Akai MPC500 - The secret is out

Well, I can talk about this now !!!

We have had one of these for library development purposes for about 3 or 4 months now. Sadly, we weren't able to talk about it for obvious reasons. Steve's been playing with it and developing library for the most part, but this is a seriously cool bit of kit. It's battery or mains powered, has USB Class Compliant connections, a CF card slot, MIDI and the legendary MPC quality of timing.

Some guys at the MPC forums have been slagging this thing off and they've not even seen or tried one yet!! FFS ! Of course it's no MPC4000, but what do you expect for £549 (that's what Digital Village in the UK are quoting on their site right now)

I never saw the need for an MPC in my sonic arsenal but in my quest for the ultimate "portable" music tool, I think this fits the bill the best :o)

Here's the detailed spec:


General
Display: 2 x 16 character LCD w/back light
Memory card slot:Compact Flash (The size of the compact flash card that MPC500 can handle is from32MB to 2GB)


Dimensions: 266mm x 175mm x 44mm
Weight: 1.34 kg
Power requirement: 12v DC 600mA (negative tip)
Battery life: Approximately 4.5 hours of continuous use with LCD backlight ON.

Sound Generator
Sampling rate: 44.1kHz
Memory capacity: 16MB standard (11.5MB for sound memory), expandable to 128MB
Recording time: 136sec. (16MB, MONO) or 24m28sec. (128MB, MONO)
Memory expansion slot: 1 x for optional EXM128
Data format: 16-bit linear
Polyphony: up to 32 (dependent on processing)
Dynamic filtering: 2-pole lowpass filter per voice
Preset sound memory: 5MB
Number of programs: 24

Effects
Effects: 2 stereo effects and Master effect
Effect type: Chorus, Flanger, Bit grunger, 4 band EQ, Compressor, Phase shifter, Tremolo,
Flying pan, Reverb, Delay
Master effect: 4 band EQ, Compressor

Sequencer
Maximum events: 100,000 notes
Resolution: 96 parts per 1/4-note
Sequences: 99
Tracks per sequence: 48
MIDI output channels: 16
Song mode: 20 songs, 250 steps per song
Drum pad: 12 (velocity and pressure sensitive)
Drum pad banks: 4
Sync mode: MIDI clock

Inputs/Outputs
Record input (L and R): 1/4-inch stereo phone x 2, pseudo balanced -40dBu, input impedance 9k ohm
Max. Input level: +10dBu
Stereo output (L and R): 1/4-inch phone x 2 pseudo balanced +11dBu, output impedance 1k Ohms,
Max. Output level: +5 dBu
Phones output: 1/4-inch stereo phone x 1, 200mW / 100 ohms
MIDI inputs: 1 x 5-pin DIN
MIDI outputs: 1 x 5-pin DIN
USB: Slave connector x 1, USB MASS STORAGE CLASS support (Windows 2000/ME/XP or later version, or Mac OS 9.x/10.x or later version.)

Data Compatibility
MPC1000: SEQ, WAV, PGM
MPC2000/2000XL: SEQ, WAV, SND, PGM (Most parameters of PGM file can be loaded.)
MPC2500: SEQ, WAV, PGM
MPC4000: SEQ, WAV, PGM (DRUM program only. Only note assign and tune are loaded.)
MPC3000: SND (THRU Computer)


Z4/Z8: WAV, PGM (DRUM program only. Only note assign and tune are loaded.)
S5000/6000: WAV only (THRU Computer)

When they hit the shops, I seriously advise you to check this out :o)