Akai Pro - 5 2014 products to kickstart your summer productions

Akai Pro – 5 new products to kickstart your summer of music

Akai Pro are having a good year especially if you’re a producer, with some new button pushing beat-making devices although there’s more to their extended catalogue than just the pad controllers. These 5 products were all announced at Musikmesse 2014 and other than the Rhythm Wolf the rest are all available in South Africa right now.

Akai Pro APC Key 25

The APC 25 Key as the name suggests is a 25-key, 2-octave keyboard controller ideal for traveling with but will also come in handy in many small production studios where space (and price) is an issue. If you are not a keyboard playing producer, as so many of us aren’t, then a 2-octave keyboard controller is really all one needs.

What you get…

A ton of buttons and knobs packed into this ultra portable device. The 5×8 matrix of buttons is ideal for clip-launching (Ableton) and offers tri-colour visual feedback. 8 knobs to control your performance parameters, it is USB powered and simply plugs in and works. The APC Key 25 is ideal for laptop producing on the go and for live performances where portability is so often important on your travels.

Akai Pro MPX 16 Sample Player/Recorder

The MPX 16 is another ultra portable unit from Akai Pro, ideal for the producer on the move. It is an update from the MPX 8 released last year and offers WAV file recording and playback with SD card storage. With its practical midi integration the MPX 16 is an affordable sampler that works with any SD card, ideal for grabbing sonic samples anywhere, anytime.

What you get…

16 ultra-responsive, velocity sensitive backlit trigger pads, an internal mic or 1/4-inch mic input, Midi in/out and filter, tune, envelope and choke grouping per individual pad. Since it is USB connected you can load sounds direct from your MPX 16 to your computer so its also an SA card reader. You also get software to edit and load samples.

Akai Pro APC Mini

The APC Mini replaces the APC20 and whilst the APC20 was simply a 1/2 size version of the APC40, the APC Mini boasts a new look and seems to have taken some of its design features from Novation’s Launchpad. The slim-line APC Mini is another of Akai Pro’s ultra portable controllers ideal for Ableton-triggered performances anytime, anywhere.

What you get…

The APC Mini features an 8×8 clip grid with 8 channel faders and it integrates seamlessly with Ableton Live. As with the APC Key 25, the pads offer a tri-colour display so that you know the status of each clip. The 8 faders are fully assignable and there is a master fader too. The APC Mini comes with Ableton Live Lite, Hybrid 3 by AIR Music Tech and Toolroom Records artist launch packs (downloads).

Akai Pro APC40 MKII

The massively popular APC40 has also had an overhaul with MKII. Wider now with a flatter base, the APC40 MKII looks even more like a performance instrument than before, which was always its original purpose, although many producers will attest to this controller proving equally useful for production too.

What you get…

A smaller form with its lower profile body, the APC40 MKII boasts quite a face-lift which Akai says is based on 5 years of feedback from users. The new layout includes a 5×8 RGB LED clip matrix, assignable A/B crossfader, 8 rotary knobs, 8 channel faders, and a send button for quick access to send busses. The send button actually cycles through all 8 send busses for advanced routing options. The A/B crossfader can be assigned on the fly which is great for dynamic mixing. Ergonomically the APC40 MKII is said to have a smarter workflow.

Akai Pro Rhythm Wolf Drum Machine / Bass Synth

We actually featured this as a new product news item last week as the Rhythm Wolf seems to have now finally surfaced as ready for release. The instrument is based around a six MPC pads and a 32-step sequencer that drives a five-voice analog drum machine and mono synth.

Watch producer Richard Devine perform on 2 Rhythm Wolf machines here.

What you get…

5 analog voices drive this mono-synth and drum machine offering up thick analog drums sounds such as kick, snare and open & closed hats plus some metallic percussion. Just no clap which bemuses us. There are dedicated separate outputs for the percussion and bass synth sound and 32-step sequencer offers the classic drum machine workflow. Other than the ‘Howl’ knob for mashing up your sound further, there’s also a gate trigger I/O for triggering sequences externally.