More new stuff from Akai !

There is the usual slew of stuff on the net about new arrivals at Winter NAMM 2009. Best place to see these is over at Matrixsynth, so I will just pick out a few.

Here are three new things from Akai.

The first one made me go "WOAH"....

APC40 - Ableton Live Controller

Ableton Live performance, perfected.


The APC40 is the world’s finest Ableton Live control surface. Ableton and Akai Professional worked in a joint partnership to make the APC40 the perfect Ableton Live control surface. Whether you are an electronic-music performance artist and Live is your canvass, a DJ using Live to mix tracks, or a traditional musician using Live on stage or in the studio, the APC40 is designed for intuitive, powerful control.


DIRECT DESIGN
Because Akai Professional and Ableton designed the APC40 for Live, you don’t need to map its controls to talk to the software. Just connect your laptop to the APC40 with its USB cable and you're ready to make magic. The APC40 is class compliant, so you don't even need to install drivers. And if you’re an advanced Live user, the APC40 gives you the ability to remap every one of its controls to suit your own style.


VIRTUAL VIEW
The APC40 talks directly to Live and Live talks directly to the APC40. This exclusive bidirectional communication makes the APC40 an advanced controller in that it can receive feedback from the software and display it on its clip matrix of 40 triggers and on LED rings surrounding each knob. The clip matrix gives you an instant view of clip status: what's loaded, what's playing, and what's being recorded. Each state displays on the matrix in a different color so you can get a quick picture of clip state. You can shift your clip focus and get an overview of the clips you have loaded for your set. The APC40 has 16 knobs, each surrounded by a ring of LEDs. These LED rings make seeing your settings a breeze on dark stages, indicating the currently selected parameters’ values. This advanced visual feedback makes performing with the APC40 focused more on the music and less on squinting at the computer screen. In fact, you might even forget that the computer is there!


PREMIUM CONTROLS
Ableton selected Akai Professional as a partner because of its leadership position in great-feeling controllers that are rock solid, rugged, and precise. From the legendary MPC series that changed the way music is made to the industry-standard MPD and MPK controllers, Akai Professional is revered by musicians, DJs, and producers everywhere for creating the feel that powers their creativity. The APC40 is built with a rugged, metal chassis and slip-proof rubber detailing. Knobs and faders are solid and precise for pinpoint performance. It even features a high quality, replaceable crossfader.


CREATIVE CONTROL
The APC40 comes with a special edition of Ableton Live Lite so you can use it out of the box even if you’re new to Live. There's also a free patch that upgrades full versions of Live so if you're already a Live user, you can take full advantage of the APC40.

The APC40 has two banks of eight knobs. The first set controls Global parameters so you’ll always have instant access to your main sends, pans, and other essentials. The second bank of eight knobs is dynamically reassigned to the Track you select. You can control eight track parameters at a time, and as you switch channels, the Track knobs follow your focus. You also get special clip-status views and feedback that only the APC40's matrix can display. The matrix is not limited to only 40 clips: you can scroll and shift, enabling access to an unlimited number of cells.

The APC40 has a wide range of controllers. The eight Global knobs can access four banks of controls; the eight Track knobs control nine different track parameters each. This gives you a massive total of 72 controllers that are dynamically reassigned. Channel faders, bus faders, and a crossfader give you smooth control of key values. You have even more control power with special controls including Tap Tempo, Tempo Nudge, record enables, solo/cues and two assignable footswitch inputs.

Designed in partnership with Ableton, the APC40 is the most advanced Live controller for the most advanced performers.

And the second one I knew about but had to keep schtuum ;o)

Akai MPC5000 OS 2.0

Meet the new OS. Not the same as the old OS.
The MPC5000 is the most talked-about MPC in the music industry today. It’s the latest evolution of the unquestioned standard in sample-based music production. The MPC5000 builds on the MPC foundation, combining powerful sequencing, sampling and processing with the feel of the exclusive MPC pads and Q-Link assignable controls. It adds never-before-seen MPC advancements such as a virtual-analog synthesizer, a streaming hard disc recorder, incomparably high-resolution sequencing, and over 100 other new capabilities.
MPC5000 OS 2.0 is a free, new operating system upgrade that includes more than 25 additional improvements, many of which are developed to accommodate the specific requests of the people who use the MPC5000 every day. MPC5000 OS 2.0 will be available Spring 2009 as a download at akaipro.com/MPC5000.

Home on the range.

The most requested, exciting, and powerful new feature we’ve added to OS 2.0 is the ability to create and load Keygroup Programs. And with it, in MPC fashion, comes a massive array of cool Keygroup helper tools.

Now with the MPC5000, just like with our legendary S-series samplers and legacy MPCs, you can create chromatic key-mapped sample programs that take a sample and spread it across a range of notes of your choosing, automatically adjusting the pitch of the sample chromatically. You can then play these notes with the pads or an external MIDI keyboard or controller.

What does this really mean for you and your production? For starters, no more time-consuming program creation or relying on an external keyboard for your sounds. SHIFT+PAD will select a Keygroup, you can set range via MIDI if on range parameter, plus you can select a Keygroup via MIDI to select the next Keygroup with the note played. Another new feature is the ability to assign the root note of a sample assigned to each individual layer on a single pad. You can also pan each layer individually in Keygroup and drum programs. Imagine the sonic possibilities!


