MPC Key 61
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I think all of this is exciting. I'm glad NI gave us a new Play/Expansion, it will be purchased shortly..... And I love that Akai took the time to produce the new MPC Keys. I actually just sold a an MPK 61 and 25 to GC for my S61 Mk2's. Had I known this MPC keys thing was real I may have waited. It will be interesting to see if there is an S61 plus in the works. I would in fact buy one maybe two. This is all fun times, competition in this way is good because we are seeing all this creativity rejuvenated.
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Maschine vs MPC/Force is all about preferred workflow. They are very different, imho NI Maschine is more like a "groovebox" attitude that i know from the early days of grooveboxes (Yamaha RM1x, Roland MC-series etc.), while MPC these days seems more like "DAW in a box with touchscreen and 16 drumpads".
Re Ipad: a lot of people prefer a more tactile UX than only a touch-screen, ie a dedicated device.
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I'm curious to know how many people will actually be buying this and what kind of customer, with a 2k price tag it's pretty close to pro-level keyboards that are famous for their sound, if AKAI's plug-ins are top notch in that department perhaps it can compete.
NI could do this if they want, they just need to stick an M+ inside a KK-S; not really sure whats the advantage of that VS just buying the two separate devices other than being more practical for live/session keyboard players. New HW won't really fix what the majority complains about...
Dont they all run on quad ARM tho? At least the MPC One and Live II both have quad ARM CPU's... not sure about the X and Force since it's not on the spec list but I doubt it would be different (maybe dual-core since they're older?)
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Won't be a need for cables, hubs, dongles, snake pit.
An M1 iPad connected wirelessly to a "dumb" hardware controller optimally designed to work with a "pro" level music creation app could be very much switch on and go. And MUCH more vibrant in development than embedding the brains and "main display" in an expensive stand alone device.
PLUS! B separating a less expensive "dumb" controller from the needed "brains and main display", the controller can have MUCH more flexibility for the consumer to swap out their controller of choice... number of keys, pads vs keys, breath controllers, whatever they want to use to interact.
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Still doesn’t sound enticing to me, it’s more pieces you need to setup and wireless is always a great reliable option at a gig (iPad, keyboard, interface, pads) then software on top then content…..
let the kids have their iPad, the men will take the hardware option. plus, you are talking about things that “may” be possible, not what you can setup and gig with now.
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I upgraded from the Maschine minus to an MPC Live 2. Seems to be the right time to switch while there are still buyers for second hand Maschine hardware. Took all my expansions with me courtesy of kit-maker, preset-maker and Akai’s expansion builder.
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I would buy a komplete kontrol keyboard that could run my personal kontakt libraries dawless right now. Would need something like maschine+ mk2 though as that sounds like its buggy a.f., and not just ported over.
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Such a standalone device would remain forever buggy and behind in development compared to "desktop" ecosystem.
The best way to assure vibrant development is to NOT have a separate "brains and main display" function for standalone devices. iPadOS is the logical bridge between the "desktop" realm and the desire for immediacy/portability of standalone devices.
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Yeah I guess all the synths from the past are no good these days.
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Analog is analog, embed is embed and software running over linux is… well that.
Everything has its place and market but worth it or not it’s too personal. I will not say “toy” as you did but “expensive” compared to other solutions for sure.
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If the goal is to provide Kontakt and its libraries in a highly portable and immediate form, iPadOS is going to provide the quickest and most complete path to achieving that. It is virtually guaranteed.
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Also an iPad Pro M1 plus an optimized “dumb” controller may cost less and do MUCH more than this Akai workstation keyboard.
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You really do like to place your bets on what isn’t yet available, as if it’s the all holy grail solution. Not all of us are interested in an apple based solution and the headaches that go with it. I’m not looking at a performer on stage and thinking “how cool and pro do they look with their iPad band…” an M1 iPad with 2TB is $3K aud, since you can’t upgrade storage in these and for what is proposed that would be the one to pick. At that cost, I still need a keyboard and pads, audio interface, content, software etc. seems clunky and costly to me.
