What is it?

The Akai MPD 32 is the bigger brother of the MPD24 and MPD16. It's a midi controller / drum pad trigger beat making machine. You get 8 sliders, 8 knobs, 8 buttons and transport controls along with a few other nice add on features.

What's in the box?

Well you get the MPD32, Ableton Live lite Akai edition, BFD lite, Vyzor patch and preset library manager, quick start guide, manual and a USB cable. No external power supply but that shouldn't matter as the MPD32 is powered by USB anyway. There is an option to buy an external power supply though.

Build quality

The MPD32 feels like it's well built, its heavy which is usually quite a good sign. Although made from molded plastic it looks like it could take a few knocks before it would give in. The knobs as with other Akai products of a similar design feel like they could be broken off quite easily.

Pads

The Akai MPD32 has 16 velocity and pressure sensitive mpc style drum pads. These pads do feel like the original mpc pads, responsive, sensitive and well positioned.

The pads are set into banks of four which basically gives you 64 pads that can be used. Switching between the pads banks is easy by using the bank buttons conveniently placed to the right of the pads.

The pads can send out note, CC # or program change data. This means we can use the pads to trigger samples, launch clips in Ableton Live or change settings on virtual instruments or synths.

The flexibility of the output data, banks of pads and the layout of the control make the MPD32 a contender for a good Ableton Live controller. In fact it made my top 5 list of Ableton Live controllers

Knobs

The MPD32 has 8 Q-link knobs positioned to the right of the pads. The knobs rotate 360 degrees and feel nice and smooth in use.

There are 3 banks of knobs which in total gives you 24 knobs to use, changing between banks is done via the control bank buttons above the knobs.

The knobs are fully assignable and send out CC # control data. They are well positioned to the right of the pads which makes them easy to use when using the MPD32 as an Ableton Live controller.

Sliders

The MPD32 has 8 Q-link sliders positioned at the top of the unit above the pads for easy access.The sliders work similar to the buttons and have 3 banks, giving you 24 sliders in total.

They are smooth to use and work well as for controlling faders in your DAW or performing live with Ableton live.

The sliders send out standard CC # data and can also be used for applying after touch in some situations.

Buttons

The MPD32 has 8 backlit buttons, which when used with the 3 control banks gives you 24 buttons in total.

The buttons standard midi CC#, program change and on/off data. They are positioned below the faders which makes them ideal for mute and solo buttons when using the MPD32 with a DAW or Ableton Live.

LCD display & editing

The LCD display on the MPD32 is bright and big enough to see from a distance. Obviously it's not huge but defiantly big enough to use. The display shows the midi channel, parameter value, CC#, preset number, control bank number, pad bank number and preset name.

Right down to the nity gritty parts of the MPD32, editing. Editing on the MPD32 is, well for want of a better word, easy. That's right Akai did actually think about how to make the MPD32 easy to edit and have kept most of the editing menus easy to get to and understand. No complicated button pressing codes or scrolling through endless menus here.

Parameters you can edit directly from the MPD32 include the CC#, max and minimum parameter value, midi channel, presets and some global midi options. The minimum and max parameter value and CC# can be changed for each knob, slider, button or pad across all three control banks and the four pad banks.

MPC features

One of Akai's selling points with the MPD32, in fact any of the new midi controllers that have pads, is that they have built the machine around the MPC and have included the key functions that made the MPC great.

Well I can't complain about this as I love the MPC and they have indeed included some of it's best features. Apart from the obvious inclusion of the pads the MPD32 has MPC swing, MPC16 level, MPC full and MPC note repeat. These functions really do make the MPD32 great for making hip hop beats and bring back some feeling into computer beats. The other advantage with these features is if your going to use the MPD32 with an external drum machine or sampler.

Using MPD32 with other midi equipment

One small thing that sets the MPD32 apart from it's competition is that it has midi inputs and outputs. This means the MPD32 can be connected to a hardware sampler or drum machine. This is helpful if you want to use a hardware sampler in the studio (as some people do) or on stage.

There is also an input for an external expression pedal and foot switch.

Transport controls

Last but not least the MPD32 has transport controls built in. Nice little touch for controlling a sequencer or DAW.

Conclusion

Overall the Akai MPD32 is a great midi controller and is flexible to be used in the studio or as a performance controller for Ableton Live.

In the studio the MPD32 would serve as a great beat making interface with it's MPC style pads and MPC swing features. It's also flexible enough to use for light DAW control, you couldn't exactly control a whole mix with it but could quickly change some settings if needed.

The MPD32 can also work as a live performance tool, mainly due to it's well thought out and clean layout. The knobs, sliders and buttons are all with easy reach form the pads making performing easier. The pad's can also be used in conjunction with Ableton Live to make a setup similar to the Akai APC40.

Zander

Akai MPK25 review

Published: 15. 05. 2008     10 comments

We take a look at the Akai MPK25 midi controller, the smallest of the Akai MPK series of midi controller/keyboard/MPC drum pad/trigger. This is a feature packed controller and promises a lot but does it live up to it's creators repretation?