Akai Pro MPC X SE: A slightly better Special Edition
4,2 / 5,0 | 
Akai MPC XL SE · Source: Akai
Akai MPC XL SE · Source: Akai
Akai MPC XL SE · Source: Akai
The MPC X gets a little bit of an upgrade to become the all-new but mostly the same as before MPC X SE. This is going to be awesome!
MPC X SE
The MPC X is already awesome. It’s a mammoth machine that combines the feel of Akai MPC hardware with the power and versatility of software all wrapped up in a self-contained sampling and sequencing studio. You’ve got your 16 pads for beat making, you’ve got sampling and loop production, and there’s a 10″ screen with loads of sounds and instruments inside for making your tracks. How is a special edition going to top all that?
The MPC X SE ups the ante on internal storage. Going from a reasonable 16GB to definitely more decent 48GB. It now has a quad-core processor and 4GB of RAM for holding samples in its brain. I thought the connections had been expanded but they are the same as the previous version. It now includes over 20 MPC instruments and 100 insert effects. But the big news is that it comes in the classic and iconic colours of the old MPCs.
Akai MPC XL SE · Source: Akai
That’s really about it, as far as I can tell. So the internal computer gets a mild upgrade, a bit more space, and a very cool and appreciated paint job. For all that, it’s $200 more expensive than the current MPC X.
Akai MPC XL SE · Source: Akai
The MPC X is a fantastic machine for a beat, loop and sample-focused approach to music making. The MPC X SE doesn’t really need this much of a fanfare; but in order to commemorate 35 years of Akai sampling then it might be just enough of a bump to get excited about. I think Akai can do better. We did see something a while back that hinted at an MPC XL – that could really be something.
https://youtu.be/gtAvKVeuhhE
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10 responses to “Akai Pro MPC X SE: A slightly better Special Edition”
The MPC X have 2 midi ins and 4 midi outs.
This is not a new feature of the MPC X SE.
The current MPCs are already awesome, and while upgrades are welcome, none of the features will have an impact on almost any real world situation. So if you didn’t have an MPC and were interested to buy one, this is slightly better version. Anyone with a semi recent MPC will likely skip this. The best feature is that it includes the MPC/AIR instruments and effects, which actually are GREAT; I really do recommend those, and the cost is higher to buy them separately.
The mpc x already has 2 midi in/ 4 midi out. So that hasn’t been expanded for the SE.
Gosh darn it, the wording on the marketing is so tricky – I will amend it, thanks.
This is about the most disappointing product launch in years.
After almost 6 years since the MPC X launch, MPC users are predicted to be so easily impressed by a “RETRO design” that they’ll forget that it’s barely an improvement and actually purchase this?!
It’s so disappointing.
e your OLD Akai look, that much. What a disappointment.
The MPCX se looks impressive. But can the software operating system be installed in the MPCX?
What’s extra dumb with this is that it already has a drive bay underneath for an extra HD that is user-installable for hundreds of extra gigs of space, and they spent the first year of the product’s life in 2017 explaining via marketing that it didn’t need extra memory due to the streaming nature of sample handling, (hence why it was never intended to be upgraded.)
The colors would be cool if they hadn’t already done it with MPC Live II.
Come on inMusic, where’s the passion?
Hey there – just so you’re all aware. I am pretty positive the processor is the same. The quad core has been out and used by AKAI for a number of years. So really you get 32GB more storage, double the space to load up samples and instruments (now 4GB was 2GB) and you get a new paint job.
That’s correct- it’s the same proprietary quad core inMusic developed for Denon, Headrush, and other brand projects, and the same processor. It’s also the same one running in MPC Live. Again, it would be a meaningful upgrade if the sample RAM were not already more than sufficient, and the extra drive bay didn’t already take super cheap SSD drives.. This would have been a rolling change at best, and I’m starting to think that it was a forced change as perhaps the original supplier was no longer able to manufacture the smaller storage option.
I love my MPC One and have been thinking of getting an X and I might get a used one at some point if a bargain should appear but I wont be spending any more money with AKAI until their MPC desktop software is massively improved and a Linux driver appears.
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