The Future of Mobile Production Is Here

Akai Professional’s MPC Live completely redefines the portable sampler workstation. It includes most of the key elements that make the MPC X freakishly cool, trading a share of surface-level control, the extended I/O, and some screen size for a lightweight and compact body that can run on rechargeable battery power. Like its big brother, the MPC Live actually runs the MPC 2.0 software platform for completely standalone operation, but you can also connect it to your computer. A set of 16 amazing pads, four Q-Link encoders plus a master encoder, dedicated buttons, and a 7″ multi-touch display deliver an impressive amount of control, so although this MPC is more complex than any old-school model, you’ll never find one that’s easier to learn than the MPC Live.

Brilliantly simple yet totally flexible layout

Measuring roughly 8.5″ x 16″, the MPC Live is by no means a large gadget, yet Akai Professional managed to use that space so well that you’ll never feel like you’re producing on a compact workstation. The design philosophy behind the MPC Live is so simple it’s pure genius. Anything you’d want to manipulate with a mouse is available on the multi-touch display, while Q-Link encoders and dedicated buttons put all the important functions you need at your fingertips. On that note, your fingertips will love the next-gen MPC pads, which respond dynamically and deliver full velocity and pressure sensitivity, so you can jump between percussive and melodic instruments smoothly.

Your go-anywhere next-gen MPC workstation

As an electronic-music producer, you never know when or where inspiration might strike, and the best ideas can come to you when your studio is miles away. It only weighs about 5.5 lbs., so you can keep your MPC Live in a backpack or messenger bag without even noticing it’s there. What’s more, this fantastically powerful music workstation can run for hours from the internal Li-ion rechargeable battery, so you don’t have to be anywhere near AC to get seriously creative.

MPC 2.0 delivers serious workflow upgrades

When Akai Professional announced a software DAW that thought like an MPC back in 2012, the electronic-music-production world went nuts. The immediate success of the MPC Studio and the MPC Renaissance paved the way for the next generation of standalone MPCs and the MPC 2.0 platform. The one thing you may love about MPC 2.0 is that you can finally record audio tracks right alongside your loops. This feature alone pushes the MPC software DAW out of the realm of beat production into the big leagues with other loop-based DAWs. While they were at it, Akai Professional also updated their time-warp algorithm and enhanced their Q-Link control system. What’s more, drag-and-drop MIDI and audio makes the most of the MPC Live’s touchscreen.

Tons of sample space plus tons of samples

Sporting 16GB of internal storage, the MPC Live offers you plenty of space for your sample collection. If you’re a sample hoarder, then you’ll appreciate being able to hook up any hard drive (HDDs and SSDs) via the 2.5″ SATA drive connector, or to plug in an SD card or USB flash drive and only load up a few extra GB of samples. Speaking of samples, the MPC Live comes with the massive 10GB Vault 2.0 sound library. We’re talking about the best Capsun Audio, MVP Loops, and CR2 Records has to offer, as well as a ton of unique content from the sampling gurus at Akai Professional.