AKAI Professional MPC One+ Standalone Drum Machine, Beat Maker and MIDI Controller with WiFi, Bluetooth, Drum Pads, Synth Plug-ins and Touchscreen

Product Information

There are various instruments available, including tube synth, electric, and bassline instruments, along with AIR FX processors. The Akai MPC One is sort of a hybrid between Akai’s very popular MPC Live and X units. It’s a cheaper alternative to both, but by no means sacrifices functionality for affordability. Even though the MPC One sits at the lowest price point, the whole MPC series doesn’t necessarily conform to the ‘good, better, best’ model. Instead, each workstation serves a different set of needs which is reflected in the price—in that way, cost is not indicative of quality. There are various ports designed on the unit, and there is a USB port that allows connectivity with the host computer.

The pads allow convenient recording of the pattern, and you can manually input everything with the sequencer grid. You can also use the touchscreen for making deep sequence edits. The MPC Live II sits somewhere in the middle, maybe a little overpriced especially considering it’s ultimately running the same 2GB ram as the MPC One Plus. But it is unique with its internal battery and speaker as well as it’s decent I/O. Standalone MPC Buyer’s Guide: Conclusion AKAI just launched version 2.10 of the MPC firmware, their biggest update ever, with loads of new features and improvements! Let’s go through some of the amazing novelties you can enjoy with version 2.10. USB class audio support No, this is not true. The MPC One Pus has the exact same memory (2GB) and same CPU as the original MPC One. There is no change whatsoever in this regard. There were rumours that this new MPC One would have 4GB memory (like the MPC Key and MPC X SE), but this turned out to be incorrect. Some retailers even state that the MPC One Plus has ‘more memory’, but this is wrong; it has more internal storage space, but as stated above, this is used for ‘storing’ data, it’s not ‘memory’.You can connect up to 32 class-compliant USB MIDI controllers to the MPC One (running at least Firmware v2.8). A powered USB hub can be connected to the One's USB A port to expand the USB I/O up to 32 MIDI ports.

With Bluetooth built in, use external midi controllers to help aid your music production, without the need to make a nest of cables. The budget MPC One Plus has the tightest selection, with just two individual outputs and no mic, phono or instrument inputs. There is MIDI I/O available for connecting the MIDI tools, effects, and synths. It has a USB input available for composing music with the help of a controller. Studio Workhorse, Money No Object Option: If you crave those 16 Q-links, the complete array of robust buttons, the dedicated mic inputs, the additional I/O, that bigger tilting touchscreen and have no desire to take your MPC anywhere, then the MPC X SE might be the one to look at… if you can afford it. Just remember that those additional MIDI ports can easily be replaced with a USB MIDI interface. The MPC One and MPC 2.8 software are supported for use on Windows 10 and Mac OS X 10.13 and up. This will only require the installation of a single driver to use the MPC One as a controller with MPC 2.8.

Why do I need Wifi?

Just be aware that Bluetooth audio is NOT supported, mainly because the latency would be too great for it to be usable. What is the internal storage used for?

The MPC One does not have an internal mic preamp so it cannot appropriately amplify an incoming mic signal. To work around this, simply connect your mic to a mixer with a mic preamp and route the mixer's line output to the MPC's line input.There are sixteen high-sensitive pads, which makes it convenient to produce a variety of sounds. It is integrated with a seven-inch touchscreen to provide you with higher control over the unit’s features and preloaded music samples. So, there’s more breathing space on the 4GB models which means you can more free and easy with your plugins, and maybe more lazy with your project sample management. But of course you don’t have to use plugins like Studio Strings (‘synth’ plugins use barely any RAM), and for acoustic instruments there’s keygroup instrument alternatives such as MPC Orchestral which are more highly optimised to use minimal RAM.