So what's the intial verdict on the MPD32 ?

circuitslave · Post by **circuitslave** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:46 pm

It seems a couple videso have been posted on the tube so it's finally being shipped in small quantities. Funny how, I couldn't find any major commercial reviews for the MPD24 as well. I went to my local GC and they have one on display--not plugged in, of course.

It was sitting next to an MPD24 (not plugged in) either. It felt nice, I mean as far as the pads and encoders. I did notice that that pads are recessed lower somewhat compared to an MPC 2500. So for those of you, how's it working out so far? any bugs---did Akai fixed that jumping parameter knob problem.

How's it working with Ableton? This thing seems so tempting, but the PadKontrol is getting the sh*t hacked out of it with all these native mode programs popping up for it that it's still a difficult decision, IMO.

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:57 pm

yeah please share! I'm fair sure to run for one of these when the hit the uk in a few weeks.

Just helped a friend to set his pad kontrol up with ableton. What a pain in the arse! nice feel like everyone says, very responsive, and I loved the flam/roll feature,

but im compassion to note repeat/swing, and the easy switch between banks, think I'm definitely heading for an mpd32 as long as its at least a bit better than my trigger finger pads.

I did have a little bash of that mpk 49, was sooo disappointed though! pads were complete shite.

kb420 · Post by **kb420** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:32 pm

It rocks man!

I had a conflict with the Automap 2.0 drivers at first, but I figured that out. Now, all is well. It's a sturdy device. The pads are a little more recessed than my MPC 3000 which was a bummer when I first laid hands on it, but it doesn't bother me at all now. I love the feel of the faders. The preview button is nice to. The transport works. The note repeat works just fine, you just have to slave the MPD to Live. I like it a lot more than my Trigger Finger, which I still have. I have to really get into how to program it. I haven't totally read thru the pdf file yet.

One thing that I found that was weird. My MPD came with 3 discs. One was labeled as the Editor Librarian disc. That was fine. The 2nd disc was labeled BFD Lite. No problems there either. The 3rd disc was labeled Ableton Live Lite, but it isn't Live Lite, it's actually another copy of BFD Lite. I got my MPD from Sweetwater. I told my salesman about it and we had a good laugh about it. Not a big deal cause I already own Live Suite. I did email Akai about the problem. I doubt I'm the only one that happened to.

All in all, I'd say go for it. It's a nice piece.

TITBAG · Post by **TITBAG** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:33 pm

bosonHavoc · Post by **bosonHavoc** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:39 pm

aug i want grrrr.

my lust for gear never ends.

it has some foot switch inputs right?

circuitslave · Post by **circuitslave** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 11:58 pm

kb420 wrote:It rocks man!

I had a conflict with the Automap 2.0 drivers at first, but I figured that out. Now, all is well. It's a sturdy device. The pads are a little more recessed than my MPC 3000 which was a bummer when I first laid hands on it, but it doesn't bother me at all now. I love the feel of the faders. The preview button is nice to. The transport works. The note repeat works just fine, you just have to slave the MPD to Live. I like it a lot more than my Trigger Finger, which I still have. I have to really get into how to program it. I haven't totally read thru the pdf file yet.

One thing that I found that was weird. My MPD came with 3 discs. One was labeled as the Editor Librarian disc. That was fine. The 2nd disc was labeled BFD Lite. No problems there either. The 3rd disc was labeled Ableton Live Lite, but it isn't Live Lite, it's actually another copy of BFD Lite. I got my MPD from Sweetwater. I told my salesman about it and we had a good laugh about it. Not a big deal cause I already own Live Suite. I did email Akai about the problem. I doubt I'm the only one that happened to.

All in all, I'd say go for it. It's a nice piece.

Thanks for the info, kb420. Perhaps Akai may have gotten it right this time.

beef_wellington · Post by **beef_wellington** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 12:29 am

Love mine so far. I am using as a control surface more than for drum programming. I have only had two little problems. The editor crash a couple of times, because I was flying through changing parameters. It updates the MPC with every change you make, so give it a half second between changing a parameter and it's fine. There is a slight learning curve with using the software editor, but it's pretty good. It is actually just as easy to change settings on the hardware, but easier to manage and compare settings with the editor open.

The other issue was actually Ableton's fault. Solo buttons need to receive a 127 MIDI value to turn on and off. Meaning you have to put the assignable buttons on momentary mode to get then to work like they should. When you use momentary the buttons to not stay lit when released and thus get no visual feedback from the MPD on what you have soloed. Not a biggie I guess.

Other than that it rocks. had an MPD24 before and the 32 is much more versatile with the control banks.

kb420 · Post by **kb420** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:19 am

bosonHavoc wrote:aug i want grrrr.

my lust for gear never ends.

it has some foot switch inputs right?

Two Foot switches, and one expression pedal.

ttaralli · Post by **ttaralli** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:22 pm

Does the MPD32 work perfectly with drum racks scrolling right out of the box, or does it need to be setup to work?

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 1:37 pm

wow great news so far!

is it just the eight rotary knobs that automap or do the faders and switchers automap too?

was also wandering if the function of the expression pedals and foot switch can be switched when changing banks

cheers

kb420 · Post by **kb420** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:19 pm

ttaralli wrote:Does the MPD32 work perfectly with drum racks scrolling right out of the box, or does it need to be setup to work?

Yes. The default preset in the MPD is Live Lite. Drum rack scrolling is acitve right away.

is it just the eight rotary knobs that automap or do the faders and switchers automap too?

Actually the faders are already assigned to Live's mixer. The knobs are unassigned in the default preset.

was also wandering if the function of the expression pedals and foot switch can be switched when changing banks

Not sure about that one. Like I said, I haven't read the entire pdf file yet.

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:57 pm

brill. so seems the pads are definitely better than the trigger finger , how would you say they compare to the pad kontrol, ever tried one of those?

ttaralli · Post by **ttaralli** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:00 pm

one last question

Does the MPD come with software to edit the parameters like the PadKontrol does?

kb420 · Post by **kb420** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:10 pm

babkubwa wrote:brill. so seems the pads are definitely better than the trigger finger , how would you say they compare to the pad kontrol, ever tried one of those?

Never tried one. Sorry I can't answer that one. The pads on the MPD 32 are definitely MPC pads, they are just a little more recessed than my MPC 3000.

Does the MPD come with software to edit the parameters like the PadKontrol does?

I don't know what software the PadKontrol comes with. I have a Trigger Finger, and that came with an editor called Enigma.

The MPD comes with an editor called Vyzex that can edit the paremeters.

babkubwa · Post by **babkubwa** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:39 pm

nice one. thanks for all the feedback