Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player

Comments about Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player:

Bought this a week or so ago to check it out. Nice idea, in my opinion. I was able to load some samples into my SD card. They played great and the pads are responsive. However, when I hooked up MIDI it ran into trouble. It would transmit for a few seconds and then stop. I tried everything, thinking I had done something wrong on my end. I ended up returning it. However, I will probably give this unit a second chance because I think it will be useful and handy. I wish they would go ahead and make a 16 pad version of this - simple pads that play samples and can send MIDI. By the way, the sales folks were great and very helpful.

Comments about Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player:

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.

Comments about Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player:

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!

Comments about Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player:

Wow!!! What can I say? Amazing!!!! I can believe they finally made a sampler at the right price and great features. You can change tone of sample with reverb and the up and down pitch feature. This is simple to navigate through. First you have to buy sd card and format it. Its nothing hard. Then you have to run update of firmware but the website offers simple easy to do instructions. The triggers are durable and sensitive. The lcd screen is easy to find sounds. You can even do one shot, hold, or loop on each pad. The one feature missing is a metronome with looper feature for beats. The fact that it can be used as midi controller or analog makes up for that missing feature. Its worth $100.00 easy. Must buy and must try!!!!!

Comments about Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player:

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.

Comments about Akai Professional MPX8SD Sample Player:

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.