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On the back of the unit are audio inputs and outputs on quarter-inch jacks and a headphone output with volume control, evidence that the MPC Touch is also an audio interface that provides for direct sampling and monitoring. The other rubber buttons register your push with a satisfying click. The colour backlit pads are the same as those I recently enjoyed on the new MPDs, with their best-in-class feel and sensitivity.
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The hardware in question is an attractively compact, solid slab, with the standard 4x4 pad grid to the left, touchscreen to the right, plus four rotary encoders, a larger data wheel, and a modest selection of dedicated buttons. Like the Renaissance and Studio MPCs, the Touch is a hybrid system that pairs a controller with an app or plug-in running on a Mac or PC, but the touchscreen is a big change that promises (and largely succeeds) to unite software and hardware into a true hands-on production workstation. The MPC has always been about its fast, hands-on interface - can a touchscreen make it even better?Īkai’s MPC Touch joins the established line-up of current generation MPCs, but rather than simply adding another form factor it offers a fundamentally different interaction model.
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