Akai Professional MPC One+ Standalone Drum Machine, Beat Maker and MIDI Controller with WiFi, Bluetooth, Drum Pads, Synth Plug-ins, Touchscreen, and Native Instruments Integration

The MPC One+ is a great piece of kit that significantly expands on the original MPC One by upgrading the internal storage (16GB) and adding essential Wi-Fi/Bluetooth capabilities. It’s a powerful standalone workstation that offers solid value, but as I learned, buyers must be aware of a critical component quality control issue that significantly devalues it. The Good: Why the MPC Workflow Works (5/5) Standalone Power & Portability: The freedom from the computer is the main draw. The core performance is solid, and you can sequence and arrange entire tracks right on the sofa. For true portability, you can use a portable battery (I successfully used a myVolts Ripcord - USB to 12V DC power cable connected to an INIU 20000mah mini power bank with 65W). Tactile Feel: The pads are responsive, the touchscreen is good, and the Q-Link knobs are fantastic for real-time parameter modulation. Connectivity & Storage: Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are game-changers, making it much easier to integrate MIDI controllers wirelessly and download plugins without constant tethering. The jump to 16GB of internal storage is a huge quality-of-life improvement for plugins and expansions (I use a 128GB SD card for projects and samples). The Reality Check: Critical Component Quality Control (1/5) The Master Volume Knob Defect: I discovered this systematic flaw on numerous replacements that I tested—they all exhibited the same issue. When setting monitoring levels at low volumes, the right audio channel starts rising significantly before the left channel engages. This poor channel tracking makes it impossible to set a perfectly balanced stereo output at the lower end of the volume range—a fundamental flaw for critical mixing and monitoring. Manufacturer Response: Akai's parent company (InMusic) suggested this severe imbalance was "normal behavior," which is unacceptable and dishonest for a professional audio device. This highlights a clear lack of quality control for low-tolerance stereo components. (Note: You can bypass this flaw by routing audio through a USB audio interface and controlling the overall volume there, leaving the MPC knob dormant.) Verdict The Akai MPC One+ is a fantastic choice for standalone production. It’s a 9/10 for workflow and features. However, based on the component quality issue and the manufacturer's unwillingness to address a clear functional defect, I am rating this 5 stars for visibility only. The true score is closer to 3/4 stars. Advice for New Buyers: I strongly advise any new buyer to immediately test the main volume knob with a consistent stereo signal playing upon arrival. Turn the knob slowly from zero to ensure both the left and right channels track simultaneously and maintain a stable stereo image across the entire volume range.

Great product. The update to the firmware is fantastic and Akai pro customer service is very on the ball and helpfully. I would recommend this product.

For years I've flirted with the idea of trying an mpc, and in a moment of spontaneous must have it, I decided I was finally going to order one, in fact a one+. After opening the Akai One+ box, I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice colour high quality card with an image of the One+ and all it's function buttons explained on it, nice touch Akai. The One+ is a very nice looking piece of equipment, the red livery isn't a bright red, but a deep sumptuous red like a plum tomato, and everything is laid out very logically, with a lovely clear touch sensitive screen that is pretty responsive and very legible. The pads themselves I found a bit hit or miss, and I couldn't get them to trigger very accurately, but after a small tweak in the sensitivity settings, they were absolutely amazing. Then there's the WiFi for downloading your purchased plugins, and Bluetooth too. Booting up the One+ for the first time, I had that sinking feeling that I would be lost, and wouldn't have a clue how to use it, but that idea was quickly diminished and in literally no time I was knocking out beats. Over the last few days since it arrived I've delved further into what it can do, and I'm finding new tricks and workflow techniques that just seem to emphasise just how good this little red box is, I find myself spending hours in my living room, headphones on, just getting lost in music, and that's where I'm happiest, my wife describes my look as perma grin when I'm playing around on the One+. The mpc One+ plus can run 8 instances of Akai plugins, which are very good I may add, and multiple expansions including one hits, samples, and drum kits, and initially I thought this was quite limiting, but oh, how wrong I was. Not only can the One+ run it's internal goodies well, but it can also control external midi gear very very well, I've had an Access Virus Ti and a Roland JD-XI connected to it, and the world of what the One+ can do suddenly becomes a universe. And then there's the sampling, where you can record in audio and manipulate it to your hearts content, pitching and stretching and chopping, it's just fantastic. I'm kinda mind blown with the One+ can do, and this is the baby of the mpc family from Akai, so I can't even begin to image what it's bigger siblings can do, but for me, I'm a happy chappy right now, enjoying making beats and tunes. I'm an Ableton guy, and I know the One+ can use the link feature, but I've not even got that far yet, Are there downsides to the One+? Well yeah, but more gripes than real flaws, the headphone jack input is a bit lackluster, it's a bit wobbly and causes sound drop outs, and I'd much have much preferred it to be for 1/4 inch jacks, but really in the few days I've had it, that's all I've found so far. I love the One+, and I'm sorry Akai, I should have bought an mpc years ago, my bad. So my final closing statement can only be...... Wow, I love it, it makes music and it makes me smile, and that's really all that matters.

Quite pleased with the quality of both hardware and software. Steep learning curve but totally worth it.

I bought this rather than a high spec looper pedal for my guitar and am so glad I did. I have a digital work station but prefer to do all the recording on the Akai as it is quick to try things out. I then transfer all the tracks to my laptop for final editing. It took a bit of getting used to setting up my first project, but once you get used to the workflow it is so quick to try things out. I audition using the looper play8ng a section of the track in as a background loop. I then record in the looper and save it out, then import it into the track as a sample. Once you get the sequence of activity clear you can create lots of tracks segments ready to slot samples in. You can use the empty framework as a template for further projects. There are many other ways to use this product you can use it as a live station cuing prerecorded segments or even mix this with live input once you have learnt how to record a sample and assign it to a button. Love the free instrument samples, I chose string wnsemble to give my tracks some orchestral backing. In summary, highly recommended but be prepared for a learning curve and new way of pricing a track together. I recommending watching a few of the videos showing how others are using it. Essentially this makes recording fun and much closer to jamming .

Sold my MPC one a while ago and have a MPC X but this is still worth investment my favourite model now , the X is great but this is easy to get out the cupboard and get on with music making the wireless now makes it easy to update and authorise your plugins . Used 8 plugins and 8 live tracks and never crashed my MPC X did the extra storage helps I think . 10/10 to Akai and great price was going to buy a LIve 2 again but dont need a speaker and can live with plugging in while on holiday as much better size for taking with you. Synced all my midi gear and hooked upto a tascam model 12 its the best standalone setup my Maschine Plus is great but you need to use a laptop as screens to small this is better 10/10

Excellent piece of kit, over the moon at being able to grab one at a decent price. If you want to work DAWless then I highly recommend the MPC one+ - it can be a steep learning curve to begin with but I wouldn't want to work any other way. Solid piece of equipment that you can do just about everything on and you don't even need to look at a computer screen.

Crashed a few times during file management - potentially fixable by using an SD card or downgrading from the latest 3.7.0 firmware, but other than that incredibly fun and accessible, with plenty of sounds from a lot of genres to get you started. You can also use a wide variety of effects. It's far more accessible than a DAW in my opinion, and the tactility of using knobs over a cursor is faster and more intuitive. I can't speak for other grooveboxes, but it is indeed an all-in-one music production centre.