Akai Professional MPC XL groovebox

General

There are instruments that have defined a genre, and the MPC is one of them. The Akai Professional MPC XL adds a new chapter to that legacy: a standalone production centre that packs your entire studio into a single device, without the need for a computer. According to Akai, an eight-core processor with 16 GB of RAM delivers four times the processing power of previous MPCs, supporting up to 32 plug-in instruments, 16 audio tracks and 256 voices simultaneously. Surrounding this is a control panel that dedicates a button to virtually every function. Whether you’re replacing a vintage MPC, have been working with Live for years, or simply want to move away from your laptop, this is the MPC where everything comes together.

Control without menu navigation on the Akai Professional MPC XL

What sets the MPC XL apart from its smaller siblings is the sheer amount of physical control. Sixteen Q-Link buttons each have their own OLED display, so you can always see which parameter you’re adjusting and what value it’s set to. The XL Channel Command section, with its own button and display, provides direct access to the level, sends, outputs and record arm status of the selected track. A row of sixteen RGB buttons forms a proper step sequencer, and over a hundred function buttons take you to the right mode at the touch of a button. The 10.1" multi-touch screen provides a clear overview, but you’ll find you need it less often than you might think.

Playing with MPCe pads on the Akai Professional MPC XL

The sixteen MPCe pads not only respond to velocity and pressure, but also – thanks to 3D sensing – to where you touch them. Each pad is divided into four quadrants, so you can, for example, create rolls and other variations from a single pad, and in 8x8 mode, the sixteen pads become 64 playing areas. The touch strip can be used, amongst other things, as a pitch bend, mod wheel, crossfader or for Touch FX. For sampling, there’s on-board voice separation: you can split a sample into vocals, bass, drums and the rest, directly on the MPC itself. Combined with clip launching and the linear arranger, you can jam live just as easily as you can finish a complete track.

Connections for a complete studio on the Akai Professional MPC XL

On the rear panel, you’ll find two combo inputs with microphone preamps and phantom power, a stereo line input, a phono input with a ground terminal for your turntable, and eight balanced line outputs. Four MIDI outputs, two MIDI inputs and eight stereo CV/Gate outputs (a total of sixteen CV signals) make the XL the brain of a setup featuring synths, drum machines and modular synths. On the front panel are two instrument inputs for guitar or bass, two footswitch inputs, an SD card slot and headphone outputs in 6.35 and 3.5 mm. Via USB-C, the MPC XL functions as an audio interface with up to 24 channels in and out, and you can also connect it wirelessly via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Ableton Link.

Storage and expansion of the Akai Professional MPC XL

You can store projects, samples and plugins on the internal 256 GB NVMe SSD. If that’s not enough, you can insert a 2.5-inch SATA drive into the expansion bay, or work from a USB stick or SD card. The MPC XL comes with a substantial software bundle featuring instruments such as Fabric, Odyssey, OPx-4, Mellotron and Solina, so you can get started straight away.