Akai's MPK mini, which has just been launched at the BPM DJ/music production show in Birmingham, combines the company's LPK25 mini keyboard and LPD8 drum pad controller into a single unit. This is ...

Few pieces of production gear are as influential as Akai’s MPC series. We trace the MPC's journey through its phoenix-like ...

Justice are known for their explosive DJ sets - the picture to the right shows them in the heat of mixing battle. However, look closely and you'll notice that not everything is quite as it should be.

I do not play the piano. But it is delightful that synth keyboards are undergoing the same miniaturization renaissance as other gadgets. The LPK 25 is velocity sensitive and USB powered. And, there’s ...

Electronic instruments have come a long way since New Order sequenced Blue Monday using binary code. Now it’s all quantised beats, USB-C, and expensive noise-cancelling headphones. And if you’re in ...

In a set from 2013, a masked Kanye West appears onstage and stands before a veiled podium. With a slow, theatrical tug, he pulls away the veil to reveal an AKAI Music Production Center, or MPC — a ...

Akai's MPC hardware is normally an expensive investment — you're looking at $699 for the 'entry' One production studio. That ecosystem just became much more affordable if you have a computer, however.

Akai celebrated 35 years since the release of its seminal sampler, the MPC-60, with a brand new model that promises to be its “most powerful” production machine to date. The MPC X Special Edition is ...