AKAI Professional has released MPC 2.1 an update to their MPC desktop software and firmware.

The MPC 2.1 desktop software can be controlled by MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Touch, MPC Studio Black, MPC Studio, MPC Renaissance and MPC Element. Integration for pads, pad colors and bank switching for MPK225, MPK249 and MPK261 has now been added. Integration for pads for MPD218, MPD226 and MPD232 has now been added.

Here’s what’s new in MPC 2.1:

• Export expansion packs to standalone – You can now export any of the expansion packs installed on your MPC desktop software to the standalone MPC Live / X. Begin by connecting your MPC Live / X to your computer and switch it into controller mode. Now from the MPC desktop software go to File > Export > Expansion. From the Export Expansion to Standalone MPC popup, use the Drive field to select one of the devices connected to your MPC. Choose either the MPC internal SATA drive, SD card or USB Flash drive. Next, tick the expansions you want to export or use the Select All button to choose all of them. Click Ok and wait for your desktop MPC software to finish the export process. The expansion export process creates an Expansions folder at the root level of your drive and copies your expansions into it. To use your expansions, reboot your MPC Live / X into standalone mode and go to the Browser mode, you will find your expansions under the Expansion tab.
• Browse expansions from the TUI – Go to the Browser mode and from the left hand side of the TUI choose the Expansions tab. The Expansions tab displays a tiled picture list of all of the installed expansions, simply tap on an expansion to select it. You can then use the right hand side of the Browser as normal to browse the contents of the expansion. If you would rather browse your expansions as a text list, then go to the Places tab, they will be listed underneath your storage devices and MPC Documents.
• The standalone MPC Live or X will now load user progressions – To use your progressions in the standalone MPC X or Live, on your preferred storage device (MPC internal SATA drive, SD card or USB Flash drive) create a folder called Progressions at the root level. Next, on your desktop computer navigate to your user progressions directory Mac ~/Library/Application Support/Akai/MPC/Progressions, Windows C:\ProgramData\Akai\MPC\Progressions and copy your user progressions into the Progressions folder on your preferred storage device. Lastly, in standalone mode, connect your storage device to your MPC Live or X, when you go to Pad Perform > Progressions your MPC will read the user progressions in your Progressions folder and add them to the Progressions list.
• In the Step Sequencer mode you can now adjust the velocity of each step using the Q-Links when your Q-Link mode is set to Screen. Holding down shift and tapping a pad now selects the pad.
• Snap : Relative or Absolute – Events on the audio and MIDI grids can now be moved or copied with Relative or Absolute snap. When the snap setting is set to Relative, events will move by the original time position of the event plus the current TC value, when set to Absolute events will move to the nearest TC time division. On the TUI go to either the Audio or MIDI grid and press the Settings icon in the top right hand corner of the TUI to bring up the Settings popup. Now set the Snap Mode to either Absolute or Relative. In the GUI use the Snap button located on the toolbar above the MIDI and Audio Grid.
• Pitch Quantize – You can now force the pitches of notes in a track to a scale of your choice. On the TUI from Main Mode, go to the Track section and press the Pencil icon to bring up the Track overlay and choose Pitch Quantize. From the MPC desktop software go to Edit > Pitch Quantize.
• Multiple GUI plugin windows – You can now open multiple plugin windows at the same time.
• Drum and Keygroup Amplifier Envelopes now have a faster attack. We have sped up the attack time of the amplifier envelopes in MPC Drum and Keygroup programs. Now an attack time of 0 will give a much faster response making your drum hits sound even punchier than before. Programs that were saved or created prior to this release will be loaded with an attack time of 1 to ensure backwards compatibility.
• The Metronome can now access mono outputs across both the standalone and desktop versions.
• In Grid Edit and Audio Edit you can now Cut, Copy and Paste event selections. In either Grid Edit or Audio Edit hold down the hardware Shift button to reveal the shift f-keys on the TUI.
• The Q-Link mode is now saved and recalled with the project.

Downloading the Update

To download the MPC 2.1 Desktop Software Update, log into your Akai Pro user account or through MPC 2.0 when prompted. See the AKAI Pro site for more information.