Maximize musical ideas on-stage or in a home studio setting with the new Akai MPK49 performance controller. The Akai MPK49 ushers in a new era for USB/MIDI controllers by combining a high-quality, 49-key, semi-weighted keyboard with aftertouch and 12 MPC-style drum pads. 48 total pads are accessible via 4 pad banks. The pads feature popular MPC Note Repeat function and Swing parameters, and the Akai MPK49 performance controller has its own arpeggiator, for creating quick, creative riffs in seconds.

The Akai MPK49 features MPC-style Full Level and 12 Levels functions on its pads, and MPC Swing can be applied to both Note Repeat and Arpeggio functions. Tap Tempo and time-division buttons allow for real-time control of Note Repeat and Arpeggio clock speeds. The Akai MPK49 delivers an amazing 72 assignable controls, with assignable inputs that include an expression pedal, footswitch, pitch bend and modulation wheel.

Key Features

• 49-key, semi-weighted keyboard with aftertouch
• 8 full-sized, 360 degree rotation pots, each with 3 banks for 24 pots total
• 12 MPC-style velocity and pressure sensitive pads
• MPC-style note repeat and all new arpeggiator
• 8 full-sized sliders with 3 controller banks for each for 24 sliders total
• 8 assignable backlit switches with 3 controller banks each for 24 switches total
• MMC/MIDI Start Stop transport buttons
• Large, easy-to-read custom LCD display

Akai Pro MPK49 Musik Messe 2007 Sonic State Video here.

I have been looking for a new MIDI Keyboard / Drum Pad controller for a while now, and when I found this in early April I was glued. Since then, various sources have said it will be released on 1st July 2007 - the date came and went, with no sign of its grand debut. So yesterday, I went and emailed Akai Pro asking for an official release date and retail price. Here was the reply:

Hello,

Currently this information is not known as the MPK49 is still in
development. Once this is ready for release we will pricing information on
dealer’s websites and a full manual on our site.

Best Regards,
Justin Baro

So I guess it’s back to blindly waiting. Although I might give up waiting (which would be a shame), and settle for a Korg Kontrol49, or a Korg K61P and Akai Pro MPD24. Yes, I’m a Korg fan; before anyone says, the padKontrol just doesn’t seem right for my needs.

If they deep fried it a bit, it would very much resemble calamari, no?

An 11-year-old girl was charged with drunken driving after leading police on a chase at speeds of up to 100 mph that ended when she flipped the car in an Alabama beach town.

A video camera in the police car captured the look of surprise on the officer’s face when he approached the wrecked car and got a look at the motorist.

The Mobile Press-Register newspaper said the patrolman saw the Chevrolet Monte Carlo speeding and flashed his lights to signal the driver to stop. Instead, the car sped faster, traveling at up to 100 mph (160 kph) before sideswiping another vehicle and flipping over in the Gulf Coast town of Orange Beach, Alabama, on Tuesday night.

The young driver, who lived nearby in Perdido Key, Florida, was treated at a hospital for scrapes and bruises and released to relatives. Police also charged her with speeding, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless endangerment.

The car belonged to a relative and police were still trying to find out where she got the alcohol. There was none in the vehicle but her blood alcohol level was over the limit for adult motorists, police told the newspaper.

Condom makers say it’s the world’s best job, a “sexecutive position.” An Australian company is seeking real life testers for its condom products.

“Got what it takes to be an official condom tester?” asks an advertisement launched by Durex Australia next to a photo of a busty young woman in a revealing nurse’s outfit.

“With this job on your CV, it really will be a chance to brag to your mates about the special skills you possess, not to mention that your new role will work wonders with the opposite sex,” Durex Marketing Manager Sam White told local media.

The “bed-testing” position is unpaid, but 200 selected testers would be up for free pack of Durex products, plus a bonus prize of A$1,000 ($854) for one lucky winner, White said.

In return, testers would have to report back on the feel and performance of the company’s products.

Only Australians need apply, and would-be testers will be asked to explain why they should be considered. Humor would help in the application, Durex said.

“To apply, simply explain why you think you’re right for the position (missionary is acceptable) and you could be eligible for the employee bonus of $1,000,” said the ad on www.durex.com.au.

The long arm of the law caught up to a suspected thief, but not without help from a jogger’s well-placed foot.

The suspect allegedly stole a wallet from a 72-year-old woman Friday evening at a store in this Detroit suburb. He was running down busy Nine Mile Road with a store employee in pursuit when, police Detective John Thull said, “an unknown woman jogger stuck her foot (out) and tripped him.

“The suspect fell and threw the wallet to the ground and the jogger just kept on going. We never even got her name to thank her.”

The suspect got up, got on a bike and continued fleeing, but a woman in a car followed him. He pedaled several blocks before a police officer stopped him.

“We might not have caught this guy without the jogger’s momentary intervention,” Thull told The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak.

Two armed men disguised as Muslim women in burqas held up a bank in Sarajevo and got away with some $40,000, Bosnian police said on Tuesday.

They said the pair entered a Union bank branch in the capital wearing head-to-toe black dresses and veils typical of women adhering to the orthodox Islamic code and trained guns on customers. They then made customers lie on the floor while the emptied the tills, police added.

“Everything happened in a moment. Two persons in black niqabs (burqas) came into the bank. I thought they were ladies,” the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje quoted bank customer Mehmedalija Komarac as saying.

Women in burqas and men with long beards have become a common sight in the Bosnian capital in recent years.