Music and sound · 2026-10-28
Akai embraces vibe-coded mods with an open-source MPC
Akai has not formally announced the MPC Sample Key yet, but it is already showing how the community is building mods for it using vibe coding.
What happened
Akai is preparing the MPC Sample Key, a 37-key version of its budget MPC Sample. Its firmware will be open source, meaning anyone can modify it.
Akai is already giving early access to hackers and developers who build custom firmware. In short Instagram videos, Akai shows several mods that add synths to the device, including Native Instruments Massive, as well as virtual analog and FM synths. One mod runs a custom operating system with several synths inside.
What vibe coding is and why AI matters
Vibe coding means a person describes the program they want in plain language, and AI writes the code. The videos show synths built this way with Claude, a model from Anthropic.
This matters because people without formal programming training can more easily change devices to suit them. Before, that took years of learning.
What comes next
According to Jack O’Donnell, CEO of inMusic, the company behind Akai, the brands plan to support the modding community by seeding early devices to developers, open-sourcing some software, and providing an SDK, a toolkit for building programs.
The videos also suggest similar features could come to the regular MPC Sample. This could mean Akai plans to open-source the entire platform, but that is only a possibility based on the videos for now.
Useful from the source
- Akai Instagram Reel (first video) — A short video where Akai shows new mods for the MPC Sample Key.
- Akai Instagram Reel (second video) — A video with several synths built through vibe coding with Claude.
Sources: 🔗 The Verge — AI