More good news for all old school producers - you can now import S1000, S3000, S5000/S6000, Z4/Z8, and MPC4000 format sample libraries, including Keygroups, from Akai Pro and third parties. Now you can migrate fully to the MPC5000 platform.


Hustle and flow.

Music production is all about creativity, workflow, the tools at your disposal and making it all come together as seamlessly as possible. So designing a music production device is rooted in finding the best possible collaboration of its elements. OS 2.0 makes production with the MPC5000 friendlier with such time-saving improvements as the new MultiEdit function which enables you to edit and apply parameters such as tuning, filters, pitch, pan—every parameter of the filter screen—to a group of pads, all at once. This streamlines the production process by empowering you to perform group editing.


Get around.

We just upped GRID EDIT’s abilities. You can now see and edit controller automation and event data in the new Controller Grid Edit Window. We also gave the sample editor some love as well. We’ve added a ZOOM function to each individual slice in Chopshop mode for even finer editing of your samples and beats. This takes the guesswork out of cutting a beat and ensures you get what you want every time.

We’ve added a slew of navigation shortcuts you’ll appreciate. For instance, you can now assign the sample you are working on in TRIM mode to a pad by holding SHIFT and striking the pad of choice.

We’ve improved the Effects, Synth and Mixer pages by adding a new Take Over Mode to the knobs and sliders. This is a great help when going between many different pages where you are using the Q-Links to change parameter values. Parameter values will not jump to the position of the knob or fader until the original values zero crossing is passed. This allows for seamless mix and edit moves in realtime.

It pays to play. Improving upon the all ready impressive mixing capabilities of the MPC5000, you can now toggle between the hard disk Audio Track Mixer and the Sequencer Track Mixer with one button without having to interrupt playback of the song. This speeds up track creation in a big way. You can now quantize Track and Pad Mutes in real time to the internal clock or that of an external device. This means that if you use an MPC5000 to trigger clips and tracks live, your mute punches will be perfectly in time.
Marrying performance and production, the MPC5000 now supports full automation of the mixer and effects.

If you have an MPC5000, you know it comes loaded right out of the box. Now that even more capability is coming to should check out the new OS for your MPC5000. Or upgrade to the flagship MPC and get all of these new features along with it.
MPC5000 OS 2.0 will be a free download in Spring 2009 from the Documents and Downloads tab on the MPC5000 page

And finally, there's the EWI USB, which had already been announced...

Akai EWI USB

EWI USB is an electronic wind instrument for musicians looking for an easy-to-play, easy-to-use controller. Akai Professional’s decades of experience in wind and electronic music instruments are rolled into our most user friendly — and most affordable — EWI ever.

PREMIUM PEDIGREE
Akai Professional is the first name in electronic wind instruments. For over 20 years, Akai Professional has studied the art of playing saxophone, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and other traditional winds, and developed electronic wind instruments that enable wind players to enjoy the same expressive control as in an acoustic instrument. We designed EWI USB to give wind players the expressive musical capabilities previously found only in much more expensive instruments.

PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE
EWIs are the only choice for serious wind players looking to make music electronically. While EWI USB is easy and fun to use, it’s also powerful, flexible, and most importantly reliable enough for use on stage and in the studio by professional musicians.

COMPUTER CONTROL
EWI USB is the most flexible EWI because it harnesses your computer to generate its sounds. Its USB interface means that all you need is nearly any Mac or PC and the included EWI USB software, and you’re ready to practice, perform, create, and record with a full collection of wind instrument sounds. Aria Player software was produced specifically for use with EWI USB, providing wind players with an unprecedented level of expressive control.

LARGE SOUND PALETTE
You get over 75 different orchestral, concert band, jazz band, and synthesizer sound sets expertly recorded and programmed by Garritan, renowned for its ultra-realistic instrument sound libraries.

MULTI MODE
EWI USB offers multiple fingering modes including sax, traditional EWI, flute, oboe, and EVI (brass), so whether you’re just starting out as a woodwind student or an old pro wind player, you’ll find EWI USB easy to play. EWI USB is designed for you to spend your time playing music; not learning technology.

SURPRISING AFFORDABILITY
Historically, electronic wind instruments have fallen into two different categories: high-end, professional instruments and toys. EWI USB breaks the price barrier, bringing professional quality, expressive control, and a studio-ready sound library to a price the professional-wind-instrument world has never seen.

Discover the world of expression that only wind instruments can offer with EWI USB.

And just to top things off....

Vintage Beat Machines Sample Pack

Authentic, classic drum machine sounds for your MPC.

Old school drum machines have a certain sonic style that producers worldwide turn to for unmistakable cool. Dropping ‘80s kick and snare sounds into a track will bring a smile to your face and feet to the dance floor. Building a library of these sought-after sounds has always meant committing lots of time and money. But now, Akai Professional has done the work for you with the new Vintage Beat Machines Sample Pack for MPC.

Your days of searching for 8-bit treasures will soon be over. This new sample pack will work with all MPC models and contain a huge collection of analog and digital samples from the early days of drum machines — and the founding days of many of today’s hottest musical styles.

The Vintage Beat Machines Sample Pack for MPC is coming in Spring 2009. Only for the MPC series.