Akai Pro MPC 2.8 Adds New MIDI Capabilities & More

Akai Professional has announced MPC 2.8, a new update for its current MPC hardware / software ecosystem.

MPC 2.8 introduces a variety of new MIDI capabilities, letting you use the MPC X, MPC Live and MPC One as the sequencing ‘brain’ of your MIDI studio.

Here’s what’s new:

  • MIDI Multi Capability – With MPC 2.8, you can simultaneously connect and route all the MIDI gear in your studio, including class-compliant USB Keyboards, MIDI interfaces and USB to CV modules. Fuse this with deep internal MIDI routing capability across tracks, comprehensive MIDI routing to any MIDI compatible synthesizer, drum machine or sound module, and even multitrack recording capability, and MPC 2.8 can be the center of complex production and performance setups.
  • Timing Correct (TC) has now been tweaked to have a dedicated On/Off setting that is separate to the TC division parameter.
  • From the standalone MPC firmware, you can now create a custom note mapping for any program type.

Pricing and Availability:

MPC 2.8 will be available on May 14th as a free update of MPC 2.0 users. See the Akai Pro site for details.

15 thoughts on “Akai Pro MPC 2.8 Adds New MIDI Capabilities & More

  1. Now i feel like the akai force will soon get that song/arrangement mode at some point in its lifetime. Even if its as simple as launching rows sequentially. Be nice to get it down to clips and rows but ill take what i can get so i can sequence a full track in the box and stay away from ableton.

  2. Imagine 16 tracks of midi like the old cubase on this screen. Being able to cut and paste in an arrangement page would be a dream come true.

  3. Huge update. Obviously the MIDI-multi thing is the biggest feature, but the small things really help, like the ability to change tracks from anywhere inside the UI!

  4. A superb update! One thing that could be a hazard going all in with a USB hub though is, if you are connecting several USB devices which also output audio, there is a risk of running into USB ground loop issues.

    Up next, 3 new instrument plugins, force arrange mode and a new mk II version of MPC live

    Akai is on a roll

    1. Indeed a superb update. USB midi to add more midi outputs with a small interface looks great.

      Do you happen to know about the 3 upcoming plugins ? I’m having a hard time finding info about this via a Google search.

  5. cpu might be a problem. their arm cortex a1 processor is way too old now. quadcore, yes, but only 1,8 ghz.

  6. Woa. This is an epic update for MIDI nerds. Respect for naming this 2.8. I absolutely would have called it 3.0 and taken a vacation.

    See, now I expect the USB port to be able to address multi-channel audio devices for the 3.0. Sorry, Akai. 🙂

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