vMPC2000XL is an open-source emulation (unofficial) of the Akai MPC2000XL MIDI Production Center hardware sampler. The software is available as a standalone application, as well as a VST/VST3/AU plugin for compatible digital audio workstations on Windows, macOS, and Linux (support for Linus is experimental).
The original Akai MPC2000XL is a more technologically advanced take on the classic MPC60 sampler. Manufactured in the early 2000s, it provided the same intuitive Akai MPC workflow while offering more RAM memory, higher polyphony, and other hardware improvements. It did, however, retain the legendary groove and “feel” of the old-school MPC samplers.
The free vMPC2000XL plugin is a close emulation of the Akai MPC2000XL sampler. The software doesn’t emulate the signal path of the original hardware, so it doesn’t color the sound per se. However, it simulates the MPC’s digital voice filter. According to the info provided by the developer, this aspect of the emulation was “tweaked by ear” to resemble the hardware as closely as possible. On the other hand, the internal circuits are not emulated, so the samples won’t sound different simply because you’re playing them via this plugin. You might want to look into something like the SPre plugin for achieving that kind of effect.
More importantly, though, vMPC2000XL closely recreates the workflow of the Akai MPC2000XL hardware. Every menu screen and software feature is modeled after the original instrument. As a result, you’re getting an authentic Akai MPC2000XL experience in software format. The vMPC2000XL interface is certainly not the most intuitive in this age of virtual instruments and VST plugins. That said, it is a great way to experience the classic MPC beat-making workflow.
vMPC2000XL can be downloaded completely free of charge from the project page. The source code is also available. To use the plugin version of the instrument, the standalone application must be installed first (comes in a separate installer).
More info: vMPC2000XL (28.6 MB download size, EXE installer, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/VST3/AU plugin format for Windows, macOS, Linux)
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16 Comments
Mutah
onDo I create a black hole if I run it in MPC software ?
Brenny C
onLol
Stevw
onThanks for the post about this, Tomislav, and for pointing out some of the caveats. The link to SPre (in the first paragraph) goes to a post about Ujam Finisher NEO review, however, and I didn’t see anything about SPre on that page.
Francisco
onSPre – https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2019/12/04/analog-obsession-spre/
Tomislav Zlatic
onThanks for posting the link!
Tomislav Zlatic
onSorry for the confusion, I’ll fix that right away.
Your Mum
onLooks nice, cool idea, but seriously unusable.
Brenny C
onAfter spending some time with it just now, I’d tend to (almost) agree with you. I don’t know if I’d say “unusable”, but there’s definitely a steep learning curve. I’d say, if one wants to use this thing in their compositions, he/she’d need to sit down and spend a lot of time learning the ins and outs or else trying to use it could be a nightmare. Lol. By the end of my short session with it, I still wasn’t able to get any sound out of the damn thing. Maybe tomorrow!
Ike
onThis is anachronistic, but cool lol.
I remember that I always dreamed about getting the MPC 2000 XL, but as I kid I could never afford it. Now I’m glad I can do all this in the box with modern software that is much more user friendly. Even AKAI’s own MPC software is much more user friendly than the old MPC devices ever were.
Klaus
onIt crashes Cubase 10 – 64 bit …all becomes frozen, when I try to open it …. horable crap !!!!
Izmar
onIt’s been a while I tested it on Cubase, I’ll give it a shot. Are you on Mac or Windows?
Izmar
onI agree… I never intended this project to be a productive tool for music creation. It’s a personal project for me to learn programming.
I don’t think I’d use vMPC2000XL for my own music if I were still making any. On the other hand if you’re cool with using the keyboard shortcuts it’s still a nice way to create drum tracks, bounce ‘m to wav and use ‘m in a project.
Unfortunately at this stage there are still a lot of bugs, but with some help from the community these can be ironed out.
Tomislav Zlatic
onI’ve never used MPC hardware myself but I can see this project being useful for multiple reasons. People who used MPCs in the past, as well as those who want to have a taste of that workflow before purchasing a second-hand MPC will surely get some value out of the plugin. Thanks for making it free.
Douglas Marques
onOne day, i will buy a second hand MPC, for study purposes. Today, i make music with my laptop, but, i know MPC still have its value. Look at the prices, a pretty used MPC costs a liver! This software, anyhow, is a good way to practicing, until the day i can afford a hardware.
T
onThis could be very useful in production and the only real reason I wanted to download this was to insert it into one of my instrument tracks as an additional drum sampler. I already have a mpc4000 but wanted to have more custom drums inside logic that I can tweak. This would be useful if you can get an easy way to add and stack samples on the pads and have them controlled by MIDI.
*Thats initially what I was hoping to download. maybe some day…
Adam
oncan i use this on fl?