AKAI brings their MPC series to the iPad with their iMPC app

By Keith Nelson Jr.

Alabama rock group One Like Son recorded an entire album with an iPhone a year after Kanye West performed at the MTV Video Music Awards with just an AKAI Pro MPC drum machine sampler (and twirling ballerinas). The iMPC app is the latest move of digitizing tradition with one of the most recognizable and celebrated devices in hip-hop, the AKAI Pro MPC, finding its way onto the highest selling tablet, the iPad. MPC manufacturers, AKAI Professional and the creators of the Tabletop virtual studio, Retronyms, bring over 130 editable programs and sequences along with more than 1,2000 samples and more to bolster the iMPC.

All the classic components of the AKAI Professionals’ lauded MPC series are on full display in the iMPC. The interface, with the grey beat pads, sequence toggling wheel, note variation slider, and traditional buttons, is a splitting image of the iconic MPC design. The classic AKAI Professional sound library and built-in effects (delay, bit crusher, master compressor/limiter) accompany Live Sequence queueing as a few familiar features from the MPC hardware iteration. To keep it all in the family, the iMPC even allows users to export tracks to the MPC software for them to be used on the MPC Studio and MPC Renaissance.

Rather than simply create an iPad software port of the MPC, AKAI Professionals and Retronyms took advantage of the new interface to expand on the functionality of the MPC.. Sample New Sound feature allows users to record sounds from the iPad built-in mic and line input to be imported into the MPC. An in-app digital turntable combines with Sample New Sound to deliver users with precise sampling for any song in their iTunes library. The support for Korg’s WIST (Wireless Sync Start Technology) protocol broadens the iMPC’s scope further by enabling iMPC to wirelessly collaborating across iPads with other WIST-compatible apps.

A social component is integrated into the iMPC experience with its direct connection to the SoundCloud community via CloudSeeder. Users can upload their newest iMPC creation onto a shared Soundcloud community amongst iMPC users, comment on others and/or simply peruse the inventory of beats all from the iMPC app client. Additional connection to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr are offered. AKAI Professional’s partnership with Retronyms also yields such connectivity perks with Retronyms’ Tabletop as routing effects to iMPC and resampling Tabletop devices.

The iMPC is currently available at the iTunes App Store for $6.99.

Stay productive, people.