Akai MPC Sample: First Impressions From Someone Who Didn't Expect to Like It

I bought the MPC Sample on a whim. Picked it up at Guitar Center, got home around noon, and didn't put it down until 2am. That's the short version of this review.

I'm going to skip the spec rundown, there are a million other blogs for that. What I want to talk about is how it actually feels to use this thing, how it stacks up against what I already run, and who it's actually built for.

Quick note: I'm not an Akai shill. Nobody sent me this unit. I have 20 machines in my studio alone, and I've been pretty openly critical of the direction Akai has taken over the past year. So take this for what it is, an honest first-day take.

First Thing You Notice: It's Tiny

The promo material did not prepare me for how small this thing is. We're talking smaller than a 12" record. That's not an exaggeration. I held a record up next to it for comparison. It's legitimately pocket-sized for a pad-based sampler.

None of the promo material I saw spoke about how many pad banks there actually were. Come to find out there are 8 banks of 16 pads which is a plus.

How It Actually Works

Sampling works exactly how you'd expect, but the workflow is more SP-404-coded than traditional MPC. Think wave sampler energy. Pulling breaks, randomly messing around with sounds, sampling off vinyl. It's not a production workstation trying to be a DAW. It's a tool for capturing and playing ideas fast.

You can loop, you can chop, you can do basically everything you'd expect from a machine in this category. But the speed at which you can get rolling is what surprised me. There's not a lot of menu diving. Everything is marked right on the top of the unit. If you have any background with samplers at all, you'll be up and running in minutes. If you don't, I'd give it 15 minutes tops.

Koala users in particular will feel immediately at home — the workflow is very similar, but with actual pads under your fingers.

The Pads Are Better Than They Look

When I first pulled it out of the box and saw the pad size, I was skeptical. They're microscopic. But they're way more responsive than I expected, more sensitive and accurate than the original SP-404's pads in my opinion. That was a genuine surprise. The pads feel fun to play, which matters more than it sounds like it should.

Things I Actually Like

• The tilted screen: Thought it looked corny in promo pictures. It's actually really useful, especially if you're dealing with any kind of neck issue. I dig it.

• The multi-purpose fader: Very Teenage Engineering KO-133 energy. I liked how that fader worked on the KO, and Akai pulled it off well here.

• Per-pad effects + master compressor: The compressor alone is worth talking about. Run the MPC emulation into that master comp and it sounds genuinely good.

• FlexBeat built in: The DJ-style stutter effects are always a welcome addition to this kind of workflow.

• Sampling from your phone: Everything in the sub-$500 tier can do this, but it works flawlessly here. Fire up Koala, split the stems, sample the one you want right into the MPC Sample. Clean.

• Battery life: Had it running for 4+ hours and still showing green. For a portable machine, that matters.

• Vinyl simulation and MPC emulator: Buried in the menus but worth finding. The classic MPC emulator sounds right, especially through the master comp.

What Could Go Wrong (The Akai Problem)

Here's where I need to talk about Akai's track record for a second, because it's directly relevant to whether you should bet on this platform.

One of the things that has completely killed my relationship with the MPC Live is the desktop software situation. The old MPC desktop app could run as a plugin in your DAW. The new MPC3 software cannot. Which means if you want to get your project out of the machine and into Ableton, you have to do the whole "explode to tracks" dance instead of just routing your audio like a normal person. I'm not mixing entire projects on a touchscreen with a stylus like it's 2013. I refuse.

I'm hoping they build a companion app for the MPC Sample. Something like the SP-404 Mark II app that lets you dump programs and samples out. If they do that right, this platform has real legs. If they drop the ball on it the way they did with the MPC Live ecosystem, it's going to frustrate people.

And the Pro Pack situation, charging for features that were previously included was genuinely greedy. I'm not pretending otherwise. I'm just saying this specific machine, on day one, makes me optimistic in spite of that history.

Where It Sits vs. the SP-404 MK2

This is the comparison most people are going to make, so let's just get into it. The SP-404 has been out longer and has had more time to accumulate features through firmware updates. If I'm being straight, I'd still take the SP-404 over this.

But they're not the same type of machine. The MPC Sample is noticeably easier to just pick up and start using. Less menu diving, faster workflow for certain tasks, and the pads actually feel more responsive in my hands.

Where it gets interesting: I can see these two working really well together. Throwing loops back and forth between the MPC Sample and the SP-404 sounds like a genuinely fun workflow. They complement each other more than they compete.

Quick Ranking in the Sub-$500 Tier

If I'm stacking these up right now:

• SP-404 MK2 - still the top of this tier in my opinion

• MPC Sample - solid second, genuinely fun, more approachable

• Teenage Engineering KO-133 - cool fader, not as robust overall

Bottom Line

I bought this expecting to hate it and I kind of want to keep it. That's about the highest praise I can give something I bought on impulse at Guitar Center.

The MPC Sample made making beats fun again on an Akai product. It reminded me of the older ways of doing things, less software, more hands-on. I can see grabbing this instead of my MPC Live to start putting ideas down. Which is saying something, because I will do almost anything to avoid touching my MPC Live after the 3.7 update.

Who is this for? Beginners who want more tactile feel than a phone app. Producers who want a true grab-and-go machine. People who were looking at the SP-404 but don't want to spend $499. Anyone who wants something genuinely fun to experiment with.

Is it a replacement for a full MPC setup? No. Is it a well-executed portable sampler that punches above its price point? Yeah, it is. I'm taking it on a road trip in a few days and I'll report back.