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Once again with mantras… storage… you can plug an external usb drive from looooooong ago to iDevices.
Clunkyness depends on setup and it doesn’t require “future iPads”mto run any of the apps I shared previously. What @nightjar tries to point (even I’m not totally agree neither) is the fact M1 iPads are on par with old intels since macbook air M1 outperfom these and it hasn’t a fan like the iPads. It’s more related to Apple and segmentation than any true issue related to hardware. The mac mini sdk was an iPad pro chip inside a desktop mainboard.
Standalone will keep being “a thing” and maybe Apple will never give us that “alternative” but it doesn’t matter because third party developers like those I pointed (or other like Djay Pro or DjPlayer related to Traktor, etc etc) proved not only possible in the future but done in the past over powerless iDevice such iPad mini 4 (2015) or even iPhone 5s (2013) so M1 can run full Logic pro (or full Kontakt) if Apple wants to let them work over iPad. The chip and the mainboard is the same, only the amount of RAM is different.
Clunky or reliable will depend on keyboard solutions. Back in the day the same Akai released iPad based solutions but it was over the 30pins era (iPad 3rd gen, iPhone 4s) and that’s more than a decade ago. Maybe it’s time to another round but probably will not be Akai or similar since they end bored about Apple connector changes and mfi polices… which should end soon due usb-c even on iPhones (rumour) but for sure at iPad pros (reality) and DriverKit release.
It’s taking some time but it’s arriving and maybe we will see the day Komplete runs on iPad natively. Time will tell but meanwhile there are some alternatives (tablet or desktop) to those Akai proposals.
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Once again with mantras… storage… you can plug an external usb drive from looooooong ago to iDevices.
Well, you can plug one in if you first connect a hub dangling out the ass end of it tying up that one and only port they have and we all love carrying around hubs and drives to expand on the limited storage options on offer.
The OT wasn't a discussion about how reliable, cost effective, all powerful and capable ipads are, I have 3 ipads, they are just home automation controllers now since they were more a gimmick of usefulness IMO and even with the all mighty M1 solution, they will still be a rather "meh" powerhouse for decent production work (could argue that fact till the cows come in for milking). If I was going to waste $3K on a tablet to then connect to external drives, audio interfaces and midi devices i'd get a laptop that has an actual keyboard and usefulness like I already have.
I think the actual point of this kind of device is lost on some who cannot see the forest for the trees and are always wanting that next thing that doesn't yet exist to make their production better. Some of us aren't wanting the most apparent flexible solution, or the most fancy way to browse through billions of sound files sonically, or the bragging rights to say "powered by M1...". If that's your bag of fun then cool.
Some of us like the idea of something modern from what was around decades ago, a keyboard you can switch on and immediately be playing a decent piano or some pads, drums, guitar or whatever sound, you can hit a PHYSICAL button and start getting an idea down. No need to link things up or find your ipad, charge everything, troubleshoot why today the WIFI link isn't working to the keyboard, why you have latency, why the pad controller is suddenly xmitting on another MIDI channel.....
Someone like me for instance has an idea that has just appeared while watching a movie and wants to sit and play it out quickly. So this would be simple to switch on and get to work within a few seconds whereas the "ipad rout" i'd have to first find the damn thing (because I was using it for something else or one of the kids has borrowed it), now I need to plug it in because it's dead flat again, wait 5 minutes before it switches on, link it to my hardware, open some kind of software, open a project, load an instrument and maybe record something if I haven't already lost the will to live.... Why am I doing that when I have a computer workstation for this anyway.
So while I get what you ipad fans are saying, yes it may have a bucket load more power, sure it could be more flexible, yes you can say you use and recommend Apple products, unless you can detail exactly what hardware and software + instruments + content can be combined with a workflow example on how it would work compared to something like this solution, then it's not really applicable as an alternative if it cannot yet(ever) do what we can do right now.
Either way, i'm personally not interested in this at the cost it is. Knock off $1k tho and i'm considering it just for the ease of use and convenience and i'd take that physical interface over an ipad all day long.
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