Sequencers / Grooveboxes

The MPC Key isn’t just an MPC with a keyboard, it’s a completely new species of workstation.

The MPC Studio provides an affordable middle ground between Akai’s software and hardware MPCs.

Hit the ground running with our guide to Akai's celebrated Music Production Centre.

With battery power and built-in speakers, the MPC Live II is ready to rock some blocks.

The MPC One offers the most affordable way into the latest generation of Akai's celebrated sampling workstation.

Akai Pro have distilled the best of their technologies into a stand-alone clip- and scene-based performance and production workstation.

Could the MPCX make you rethink your whole approach to studio and live music production?

The return of the stand-alone MPC exceeds expectations.

The MPC has always been about its fast, hands-on interface — can a touchscreen make it even better?

With a long and enviable pedigree in hardware sampling and sequencing, the Akai MPC range has finally gone soft...

The legendary MPC brand is reborn in a form that aims to marry its famous hands-on ethos with the unlimited possibilities of the software world. Does the combination work?

Akai's famed Music Production Centre goes mini...

Akai have updated the classic sampling sequencer concept last embodied in the MPC2000XL, but have they managed to preserve the magic formula that made the series a success?

Akai's MPC sampling workstations have been a studio fixture for nearly 15 years, and the MPC4000 is the most powerful one yet. But the world of sampling has changed dramatically since the MPC2000XL was released. Can an MPC still cut it in the 21st century?

Three years ago Paul Wiffen concluded that Akai had brought the concept of the sampling drum machine up to date with the MPC2000. Now he takes a look at its successor to see how much more you get when you XL.

Subtle timing nuances play a large part in the feel of much of today's rhythm-based music. Martin Walker bangs the drum about creative use of groovy time-tweaking functions.

The latest MIDI and percussion combination from Akai is the first not to feature Roger Linn's signature, although it clearly takes its inspiration from those that do. But Paul Wiffen discovers that, although this unit adds a feature he's been waiting 10 years for, it's missing the high price tag of its predecessors.

The MPC3000's dedicated sequencing and drum sampling control surface aims to tempt high-level musicians away from their computers with its luxurious hardware approach. David Mellor puts in a hard day's night and gives it the thumbs up.