NAMM Winter Show: Akai Professional introduced a new tool for creating beats on-the-go – the XR20 Beat Production Station.
The XR20 is a portable beat production station loaded with a sound set that is geared towards making Hip-Hop and R&B beats wherever and whenever inspiration strikes.
More than 700 pre-loaded sounds cover a range of drums, percussion, effects and instrument samples, while an integrated effects engine includes Reverb, EQ and Compression, enabling musicians to make complete backing tracks. A microphone input is included for mixing vocals over patterns. Bright, backlit pads provide visual cues for added beat precision.
The XR20 features sounds of standard and electronic drums, single (one-shot) hits, bass and synth sounds to easily create the maximum mix in minimal time. Key features of the XR20 include:
- More than 700 sounds produced by Chronic Music
- Ninety-nine Preset Patterns and 99 User Patterns
- Backlit LCD
- Bright, glowing, backlit pads that follow the beat
- Microphone input and Headphone output
- Pattern Play Mode – different patterns can be triggered from individual pads
- Drum Roll/Note Repeat feature
- Battery Power capability and AC Adapter
The Akai XR20 is coming Q2 – 2008 to musical instrument retailers with an MSRP of $499.
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Tags: 2008 NAMM Show, Akai, samper
8 Responses to “Akai Intros XR20 Beat Production Station”
Please Wait
Dude the Akai xr20 is wack as hell!! I cant believe they would put out such garbage!! I thought Akai put out quality!!
kann – what do you hate about it?
I agree the xr20 was pretty bad. I wasn’t impressed with the new mpc 5000 either. It seemed really buggy!
This beat box is awesome! Portability, sound quality, with a few MPC traits thrown in for good measure… It works for me!
I think I’m going to pick one up to replace my old DR-5. It has better sounds for making crunk beats and a more usable interface.
Thanks but no thanks. Akai must be trying to get beginners on a budget with this one. No usb or flash card????? No way to update the O.S. or the sound set????? Sounds like a updated Alesis HR16, or Boss Dr. Rhythm… Ummmm…. I’ll pass
i want buy one but not sure how to get the music i create on to a computer or cd????? im thinking the mpd 24 not suer tho. i got some creativity and i be able to bring my vocals to a beat to a cd. please let me know which one to buy.? the mpd 24 is 200 dollas and the xr20 is 300? very confused
The sound sets in the XR20 are great. The pads feel good. The box seems to be built good enough. Plenty of sounds to create your own beats. You can get these in perfect condition off ebay for about $150.00. Great little drum machine. This is a trick pony but it does that trick well and the sound sets are plenty enough and good enough to add to any ones stables of sounds. I use this in a small DAW (Mac) home studio. Its used to create beats and as a midi trigger. Main instruments are rolland and yamaha workstations/keyboards, Ibanez and Hamer Guitars, Onyx interface various effects and sound canvas’s. I’m having very good luck with this beat machine. I have owned Alesis 15 Roland 707 and DR 5, I still own the 707. I will never sell the 707 or xr20. For the used price the sound and controller are well worth it.