AKAI MPC Beats is a complete beat making and remixing studio

21 Jul 2020 by Lasse Eilers |

4,3 / 5,0 | Approximate reading time: 2 Minutes

AKAI MPC Beats · Source: AKAI Professional

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AKAI Professional has launched MPC Beats, a new free DAW for beat makers. AKAI MPC Beats is a remixing and beat making software designed around the popular MPC workflow. It comes with a large sound library, is expandable and can even run as a plug-in inside another DAW. And it’s free!

AKAI Professional MPC Beats

The AKAI MPC Workstations have helped to shape countless hits over the past decades. Now, AKAI Professional has designed a new free DAW around that famed workflow. MPC Beats lets you create remixes and beats using software instruments, plug-ins and the included sample library.

The software comes with 2 gigabytes of samples and loops, as well as built-in virtual instruments and templates for styles like trap, dance and pop. There’s a sample editor for chopping and editing samples and a piano roll for editing MIDI notes. You can record external audio on two dedicated stereo tracks. MPC Beats also includes a mixer and, according to AKAI Pro, no less than 80 audio effects plug-ins. The classic MPC-style pads for triggering samples and loops are of course also included. And MPC Beats is compatible with MIDI controllers, so you can map the pads and other controls to a hardware controller for a more hands-on beat making experience.

MPC Beats supports VST and AU plug-ins, so you can expand it with your favourite effects and software instruments. And if you like the workflow, but prefer to work in another software, you can even load MPC Beats as a plug-in in other DAWs like Ableton Live, Cubase and others, similar to Reason Rack.

If you need more sounds, MPC Beats is expandable with sound packs for genres like Techno, Deep House and Soul. Other MPC Beats expansions focus on instruments like synth bass or drums, and there’s an artist series featuring Arrab Muzik, Motif Alumni and others. The MPC Beats expansion packs are available for USD 9.99 each.

While some will say that there’s nothing like a hardware MPC, MPC Beats does offer an impressive feature set for a DAW that’s completely free. It looks like a great way to get your feet wet in beat making, and with VST/AU support and the ability to load it as a plug-in in another DAW, AKAI has provided a couple of features that could make MPC Beats quite useful, even for ‘serious’ producing.