Analysts had expected it to be down to 9.9 per cent. It has gone down somewhat since then but yesterday the economy had a nasty surprise, recording an uptick in inflation from 10.1 per cent in January to 10.4 per cent in February. It scaled a high point of 11.1 per cent in October. Inflation has been galloping away in the economy since 2021.

Inflation, the rate of increase in prices, deals a double whammy to our pockets, not only making the things we buy with our money more expensive, but also making our money worth less. The answer is because it feels it has to do so to tame inflation. Remarkable that this is all free.So why does the MPC do it? Not to make itself popular, that’s for sure. While it only has up to eight tracks of MIDI and audio (compared to the original version’s 128 tracks), each MIDI track can host an entire drum kit, meaning you’re unlikely to hit walls any time soon. It has everything you might need to make tracks, including MIDI, audio, built-in plugins and VST and AU support, a mixer, and plenty of sounds to get started. It may be based on the MPC software that runs in units like the MPC Live and MPC Touch but MPC Beats doesn’t feel hobbled in any way. Now Akai Professional has made the MPC workflow available to the world in the form of a free DAW, MPC Beats.

Over the years, the series has become more technologically sophisticated, with Akai integrating more sampling time, touchscreens, and PC connectivity, but the core workflow has remained largely the same. Its instantly recognizable grid of 16 pads (and its ability to chromatically spread samples across them) created a new way to think about music production. It began in 1988 with the Roger Linn-designed MPC60 and has continued to dominate the world of beat-making for more than three decades. There’s no denying the pedigree of Akai Professional’s MPC series.

Is it worth your time to learn another DAW? Akai Professional have released a free DAW based on the famous MPC workflow.

Retro mpc live 2