Written on June 27, 2008 – 8:41 am | by Bogdan Alex |

I really dig the cool programs that let you create awesome music, but hardcore music makers still prefer to use the more traditional hardware equipment. Sequencers, drum machines, MIDI samplers, all that stuff that brought electronic music along since the ‘80s. I haven’t heard of Akai for quite some time now, but it looks like they specialize in sound-related hardware as of lately.

The new MPC5000 might be worth $3,5000, but it sure is the first MPC to permit eight-track streaming hard disk recording for real-time capture of individual tracks or even entire songs. It also provides a 20-voice, three-oscillator analog synthesizer with arpegiator, plus an improved sequencing engine with 960 PPQ resolution, pad and track muting and mixing, 64 continuous sample tracks and 12 Q-Link controllers.

Akai claims that MPC5000's virtual analog synth eliminates the need for users to deal with connecting external analog synth modules or working with buggy software synthesizers. The eight-track, direct-to-disk recorder lets musicians produce complete songs and mix them down internally. An optional CD/DVD drive permits usage of audio on CD or DVD in songs, and also records compositions. More than 650MB of premium sounds from Loopmasters are included so that MPC5000 is ready to produce professional results immediately. Additionally, you get an 80GB hard drive and a software bundle that includes the Chop Shop sample-slicing suite.

Check out this demo clip: