When Akai Pro released the iMPC iPad music production center, a lot of Synthtopia readers were left wanting more. The app was fun, but it didn’t offer the full capabilities of even old-school MPCs.
It looks like that may soon change. Akai today teased this image of iMPC Pro, a new software MPC for the iPad that they say promises ’64 tracks of heavyweight music production’.
While Akai isn’t announcing specs yet, they do say that, if you’re looking for chopping and time-stretching, “This is going to be right up your alley.”
It’s iPad only for now (no iPhone). Akai says that the additional screen real estate is needed for usability when editing and chopping. No plans for an Android version have been made announced.
Full specifications are to come next week. iMPC Pro will be released mid-Spring.
If they take a good look at Beatmaker 2 then they’ll make a good app.
I was among the few to defend the iMPC, but after the last update which was more than half a year ago, they introduced a bug which affected all the samples you have imported – it just plays a short bleep instead of the sample. So, apart that sampling was really limited before, now it just became unusable and it also messed all the beats made using your own samples. I reported the bug, wrote on their forum and on any other websites that had a news related to this. 7 months later, still nothing. Still waiting for the update, but now they’re coming up with a new “pro” version and expecting anyone to jump. I switched to BeatMaker 2 and unless they’re giving me a free update, I’m never touching any of their apps/products again. Cheers
Honestly Akai is losing more costumers old and potential new costumers, their product is more expensive than others in the same music prod applications, forget about the fame and old,school days where they made history by shaping the sound of a whole culture Hip Hop but guys this is 2014, the market (people) have more knowledge and options now. So if Akai keeps this payable updates and they don’t keep up tha pace with inovations, you will for sure remain in the history…
no iphone version= lame
iPhone sucks for beat making
why not iphone? u can fit it in your pocket and take it anywhere. ipad is not so convenient.
“The iphone sucks for beat making”
Yes, if you have enormously fat fingers. The ipad or pads make you feel like a beat master but a normal listener couldn’t tell how you made your wonderful beat.
Damn: Personal attack deleted. Please keep your comments constructive and on-topic.
iphone->lightning to usb adapter->padkontrol. problem solved. much more convenient and portable than ipad.
So you’re saying an external pad controller which requires external power, cables, USB adapters and then connecting that to a small phone screen is more portable and convenient than a self-contained, larger screen and faster processor?
Wow……
regardless, i’d take an iphone plus real pads over an ipad w/ virtual pads anyday, if the software was there.
Ever heard of Quneo? It is a velocity-sensitive 16 pad controller that is about the same size and thickness as an Ipad and it can be powered by the Ipad! In addition to pads it has sliders an buttons for controlling any synth. or drum app.
Now THAT is a really portable and convenient option:)
more portable and convenient than an ipad connected to real some real pads.
They need put a “backround play” option, and audiobus compatable.
Creating beat on iphone = more lame
lightning to usb adapter->pads
Sorry, no iPhone version…who gives a rats ass? You can’t use the iPhone sized screen for anything remotely practical. The iPhone is good for calls and the typical filling of time between something important
iphone screens are only getting bigger…
one row of icon at a time
How about they stop focusing on an app with no tactility and make some decent hardware again?
What’s happened to the Rhythm Wolf Akai?? I like apps, & this looks like it’s going to be powerful app but hardware always rules & the Rhythm wolf could be an awesome bit of kit if only finished >.<
the Clapper says that if they finally put a chopshop in there, and time stretching, and will allow easy control by lets say a qneo or some other controller then the Clapper will Have one, oh yes he will.
might even be able to get rid of that awful maschine if they throw in an side chain compressor.
So I wonder if we will have to buy the app again or if it is a free/paid upgrade…
I bought the original. Dissapointment is not a strong enough word to describe the experience.
If this is free I would still hesitate to upgrade.
same here, deleted the app a day after purchasing it, like so many other apps
its sad that this is the company that (could still) sell the original.
but even with the hardware they completely lost their way.
But does it run JJ os?
JJ OS. Now there’s a thought! 🙂
I should be able to connect my MPC Studio, Ren or Element to the iPad… thats what the picture implies.
it sounds like they’re gearing it up to be a new app.. I hope not because all the stuff they’re talking about is why I bought iMPC and it never delivered.
I will be really annoyed if this is a new purchase. The POS they sold me already was used for about 10 minutes…
Honestly in my opinion Akai is not to be trusted, aftert his happened to me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py7TcleGCn4
I just plain and simple do not trust them anymore…. Terrible customer support and they do not stand behind their products the are into the business of making a quick bucks ever since they were purchased by numark.
iMPC is a toy. A sketch tool at best, but, without the ability to transfer programs from the iPad to your Comp or MPC what’s the point?
I can understand why they limited the feature set but If Akai didn’t want to cut into thier hardware market they should have released something complementary to the MPC like a program creator/editor.
Hopefully, iMPC PRO will give us program creation/editing with the ability to transfer them (maybe allow you to connect your iPad to the MPC as an external HD) audiobus/Multi ch inter app audio. Core/Vitutal midi support.
If they do this, you can use iMPC pro as the sequencer and send midi to all your iPad synths and record it back into iMPC.
BTW, an iPhone screen is perfect for a super portable MPC, you still need some pads but the screen resolution is more then capable of displaying any information needed to sample/chop/timestrech/sequence.
No, will the original MPC screen was monochrome, smaller and had WAY WAY LESS resolution then an iPhone.
Have you even used iMPC? It does have the ability to export kits and sequences which could then be easily transferred to the desktop MPC program. I often chop up songs from my iTunes library on my phone, save the kits to my Dropbox folder and then load them directly into the MPC program and bang away using the MPC Studio.
yes, you can transfer wave forms and midi files but you can not create a program file. If you can create program files, please point me in the right direction.
and I was wrong, IMPC does support IAA. I wonder if it is multi channel? It seems like you can only run 1 IAA app at a time but that 1 app can have multiple I/Os. Can anyone tell me if this is the true?
Check this out: http://www.noterepeat.com/products/akai-professional/impc-app/114-impc-app-101-transferring-impc-content-to-and-from-your-computer
I usually just use iFile on my devices to copy the folders to Dropbox. The project data folder contains .wav files as well as the program(kit) files which are in MPC 1000 compatible format.
NI should make an iMaschine Pro, because iMaschine was so much better than iMPC and it has ability to transfer your creations to Maschine.
iMaschine is a downright disgrace! N.I. hasn’t updated it in over 2 years and they deliberately left out basic, essential features such as audio copy/paste, core midi and Audiobus because they are worried that it might cut into sales of their Maschine Mikrp. They are greedy and shortsighted because it could have easily become a complimentary tool to their hardware.
I’m with everyone here who will be ticked off if they make me pay again to get what should have been delivered in the first place.
It’s called “iMPC Pro” with the emphasis on “Pro.” This more than likely means it will be separate and not and upgrade from the standard iMPC.
Hopefully the upgrade will be an in app purchase.
I remeber when they anounced the 4 track impc
Everybody was screaming for this …
And it took’em years to come up with it?
Fools!
Im not going to waste a single dime in retronyms software …
I bought Impc when it first came and then Impc for iPhone. They got deleted a long time ago because they lacked Audiobus and I AA output. I got the iPhone version only because it was on sale. As far as the Ipad version not having Audiobus or IAA output amounted to a waste of money. I don’t use tabletop what so ever, just pretty much sux IMO , I use Auria or Cubasis. If Impc pro doesn’t have Audiobus or a IAA output ( hopefully both ) I’ll pass on it.
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 ?