Akai

Akai teased a keyboard that wants you to break it open

Akai teased a keyboard on Instagram this week, and then immediately said, basically: please break this thing open. The new MPC Sample Key shares most of the same controls as the MPC Sample, three context-sensitive encoders, a big main encoder, but it's built for pitched sample playback, not drum chopping. That chop button from the MPC Sample is gone. What remains is a device that wants the modding community to crawl inside its software and make it weirder, better, theirs. The Verge has exclusive images, but no price or launch date yet. So this is a promise on a render. Still, a keyboard that *wants* you to hack it? That's the kind of detail you scroll past. Don't.