Akai iMPC Pro Sneak Preview

The developers at Retronyms have kicked off a series of weekly video previews on the development of iMPC Pro – a new music production center app that they are creating in partnership with Akai Pro. 

In the first video, Retronym’s J.P. takes a look at Flux Link – a performance control in iMPC Pro that lets you glitch and drop the beat of sequences.

Note: iMPC Pro is currently in development. Official details are to come.

34 thoughts on “Akai iMPC Pro Sneak Preview”

  1. There’s quite a bit to be critical of with Akai and their pairing with Retronyms but I really liked where iMPC v1 was going despite the app having some deal-breaking limitations. The often mentioned phrase “MPC Workflow” has become vague and clouded over the years but still stands for a certain kind of approach and simplicity which is why I’m still very attracted to all things MPC if only for their former glory and future potential. With all that in mind I’ve got high hopes for iMPC Pro and am truly looking forward to Its release.

  2. The video is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while – i can’t wait to buy this so I can become a pro!
    Lol, another home run for Retronyms. 🙂

  3. They need to skip straight ahead to slicing and editing next time!

    I don’t care about your beard! I want to know if you addressed the legitimate complaints about the handicapped original iMPC.

    Also, is this going to embrace current iPad music making technologies and workflows?

  4. For what it’s worth – I can’t see any reason there can’t be an iPad app worthy on the MPC name. The hardware can handle it – so it’s time for Akai to get it right this time. Make it a full-on MPC!

      2. or just get an MPD24 on ebay for 50 bucks and hook it up to the camera connection kit. Then load iMPC (or Pro) in tabletop, turn the ipad screen off, and voila: a ghetto MPC.

    1. Not that it would have saved your display, but it seems like letting stuff burn and melt isn’t going to make the repair any cheaper or easier for the tech.

      That said, I fully sympathize with your situation.

  6. Image Line’s FL Studio Groove got all the tablet beat workflow right, especially for live effects. I have a feeling the iMPC Pro will take some cues from that. It’s a shame that Image Line has not updated the software to allow users their own samples yet. For that reason, iMPC Pro looks intriguing as everyone knows the MPC workflow and beat capabilities. An iPad with the properly written software is 100X (or 1000X+?) stronger than an MPC 2500. I think Akai could really benefit from seguing into the software market. We know with their current track record this will probably have its share of (unresolved) issues. Hopefully this software is good. I wish them luck.

    1. The one key place an iPad isn’t going to match an MPC is sequencing tightly.

      Old, dedicated hardware is always tighter than apps.

      2. assuming with ‘tighter’ you mean ‘more accurate’:
        d’fuck?? 13 ups- seriously? digital timing is more precise! also, how do you think an mpc does timing? after all its midi..therfore as precise as midi gets.
        note: classic misconception of accuracy vs. precision! analog is probably more accurate, digital more precise (hypothetically).

      3. analog is more accurate, digital is more precise. hypothetically. because of reproducibility!
        guess, IMHO ‘tighter timing’ means ‘more precise’. Doesn’t matter if excact reproduction of physical reference state: e.g 120 BPM vs. 120.5 BPM (accuracy) as long as time between beats is stable (precision).

        also IMHO: the mods suck! yeah. . thats that!

        1. I am used to ignorance in the comment section on any site but your nonsense transcends it all.
          You have literary not a single idea what you are talking about.
          Look up mpc midi timing on the gs forum and educate yourself.
          For the record e maschine app has the most tight feel to me. To bad its gimped.

  10. Hey, let’s not forget that Akai put their butts way out on a limb in the mid-’80s and pretty much invented affordable pro-grade samplers. Hell, I still have two S-612s and they are wonderful, so show some respect! Every company has come out with a few stink bombs… hey, you know you could still be manually editing 1/4″ tape with a razor blade!

    1. Hey, watch it there buster…there are some of us who prefer analog sampling. A lot can be said about the tactile razor blade thing! 😀

    2. And let’s also not forget that the Akai of the 80s is not the Akai of today. If you remember, Akai was purchased in 2004 by Numark Industries (now InMusic). So you’re essentially talking about a different company and products altogether.

  11. Hmmm. This beard thing is weird. If Akai has to delay release, we get this “beard clock”.

    Maybe he should pluck his eyebrows one hair an hour until it is released.

  12. Like Gert said, they need to get their schtick together, the first thing akai should have done is take retronyms out of the damn picture, to even have them involved after what they did with the impc is to show disdain for the very artform that they helped to pioneer in the first place.

    Retronyms definitely gets the clapper. Clap offf

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lBWjLJeKkQ

  13. To follow up my earlier sarcastic comment, I would say that this Akai/Retronyms partnership is confusing to me.
    The iMPC app has never really been developed to anywhere near the level it could have been, or to the same level as other much smaller and less experienced developer’s drum machine and groovebox apps. Furthermore, Retronyms, as a company, have decided to go their own way, choosing not to integrate features like Audiobus or IAA, not withstanding their really poor customer support.
    Akai obviously wants to get a bit more of the iOS pie, but why they have chosen to alienate their customer base (unless this is going to be a free update and not a separate app, which is unlikely) and work with a team that isn’t very highly thought of in the iOS music making community and also have a pretty poor track record themselves – in fact the only thing they have on their side is the development of ACP – which is really only for the more serious users anyway. The fact that this has the word Pro attached to it, means it blooming-well better have all the features you would expect, and seeing as how clock sync alone, is still…..let’s say ‘not exactly stellar’ (with some exceptions), I just can’t see how they thought it was a good idea to release a promo vid with some idiot trying to be ‘hip and cool’, using pretty much one feature, would make our mouths water.
    I really do hope that they prove me wrong, but at the moment call me Mr.Sceptical.
    .

    1. “The fact that this has the word Pro attached to it, means it blooming-well better have all the features you would expect”.

      InMusic likes to bandy this word around like it’s going out of style. That and “high-quality”. Look at a number of their product boxes and you’ll see. Or how for a while they thought painting gear shiny piano black made it look more expensive… puhlease….

    2. Retronym, release a broken iMini… Aftert that, for iSEM Arturia went with that guy from Nlog and Nave .

      iSEM is so much better implemented than iMini, that man alone makes the bunch at Retronym look like greedy incompetents. iMPC pro will probably cost more, do less and do worse than Beatmaker2

  16. Does the ImpC pro have the audio export bug that is in the current impc, and will you ever fix the audio export bug that is in the current impc, and being that the audio export bug was the first bug brought to your attention in the current impc, and being that several ‘tickets’ have been submitted within your tech support for the current audio export bug that is in the current impc is there any chance that whomever is in charge of reading the ‘tickets’ about bugs that might be in the current impc like the audio export bug that is in the current impc has some how missed all of the tickets regarding the audio export bug in the current impc ?

  17. iOS recording and music performance has greatly changed since the introduction of the iMPC app. In that day most of us were using one app at a time because of the iPad and iOS software limitations. The most might have been 2 apps at once. But turn to todays page and most of us are squeazing as many apps at once as we can. The developers of the new iMPC Pro need to focus on making this app totally connectable with all the top music apps. It must include great sync capabilities and the apps look needs to be inspireing. In app purchases of high quality samples and loops would be also very attractive. Even a market for user loops to be sold within the app itself and the money going directly to the creator of the loop. Or at the least a loop sharing community. And finally audio quantization. I’ml excited about this new app release because each new app leads to the next. The iOS recording artists numbers are seriously growing and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon so developers really nead to get it right and form a loyal following for all their future music apps. Cheers.

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