T’is always the way that anything musical for mobile is almost always iOS first. It’s just a better platform from the get go. That’s not Apple fanboying — it’s pure fact backed up with science. But that hasn’t stopped a few companies jumping into the turbulent waters of Android and audio, and Akai Professional is one such company that has decided to take its iOS offering and put it on Google’s OS. And working with Retronyms, iMPC is coming to the Samsung Galaxy Apps Store.
Carefully crafted words are coming:
AKAI PROFESSIONAL DRIVES CREATIVITY TO NEW HEIGHTS WITH RELEASE OF IMPC FOR SAMSUNG GALAXY DEVICES.
Developed in concert with Retronyms, iMPC fuses the acclaimed MPC hardware workflow with cutting-edge music composition, editing and mixing tools on Samsung devices
Ash Vale, UK (February 27, 2017) — Akai Professional, a leading manufacturer of music equipment for performers and producers, today announced popular iOS app iMPC, is now also available from the Samsung Galaxy Apps Store. Developed in concert with Retronyms, a leading iOS and android app developer, iMPC— previously an iOS exclusive—fuses the acclaimed workflow of an Akai Professional MPC (Music Production Center) with cutting-edge tools for composing, editing and mixing music on your Samsung device.
IMPC for Android at launch will be an exclusive to Samsung phones and tablets as an in-app purchase inside Samsung’s Soundcamp. Soundcamp is a Digital Audio Workstation app with professional capabilities and an intuitive interface, enabling users to record, edit and mix up to 8 audio/MIDI tracks. There’s also a piano roll editor to edit music with pinpoint precision. Akai Professional has worked closely with Samsung to optimise the iMPC experience for the new Galaxy Tab S3 and other popular Galaxy devices.
With more than 1,200 samples, 50 editable programs, 80 editable sequences and iconic MPC workflow, iMPC is the first app to bring all the functionality of a classic Akai Professional MPC to a Samsung Galaxy Android Device. iMPC for Android includes everything needed to create beats quickly and easily, including built-in effects, with the ability to create new sequences and record and overdub beats. Time correction from 1/8 note to 1/32T with variable swing, and Note Repeat from 1/8 note to 1/32T with latch control are also built in. The app’s built-in sampler can record samples three different ways: 1) the mic on the Samsung device; 2) the line input; 3) the multi-touch turntable interface in iMPC to record samples directly from other music libraries.
Features
- More than 1,200 samples, 50 editable programs and 80 editable sequences
- Exclusive iMPC sound set and classic Akai Professional sound library
- Sample from Android mic, line in or music library using multi-touch turntable interface
- 16 Levels mode: 16 levels of attack, velocity, length and tuning
- Note Variation slider: adjust attack, velocity, length and tuning as you play
- Trim and categorise samples, undo takes and erase samples
- Built-in effects: delay, bit crusher, master compressor/limiter
- Export your projects for use in the desktop MPC Software or in .wav format
“With the iMPC, users can create and manipulate beats and sequences with amazing precision and creativity,” said Dan Gill, Product Manager for Akai Professional. “It’s simple to use, and has all the flexibility and options anyone could ever want—and then some.”
UK retail is £5.99 as an In-App purchase. It is available now. For more information, visit akaipro.com.
THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT
Looking at screenshots, it appears to be the same experience across platforms. It has the same skeuomorphic look and feel, and reading through the PR, I can’t immediately see any omissions or caveats. So Android (and by Android I means Samsung) users can smash the living daylights out of their devices in the same way that iOS users can.
It’s good to see developers now taking a serious look at Android. It’s certainly a much bigger market than iOS, but hasn’t really got any traction because of well know latency issues. Perhaps this will be the start of more apps appearing on the platform too. Time will tell.