Akai Drops Big MPC Bomb – Premiers New MPC-5000
Akai, responding to Roland’s successful MV-8800 entry into the “MPC” market, has upped the ante with the new MPC5000 featuring a completely revamped drum sampling engine, and get this, a 3-oscillator analog synthesizer! Seems like the Akai team was taking note of Roger Linn and Dave Smith’s Linn Drum II Analog, also making its debut at the NAMM show.
The MPC5000 now includes 8-track streaming hard disk recording, a 20-voice, 3-oscillator analog synthesizer with arpeggiator, a new sequencing engine with 960 ppq resolution, pad and track muting and mixing, 64 continuous sample tracks. There’s even a new FX engine with 4 FX buses and 2FX per bus.
In addition, the MPC5000 features a 64-voice drum/phrase sampler with 64MB memory — expandable up to 192MB. The still-monochrome display is twice the size of the MPC2500 for enhanced editing of samples and recordings. Integrated Chop Shop 2.0 now supports stereo chops and Patched Phrases. The MPC5000 now contains Random and Cycle sample playback, in addition to velocity Zone Play. A turntable preamp is also included.
The new 8-track direct to disk recorder lets you produce your whole song in the MPC and then mix it down with the internal sequenced programs and any input thru material. Add the optional CD/DVD drive and you can then burn an audio or data CD or your mix. Over 650MB of premium-quality sounds from Loopmasters are included to get you up and running with pro-quality production in seconds.
Features:
• 64-voice drum/phrase sampler with 64MB memory built-in. Expandable up to 192MB RAM
• Three-oscillator virtual analog synth engine with built-in arpeggiator
• Over 300 Virtual Analog synth presets included
• Eight tracks of Direct-to-Hard Disk recording
• Over 40 all new effects available within a modular 4-bus effects processor
• Master compressor and equalizer
• Built-in hard disk drive
• Optional CD-R/DVD drive
• USB 2.0 port for computer connectivity
• CF Type-2 card slot (up to 2GB)
• Chop-Shop 2.0
• Patched Phrases – creates multiple splits in looped samples to ensure proper tempo sync without changing pitch
• Continuous Sample Track – ensures samples play in perfect sync no matter where you start the beat in a loop
• 12 Q-link controllers for internal automation, external MIDI control and quick parameter editing
• 240 x 128 hinged backlit LCD
• 10 built-in analog outputs, plus 8 ADAT-optical outputs and stereo S/PDIF IO
• New multimode filter
• Two MIDI inputs and Four MIDI outputs
• Turntable phono inputs with RIAA pre-amp
• XLR / 1/4″ combo jacks with selectable mic/line levels
• Sample library provided by Loopmasters.com
The Akai MPC5000 will be available this Summer for $3500. More information on the MPC5000.
