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Plays back samples - pretty versatile, portable
I use this for live playback of mainly drum samples and loops.
The eight pads and multiple banks provide enough flexibilty for my purposes at present and the 32MB limit across a bank hasn't proved a problem despite having a whole song-length drum track loaded plus several loops.
One gripe is that you can't deactivate velocity sensitivity yet the pads have to be hit pretty hard to reach maximum or pretty loud playback. Funnily enough when I'm playing back a loop that forms the main rythm track I have absolutely no need to be able to play it back at different velocities (who really does?) so I have to rely on my synth player to whack it suitably hard to ensure we don't have an ultra quiet drum backing no one can hear.
I also have the akai sample pad (which has pads to be hit with sticks) and that does allow you to deactivate velocity sensitivity but doesn't let you loop samples. Grrr.
Gripe over - the MPX8 is a decent piece of kit - there's nothing we could replace it with for a similar price and so far we've managed with it well live.
The eight pads and multiple banks provide enough flexibilty for my purposes at present and the 32MB limit across a bank hasn't proved a problem despite having a whole song-length drum track loaded plus several loops.
One gripe is that you can't deactivate velocity sensitivity yet the pads have to be hit pretty hard to reach maximum or pretty loud playback. Funnily enough when I'm playing back a loop that forms the main rythm track I have absolutely no need to be able to play it back at different velocities (who really does?) so I have to rely on my synth player to whack it suitably hard to ensure we don't have an ultra quiet drum backing no one can hear.
I also have the akai sample pad (which has pads to be hit with sticks) and that does allow you to deactivate velocity sensitivity but doesn't let you loop samples. Grrr.
Gripe over - the MPX8 is a decent piece of kit - there's nothing we could replace it with for a similar price and so far we've managed with it well live.
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k
MIDI triggering is very unreliable.
I was using this to manually trigger vocal samples during live performance. There is no way to set the trigger volume on 100% always, but other than that it works fine in that application.
When using an external sequencer to trigger samples via MIDI, the MPX8 does not deliver. When 2 or more samples are sequenced at the same time, the triggering is very unreliable to the point that it is unusable. i.e. Only one of the assigned samples gets triggered.
There are no sample choke groups you can setup - I understand that this is in the specs when you look for it, but it should have been clearly stated.
Overall this sample player is performing very poorly and AKAI does not seem to care enough to fix bugs via firmware update.
When using an external sequencer to trigger samples via MIDI, the MPX8 does not deliver. When 2 or more samples are sequenced at the same time, the triggering is very unreliable to the point that it is unusable. i.e. Only one of the assigned samples gets triggered.
There are no sample choke groups you can setup - I understand that this is in the specs when you look for it, but it should have been clearly stated.
Overall this sample player is performing very poorly and AKAI does not seem to care enough to fix bugs via firmware update.
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F
Avoid this product
Seems like it would be hard to get something so simple, so wrong. This just doesn't work as its supposed to. I've been using akai samplers since the 90's with ease. Once I finally got the samples to actually load (4+hrs of re-editing samples, re-formatting drives and wondering why its inserting buzz noises and other samples at the end of samples) set it up in the studio, worked fine. Turned it back on next day, only plays about 1esc of every sample no matter what setting its on and couldn't get the kits to save on any re-formatted SD card, again! Pure headache for such a simple product. Avoid at all costs...
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VF
AKAI MPX8
AKAI MPX8 is a newest addition in the AKAI sampler family. It is cheap and easy-to-move sampler. It doesn't contain very big sample library itself but you can insert and SD-Memory Card with new sounds. You can Download Sample Library from AKAI's website to get more sounds for your Memory Card.
The Biggest problem with this device was that it didn't support Stereo samples, but with the new Firmware update that problem is gone! .
The pads are touch sensitive and the quality is great. If you want a cheap sampler this just might be the right choice for you!
Only real problem I'm having with this product is that it is too light. I would have liked it more if it would have been more sturdy.
The Biggest problem with this device was that it didn't support Stereo samples, but with the new Firmware update that problem is gone! .
The pads are touch sensitive and the quality is great. If you want a cheap sampler this just might be the right choice for you!
Only real problem I'm having with this product is that it is too light. I would have liked it more if it would have been more sturdy.
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T
It fills a gap
Thanks again to Thomann for a speedy delivery and goods arriving in proper packaging. Price is a no brainer and this device fills a real gap in my setup, I have been warned this machine is eccentric and not intuitive. Admittedly still getting my head around the interface and it took me a while to set up properly. Needs to run off a mains USB adapter not a hub. Sounds great once you work out how to run it into a mixer. All the talk about this device seem unfounded (at least when running off a mains adapter). Included Midi break outs are super useful. Happy to add those to my collection.
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A
Okay for it's purpose
Otherwise it's good for what it does, but you may want to reconsider if you need your samples to load fast (it's sloooooow even with a fast mem card). Also at least for current software version there is no way to turn off the velocity sensitivity.
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d
USB
USB connection produce some a little noise
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SM
Not bad as my first Sample Player
I bought this as I needed something to play samples during a gig. The allocation of sample to pads is easy once you get used to it. The system worked good for what I needed
PROS:
- Good Sound
- Did what I needed it to do
- You can stop a sample which is useful
CONS:
- When I hit a pad hard, somethings a nearby pad would activate
- You may need to work with your sound engineer to get a great quality output
- Only 8 samples allowed, would be nice to have pages of samples, e.g. Page 1 or 8 samples, page 2 etc
Overall - for the price I am still happy and continue to use it
PROS:
- Good Sound
- Did what I needed it to do
- You can stop a sample which is useful
CONS:
- When I hit a pad hard, somethings a nearby pad would activate
- You may need to work with your sound engineer to get a great quality output
- Only 8 samples allowed, would be nice to have pages of samples, e.g. Page 1 or 8 samples, page 2 etc
Overall - for the price I am still happy and continue to use it
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M
unreliable
doesn't work with my SD card. it was formatted correctly, as were the samples, and it just decided it didn't want to comply, and the midi adapters are loose and unreliable as a result.
Thomann were kind enough to replace it for me, but the replacement had the same issue, I'd imagine to the dismay of them as much as it was to me. I tried it with 2 seperate 2gb cards, both with the same result. The stock samples are OK, but there aren't a lot of them at all and of course that's all I have to work with...
TLDR: your SD card might not work with it, even if you do everything right, and not reliable enough for live use.
Thomann were kind enough to replace it for me, but the replacement had the same issue, I'd imagine to the dismay of them as much as it was to me. I tried it with 2 seperate 2gb cards, both with the same result. The stock samples are OK, but there aren't a lot of them at all and of course that's all I have to work with...
TLDR: your SD card might not work with it, even if you do everything right, and not reliable enough for live use.
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T
Cheap "Sampler"
If you really need a sample player and are on a budget, the Akai MPX8 might be a solution. Do not expect to get a full featured sampler. It's awkward to use and very limited. But it does play back those samples, nothing to criticize there! Usable as a part of a bigger system. Especially when you need just a couple of extra sounds for example in hardware live show. For a stand alone sampler, I would look elsewhere.
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