Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player

The Akai MPX8SD is a very useful sample player for live performance. I never was drawn to using it in the studio but if you wanted to load samples and record a performance live with the pads that might be cool. My use for the MPX8SD was playing back looping vocal snippets, playing them rhythmically in time with my sequencers and drum machine for my live set. I was streaming my sets on Twitch and got positive feedback explicitly for the use of the MPX8SD. Playback of samples is basic and I opted to set my pad triggering to the latching mode. This way I could hit a pad on the downbeat and it would sustain, USUALLY looping in time, until I hit the pad again. I say usually looping in time because occasionally the samples would be altered and the sample lengths would get wonky. This happened infrequently. The pads can also be set to gate or just trigger. So all bases are covered. At least once I triggered the samples from an external MIDI device and some of the successive MIDI notes were ignored. For my uses, I actually enjoyed this because it gave an uncertain element of probability to the sample playback, which I found very pleasing. For the money performance sample playback has never been easier.

Absolute garbage. Interface is absurdly outdated and not at all user friendly. Can only take mono samples (?!), playback volume is entirely unpredictable. Samples will randomly play back at differing volumes, sometimes way too loud, sometimes barely audible. Not good for live performance because you quite literally don't know what you're going to get. "kit Editor" doesn't work (samples end up on pads you didn't assign them to, pads with assigned samples are mysteriously empty, etc). Also makes a lot of noise - super loud hiss, louder than the samples being played back. Also alters the sound of samples, and not in a good way.

This is a great unit for the money, as I got it for $85 with a GC coupon. It is definitely the best bang-for-buck in a small, self-contained unit with SD card memory and program recall. However, I wish that it had a tap-tempo feature to address live sync sample playback issues and the ability to run on batteries would also be nice. Other than that, it seems to be performing reliably during live rehearsal (with samples created from my DAW project background vocals). It's own set of drum samples are also pretty cool.

A simple way to add samples and loops or any kind of effects. Easy to program and trigger. Small footprint allows it to fit in anywhere. Use as midi controller for other gear, too.

I bought this not for a sample player, but to control my stage lights from the drum throne. My DMX lighting controller has midi control. You can program each pad for a different lighting scene, and I can easily change scenes on the fly. I can access different banks too. Most small midi controllers use USB...and connection is a nightmare. This has actual Midi out and in, via 1/8" TRS plugs, with included MIDI adapters. As a Sample player, it is so simple to use. Simple to upload your own samples. Or just use the triggers to control a sound module. I have it mounted to my Hihat stand so it sits just above and beyond my left knee. I can reach it with a finger or drumstick. I love it!

Our group is non-musical. We are a volunteer organization operating a publicly owned outdoor shooting range. To manage a safe place to enjoy shooting sports, we have a PA system and make announcements (aka issue commands) to 'cease fire' or that 'the line is safe to go downrange' and 'shooting is resumed' etc. Using a mic and a live voice is OK, but recently a volunteer created a very professional recording of these 4 routine announcements. All we needed was an easy method for the tower officer to play back the mp3/wav files with the simple push of a 'button' (aka pad). This works exactly as we had hoped and has performed flawlessly thus far. Easy to configure, a great solution for our alternative use of this sample player.