Akai Professional have been making digital music creation quality at an affordable price for years and the follow up to their brilliant beat-making app takes that power on the road.

There are innumerable music making apps on mobile devices these days, putting the power of music creation in the hands of anyone with a smartphone and allowing them to take that potential anywhere. When it comes to music making apps though, there is definitely a cream of the crop and Akai’s iMPC has sat nicely in that category for 6 years.

Now a sequel to the beloved and powerful mobile beatmaker is only a month away and we are very excited for all of the new opportunities arriving in Akai’s iMPC 2. As with the original iMPC the app brings their renowned drum sampling and beatmaking MPC (Music Production Controller) hardware into a smartphone that is surprisingly capable of replicating it’s dedicated forefathers on a small touchscreen.

The iMPC 2 brings audio track recording, powerful production tools and the iconic MPC workflow to iOS devices better than ever. The app has evolved into a fully fledged song creation tool with it’s second generation thanks to the addition of vocal tracks bringing a whole new layer to your mixes, the integration of Audio Units, a sleek new design for the best performance, and much more.

An entirely new sound kit is included with iMPC 2 , designed just for the iPhone app. The sounds included cover some of the most iconic sounding beats throughout history through to cutting edge new percussive noises. Their expansive sound kit all comes for the Akai Professional vault with samples from punchy 808’s to melodic hits and stabs, designed for the best user experience possible.

Not just new sounds and features are being added in iMPC 2 though, there is an entirely new platform for creators to revel in and hone their skills. iMPC University is a new tutorial section, unlocking a new producer secret every day. Akai promise “an expansive dive into the world of beatmaking and song editing through these courses” that they promise will be fun and valuable whether your a pro or just getting started.

Here’s the full line-up of wicked features coming in iMPC 2:

Audio Tracks: 

  • Record from built in mic, external mics, audio interfaces, instruments, etc.
  • Record from Inter App Audio Apps
  • Warp Tracks and Clips to match tempo
  • Access several quick editing features on Audio Clips (Pitch shift, Time Stretch, Amplify, Crop, Split, Duplicate)
  • Drag to arrange Audio Clips, snap them to an adjustable grid setting
  • Advanced waveform editing

AudioUnit integration:

  • Audio Unit tweak mode with full keyboard support (including 2 dozen scale modes from Chromatic to Blues to Aeolian)
  • 100% New Sound Set, with 4 additional free Sound Packs
  • Sample sounds from Spotify
  • 64 Track Mixer with EQ and 4 FX sends (Reverb, Delay, Chorus/Flange, and one Inter App Audio Effect)
  • Chop-shop provides intuitive multi-touch editing, trimming, auditioning, splicing, splicing and processing samples
  • Tracks View shows an overview of all the tracks in your song
  • 16 Levels mode with attack, velocity, length, and tuning settings for quickly creating variations of sounds
  • Live Sequence queuing for real-time performance and playback
  • Time correct: 1/8 note – 1/32T with variable swing
  • MPC Note Repeat featuring 1/8 note – 1/32T timing with latch
  • IAA and Ableton Link support
  • Share beats and songs seamlessly to YouTube
  • 4 Mute Groups and custom-designed envelope filters for all pads
  • AudioCopy and AudioPaste support
  • Improved integration and support for iMPC Pro Packs and other Sound Packs from the AudioCopy Content Store
  • Expert MIDI support including expanded options, multiple maps, and more
  • Extensive undo/redo capabilities
  • New Song Arrangement workflow and integrated Song Mode makes song creation easier than ever
  • Drag entire Folders and Sound Packs directly to pads to load many sounds at once

Akai Professional’s iMPC Pro 2 for iPhone is expected to release on the Apple App Store on the 10th December. You can pre-order the app now for $4.99.