AKAI Professional MPC One+

My story with the MPC One+ is probably a bit unusual. I first ordered it somewhere else. When it arrived, the device got stuck on the wifi settings (unable to find wifi). Updating the device was also impossible. Seemed to be a known issue with this device. So, I returned it and ordered a new one here at Thomann.

The second one arrived and could connect to wifi. Worked out mostly fine, until it didn‘t. The main issue that I have with the MPC One+ is that there‘s so much menu diving, and I barely got to making music. And when I did, I usually ran into a bug that led to internet searches.

The overall feel of the device is great. It is sturdy and the pads feel are amazing and are a pleasure to play. The sounds are also great. It is in theory a wonderful device. But the workflow was too frustrating for me. It feels a bit like a windows 95 computer. You never know whether it crashes, or whether something will work at all. When it works, it is fine, but it is clunky and not smooth.

The final frustration for me was when I connected an external synthesizer and only got an awful noise sound. Another internet searches to solve this issue? Nah. I returned it.

So, overall, it has the potential to do everything, but only if you‘re willing to put in the time to learn it and do a lot of trouble-shooting. Personally, I realized I am more interested in a more limited instruments with a more straightforward menu. Sometimes less is better.

It’s my first mpc, so it’s hard to compare with previous models, but I tried for a year to make it a center of my dawless setup and unfortunately I’m giving up. It feels to me that the marketing team of akai wanted this sampler to be able to do absolutely everything and then some. Every time I’ve tried to make a track on this machine it was so frustrating because of a million little things ux-wise that just weren’t very well thought-through. I would much rather have this sampler have 4 times as leas features as it has but have them be more polished and designed well. Also on-board fx’s are really poor sounding for the most part

I was looking for something hands-on rather than a laptop for music production and performance. The MPC One+ (and One) seemed like a good mix of features and functions.
It's not a complete DAW experience and the workflow is a bit weird - depending on the use case - but the synths are solid and the effects are also well rounded.
What you can do with the touchscreen you can definitely do with the buttons and knobs too. It does take some time to get used to.
I barely use sample editing and slicing which is a big selling point of the product though. For that YMMV.
I was in touch with AKAI (InMusic) support because had some issues with my purchases (they didn't show up) but they got back to me and always resolved my claims.
All in all I can fully recommend the product, for its price it's a lot of musical power.