Akai Professional’s XR20 Beat Production Station

It might not be as orgasmic as playing real drums, but making beats on a drum machine is still a shitload of fun. With Akai’s new XR20, you can even take the shitload of fun on the road. It’s billed as a “portable beat production station” loaded with 700 sounds geared toward R&B and hip-hop beats. Other key features of the XR20 include:

  • 99 preset patterns and 99 user patterns
  • Backlit LCD
  • Bright, glowing, backlit pads that follow the beat
  • Microphone input and headphone output
  • Pattern Play Mode (different patterns can be triggered from individual pads)
  • Drum Roll/Note Repeat feature
  • $499 MSRP

2 responses to “Akai Professional’s XR20 Beat Production Station”

  1. Like any drum machine with a MIDI input, you can use it as a drum sound module using a trigger-to-MIDI interface (Alesis Trigger|iO, for example) and a MIDI cable.

  2. Excellent point. The fun factor increases! 🙂

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