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“When the kids head off to bed, flip their Switch into a fully functioning MPC”
We’ve seen plenty of ingenious uses for the Nintendo Switch – not least from Nintendo itself with its Labo series of cardboard controllers – but this new music production concept from design house Alquemy is something else.
It’s based around the premise that you could replace the standard Joycons – the gaming controllers that attach to the side of Nintendo’s console – with Akai Pro MPC-style music-making modules. The Switch could then run the appropriate software, which could be managed via its touchscreen.
We think it’s a great idea, and one that’s been stunningly visualised. In Alquemy’s design, a bank of nine MPC-style pads is positioned on the left, along with various control buttons. The right controller is occupied by more buttons and a strip of rotaries, while I/O is split between both of the attachments.
You could argue, quite reasonably, that an iPad and a companion Bluetooth controller would be a more flexible and powerful portable touchscreen production studio than this, but there’s something about the modular nature of the Switch – and the fact that the controllers literally become part of the console – that means that this concept makes sense. Now all we need is for Akai Pro to build it.
If you want to start making music on your Switch right now, check out Korg Gadget, a port of the iOS and Mac music production studio that pushes our nostalgia buttons by featuring a Sega Genesis drum machine and Taito arcade synth. 
I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.
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