FPC or MPC?
FL Studio’s FPC virtual drum pad just may be the closest way to actually being on a real Akai MPC. I know the MPC has a few features the FPC doesn’t have, but the FPC covers the basics and more. One plus to the FPC would be the fact I can map a midi controller to the plugin. Akai, the maker of the MPC, has tons of midi controllers such as the MPD 32 that looks and feels like a real MPC. Another feature of the FPC and maybe the most powerful one is the ability to layer samples. This feature is one of the most used features on the MPC. The FPC may be the winner in this category because of the way you load the samples into the plugin. With the MPC you have to go to a certain menu mode and find the sounds to load into the machine. This sounds simple, but not so for someone who is new to the MPC. With the FPC all you do is click and drag the samples over onto the pad you want. This makes for a quicker workflow. To conclude these are just two of the similar features the FPC and MPC have in common. Nothing is like the real thing, but it doesn’t hurt to try new ones.
Images from: http://www.image-line.com/innovaeditor/assets/FPCUpdate.jpg http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/the-beat-machine-879548?esource=AFF_IS_Linkconn&source=www.morguefile.com&aid=111804&asid=247904&cid=4382&lid=35257
