The last week of October brought an unusual pattern: several hardware makers announced gear with open or community-modifiable firmware. None of it is an MPE product out of the box, but the trend matters to anyone who plays expressively and likes bending hardware to their needs.
Behringer BCR32: a BCR2000 successor with open code
According to Synth Anatomy, the new Behringer BCR32 is the successor to the classic BCR2000. It offers 32 encoders, a built-in four-track "Zaquencer" sequencer and four CV/Gate outputs. The firmware is now open source on GitHub.
The reported price is $269 / 169€, with pre-orders through retailers such as Thomann and Perfect Circuit. Units have reportedly been shipping in small quantities for some time.
The BCR32 is a knob box, not a per-note expression device. It does not claim MPE support. Still, an open codebase means the community can add behaviours the factory never planned, and that is how many expressive-friendly tools have started in the past.
Behringer Ignite: a 64-channel sequencer with open firmware
Behringer also showed the Ignite, described as a 64-channel multi-track hardware sequencer with a touchscreen, a built-in sound engine and open-source firmware. We have no confirmed price, release date or MPE details at the time of writing.
For MPE players, sequencers are a recurring pain point. Many hardware sequencers record notes and a single stream of controllers, which flattens per-note pitch bend, pressure and slide. An open firmware project could one day address that, but nobody has announced it. Treat it as a possibility, not a feature.
Akai opens the MPC Sample and teases SampleKey
Akai Professional announced that it is opening the MPC Sample to community custom firmware. A related teaser, the SampleKey, is a compact two-octave keyboard sampler with pitch and mod wheels. It is pitched as a sibling of the MPC Sample without pads, with open firmware promised. Price and availability have not been announced, and MPE is not mentioned.
Why this matters for expressive playing
Open firmware changes who gets to decide what a device can do. The MPE community already has examples: the LinnStrument ecosystem has long benefited from community involvement, and several small controllers and Eurorack modules have grown through user contributions.
A few practical points follow:
- Do not buy on promises. If a device does not list MPE today, assume it does not have it. Community firmware may arrive, or it may not.
- Check the data path. Even a perfect MPE controller is limited by whatever sits downstream. A sequencer or sampler that merges channels will erase per-note gestures. Our guide to MPE in your DAW covers how to check this.
- Watch the licence and the repository. An open-source firmware repository tells you how active the community is. Look at recent commits and open issues before you rely on it.
- Expect rough edges. Custom firmware can void warranties or require manual flashing. Back up your settings first.
What to watch next
The next signs to look for are concrete: a pull request adding MIDI channel handling to a sequencer, a community build of the MPC Sample that passes through channel-per-note data, or a firmware note that mentions pressure and slide. Until one of those appears, these devices remain interesting platforms rather than MPE tools.
If you build your own expressive rig, the safest approach is the usual one: pair a proven MPE controller with software or hardware that explicitly documents MPE handling, and use open-firmware gear for the roles where it already excels, such as control, sequencing and sampling. For background on how channels carry per-note data, see What is MPE? and the official MIDI Association specifications.
Open code is good news for tinkerers. For expressive players, it is an invitation, and the community decides what happens next.