The buttons are very good at reducing mouse-time – it’s possible to select tracks, browse and load presets, zoom the computer screen, and apply quantisation, amongst other things. This obviously isn’t a screen you’d spend a lot of time looking at, but it’s still useful. The RGB LCD display is very small, but it’s crisp, the text is legible and the colours help convey the necessary info. The Maschine Mikro is a hardware controller, coming in a bundle that includes the full Native Instruments Maschine software. Both ranges are capable of producing any variety of sound, but both skew towards beatmaking. The Akai MPCs and the Native Instrument Maschines are clearly lined up against each other. It’ll integrate with the MPC software on a connected computer, but it’s also a standalone, fully functioning machine in its own right. The MPC Studio’s prime competitors might be other Akai hardware, for example the MPC One sequencer/sampler, which adds a 7” diagonal touch display. With the right tweaks for personal style, these will handle anything from finger drumming to piano performances. Playing beats on them is fine as-is, and they’re pressure and velocity sensitive, though you might need some adjustment for playing more delicate instrument parts – there are options for setting pad sensitivity which will deal with this. And the pads? Sure, they’re proper MPC pads. Let’s begin by observing that there’s something strangely satisfying about hardware transport controls. It’s compact and spacious enough to swing those pad-hittin’ fingers. In pure hardware terms, the MPC Studio makes a fine controller, at a sensible size. The Studio hardware still works when MPC is acting as a plugin, by the way. A DAW within a DAW, who wouldn’t want to try that? (See also Reason 11). MPC 2 will host AU and VST plugins, although this can be turned on its head, as MPC 2 will itself function as a plugin inside other DAWs, creating fascinating possibilities for complex setups. The latest version of MPC 2 includes FX Racks – where up to four effects can be saved and recalled together – and vocally-oriented AIR FX including Vocal Doubler, Vocal Harmonizer, and Vocal Tuner. Audio effects include offerings from Akai and AIR, including reverbs, delays, filters, EQs, compressors, and so on. Having used the Akai Force and MPC Live, we’re quite familiar with these instruments, and can vouch for their usability.

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