the Force but I don't think it's set up to work as behind the scenes as it does on a Kronos. I think the user has to go in and specify how it's used per project but don't hold me to that. I'll have to dig into my Force more to check.
The bigger issue could be that we are now getting further away from what made the MPC great in the first place. Other workstations offer tons of immediately usable (or not) sounds but usually suffer when it comes to sampling and sequencing. To try to make the MPC more like a Kronos or Fantom might undo exactly what makes it special. This is why I see a product like the MPC and specifically, the Keys61 to serve as an excellent 2nd or auxiliary synth in a larger setup. Sort of like how Bolo da Producer uses his X with a Fantom.
@Peter Kadar Music Thank you for stopping by! I think your idea of 1GB worth of compressed sounds could really be a great idea. Anything that offers immediate access to a ton of sounds would be welcomed by many. For me, personally, because I have other keyboards, the MPC Key is fine the way it is. In a live setting I use it to mainly play backing tracks and a few one shot samples. It excels at that. It also works great when I want to get ideas down quickly. It provides a different and more tactile approach that offers me more creativity than using a DAW sometimes. Waiting for the computer to boot up, then Ableton Live, then the sounds, and clicking around with a mouse sometimes kills my creativity. The MPC is a nice tool to have in my tool bag.
@@darrickkeels6387 Another workaround for this is even to use keygroups programs with a single-cycle waveform as the samples. Keygroup programs have all the essentials to function as a synth engine: a filter, amp and filter envelopes, the ability to stack four samples gives you four oscillators, which can be different waveforms, which you can also transpose or detune like on any synth as well as pan, randomization of oscillator/sample parameters to give an analog feel, an LFO with the usual synth destinations, high polyphony, and some thoughtful modulation options including velocity and key tracking.
I use the 61 as my main board and in addition to 8 plugins, which I use for "real" instruments, I have about 12 additional synth tracks that are keygroups, all in one project. And because the samples are single-cycle waveforms (many share the same sawtooth sample!), they take up virtually no memory, leaving plenty of RAM to spare.
Can this keyboard be setup where you can just basically play live with a rhythm section,where you have a bass line that will change when you change chords or keys?like an arranger I guess,or do you have to make backing tracks for that?
No, not that keyboard. You're looking for an arranger like the SX-900/700 from Yamaha or the PA-1000/700 from Korg. This keyboard (Key 61) allows you to create your own backing tracks (up to 128 Midi channels worth of data and 8 audio tracks) but is all played back the exact way you sequenced it. It's an overkill sequencer engine with tons of VIs and audio plug ins native to InMusic (Akai's parent company). It's meant for song creation, beat making and live playback.
@@ablesam okay thx for the reply,great demo.
@@ablesam okay thx for reply,
hey do you do any zoom sessions.??? id love to learn more from soneone who has a key 61!
Unfortunately my schedule does not permit me to do Zoom sessions anymore currently.
Wow, that does look like a nice keyboard.
It really is. It has its limitations and a keyboard player would have to determine if it meets their needs.
I’ve had the Korg Kronos 2 for a year now. I must say the sound quality is unbelievable. The workflow however is sub par. Hence I sequence in Ableton.
This however has such an easy workflow. Sound quality is average. I would recommend this as a sketchbook. It’s workflow looks so amazing.
Completely agree with this. The strings are hugely disappointing on this machine. However, the workflow UX is on point. I just Korg would sort theirs out.
Mr. Keels, how does this keyboard compare to a Yamaha Motif XS in-terms of sound quality? It’s probably much lighter than a Motif! You stated that this keyboard needs streaming of sounds? I think the Motif steams from a flash drive, could be wrong!!
It's really hard for me to actually compare the two. There are sounds I like better on the Motif and some that I like better on the Akai MPC Key 61. The MOTIF is still excellent for those "bread and butter" sounds keyboard players often need. The Akai, however, is newer and offers some more modern presets. If someone plays in an 80's cover band they may be perfectly happy with the Motif sounds. But trying to emulate these songs now made using DAWs and plugins, I feel the Motif XS starts to sound a bit dated. Often, new songs will have an intimate Upright piano with the lid closed. Or possibly layered synths created in Omnisphere. Or maybe a lo-fi chill beat with an old Rhodes sound that sounds like the EP is very old. These types of sounds are going to be fairly difficult to create on a Motif XS. Perhaps a person is trying to their music sound like J.Cole. The Akai would be the clear winner in that case. The Motif XS uses flash and all of the sounds are loaded during the bootup sequence. Keep in mind though it's only loading about 355MB of samples. In other words the Motif XS could probably hold 1 or two plugins offered in the Akai. And then it would be completely out of room. The technology is just so different.
Does akai have saxophone like yamaha keyboards
August 2023, you can pick this up used/b stock for well under $1400.00! In that price range, this dominates! I suspect that Akai will keep going in the key series. They need an 88 semi weighted, with 16 OLED so we get in the range of an MPC X/ 88 key instrument! Might become a killer of Kronos! The lack of OLED is my only complaint!