AKAI Pro MPC Key 61 Review – “Impressive, But Unusable”?

In his latest video, Youtuber Benn Jordan reviews the new AKAI Pro MPC Key 61, the company’s first keyboard Music Production Center.

While their recent MPC workstations have generally been well received, Jordan isn’t impressed with the MPC Key 61. “I hate making videos this critical,” he notes, “but you can follow my journey from optimism to remorse and see why I did.”

For another take on Akai’s first keyboard MPC, see Loopop’s MPC Key 61 review.

Topics covered:

00:00: Intro
04:00: Demoing the pianos
08:50: 1 patch, 55% CPU usage
10:39: Severe Bugs
13:00: Day 2. Factory Reset
15:00: System crash
16:37: Recording a double bass
19:22: List edit for glitchy beats
23:26: THE SONG I Finally Made
26:10: Takeaways & Thoughts

Check out the video and share your thoughts on it in the comments. If you’re a MPC Key 61 owner, what’s your take on Jordan’s criticisms? Leave a comment and let us know how it’s working for you!