Ableton's Live enjoyed numerous news in the first month of the year. Most importantly, it will receive a serious new version upgrade, Live 8. It will feature a new warping engine, a new groove engine, a new mix toy for looping grooves, five new effects (including a vocoder), and simpler operation....

After MPK49, Akai launched a smaller controller keyboard, MPK25 for about 3-400 USD. All the other details the same, just check the picture.

Akai , master of midified wind instruments has announced a new wind controller, EWI USB with USB out. Price is nice: 500 USD only, and it doesn't need any driver or installation. A sample based softsynth is bundled with professional Garritan and Akai samples, and it can act as flute, saxophone...

Akai is active in the MIDI controller field also: they unveiled the best-ever MPC-style MIDI controller unit, MPD-32 . It has 16 dynamic pads, and can send not less than 72 different types of control messages at a time. It receives two foot switches plus a foot volume control. A big LCD screen...

Akai plays the drum in hardware: XR20 follows the classic desktop drum machine design, with an up-to-date feature list. Having more than 700 sampled sounds (including some basses and synths from the hip-hop and R&B fields), providing an effect section of EQ, compressor and reverb, running from...

Rappers wanted virtual analog synth: Akai 's new, best-ever production tool, MPC5000 features a nice, polyphonic VA-synth with 3-oscillator architecture and arpeggiator. Hard-disc recording is eight-track now, with four effect busses, and plenty of new effects. The sampler now has 64 voices, and...