Akai MPC One [ Retired : Search for MPC Thread ]

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#1443

I think he’s with Akai, don’t know him personally but whether you’re a seasoned user or not you can just look at what he’s doing in the video, even slow it down if you have to there is no sleight of hand at play here… you can see all the steps and see that it’s simple… someone who’s mastered something like the octatrack and moving around blazing fast on it is definitely not what is happening here, this is the core of what’s happening here

I don’t think there are so many mpcs on the used market because of them being unintuitive, I think it’s because people have purchased more mpcs than anything else so the used market for them is going to be larger naturally… I also think there are more people with multiple mpcs than any other Groovebox, It’s not uncommon to find mpc users with 3 or 4 mpcs and all of the old models hold their values well…that’s my opinion of it anyway.

I do think there are dissatisfied people who want an mpc to be ableton, elektron, or logic…
or an iPad… which it is definitely not… but any sampling beatmachinist used to writing a ton of music with from 32-128mb of ram is tickled pink and happy with the overwhelming value and features on the new mpcs… of course there are those heads that hate every new mpc that comes out like die hard winxp users but things just wouldn’t be the same without them :slight_smile:

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#1444

Leave me out of this :rofl:

I found a real nice workflow with the MPC One today, just made a 2 bar beat/jam, copied sequence to 64 bars, turned on automation record and jammed out mute recording in realtime, very quick and most of all fun way to build sections. Great stuff.

Here: Current sounds coming from your gear - #822 by darenager

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#1445

Agreed with a lot of what you write here. The MPC Live/One/X is not and will never be an Octatrack or Ableton. It does what it does and does that fairly well (which is a lot…if you can handle the workflow).

My biggest gripe with the “new” MPCs are some of the UI design choices that just seem lazy / amateur though. You’d think they’d pay a little more attention to these details after releasing the first standalone MPCs in a decade+.

Things like no pinch & zoom in the piano roll, menu diving to get to effect settings, limited midi control of standalone functions out of the box, no “erase track” while playback is running — basically a bunch of these little things that add up.

When I drop the expectation to have a polished, well -designed and coherent UI throughout, I can enjoy my MPC Live for what it is.

This has been my experience with Akai since the late 90s actually, and still every 10 years or so I give them the benefit of the doubt…better not to hope, they are quantity over quality or the 80/20 thing, whichever way one wants to look at it. Akai just doesn’t polish its products, which is fine because they’re functional anyway.

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#1446

yeah there are function over form issues and things I don’t like , it’s just that they are so functional that it’s easy to just get on with the appropriate task at hand. they suffer from having set a standard and that most of their competition comes from older models of their own… and then on top of that the majority of their customers don’t care about the majority of things people want out of other Groovebox manufacturers so I’m not sure if they’re even motivated although they say they are, but I’ve never even seen any of the new features in the current line of mpcs requested lol…

it’s like the mpc is a sloppy joe, and you know how sloppy Joe fans are, you better not put any arugula or avocado on it :laughing:

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#1447

I think between a MC-707, MPC One, and OT most bases for production are covered for me, they all have advantages and disadvantages, and I’m ok with that, it is a bonus that I can shuttle audio between them as they all use the same sample rate. Love it!

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#1448

that’s what I’m about too, from one beat machine to the next in a circle with ableton being the last in the chain it never gets stale. I love trying to make the same song on different instruments, it’s impossible but a fun exercise and good practice

#1449

This. I couldn’t live with it. Had my Live for almost 4 years too and I’m back to a JJOS2500. I miss some of the features but not the disjointed workflow, clunky UI and how damn dirty the thing got… there is no way these things will keep their value either imo.
The next generation of grooveboxes is what I’m waiting on.

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#1450

First track on my first MPC.

I can’t seem to go out of my way to fault things and I absolutely love this thing, never used anything like it and therefore can’t have anything to compare it to. Bugs are a different story. That’s just me though…

Under 32 samples on a single track… There are 128 tracks, each can hold 128 samples, and this is individual per sequence… 128 sequences! Mind boggling. I used a couple % worth of CPU power, basically just running the OS idly almost aside from a few effects. Stock everything too, don’t even have an SD card yet!

On the vocal sample I really like the effect setting where it “builds up” over time. The more the note is played, the more the effect is applied. Really cool.

Someday I’ll be an old MPC head saying back in my day with the MPC One we didn’t have to have microchips implanted just to sample!

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#1451

My point really is any competent machine user can make a process look easy and effortless.

Ableton is a doddle

Who needs DAWs and Groovebox samplers when you can play a turntable, 2 keyboards and play your vocal samples from a vintage Akai rack sampler.

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#1452

I’m having a weird issue with my MPC (LIVE, 1st gen)

A few days ago it turned on on its own. I shut it down, but it turned on again. And again. It basically won’t shut down, pushing the on off button acts like a restart button. Holding it down won’t help either.

I unplugged all cables, left the battery to die, re installed the latest firmware and did a factory reset but nothing helped. I basically can’t shut down my MPC and AKAI is not responding to my emails :frowning:

Any idea on what could cause such a problem?

#1453

I get it, and agree, I was just saying that in addition to that fact, the mpc is actually easy, probably the easiest of all the groove boxes discussed on the forum besides the sp12 and sp303/404… it’s certainly easier than all of the Elektron boxes, maschine (even though maschine is far less capable)… maybe the toraiz is easier though

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#1454

My One had a kind of similar issue in that after turning it off, I had to remove and reconnect the power lead in order to get it to turn on again. It wasn’t consistent and seemed to go away after the update with the drum synths. Soft power switches always make me a bit nervous but I don’t like to go on about it because I don’t want to encourage the trend for not having a power switch at all.

I expect the weekend might not be the best time for an email response, but if you haven’t already I’d try posting to official social media pages / accounts too, you can often get traction there.

#1455

I’d be interested to get some feedback from other MPC One users about noise, there are a few things going on with my unit that might indicate a fault, or it might just be normal:

The various screens can exhibit noise, it is linked to which colour and how many pads are lit, kind of that typical pwm based LED interference noise, I tried without any USB connected but it is still there.

Also if monitoring is on in sampling page, and I go to sample the edit noise floor increases, other screens don’t seem affected.

The input seems a bit strange, the level knob when set high seems unbalanced - the left side is a bit louder than the right, probably due to the dual potentiometer not being a high tolerance part and some difference between the left pot and right pot. Also when input is set high there is a lot of mains hum present, on my mixer the send which I sample from I have to increase the input level on the MPC compared to my other samplers, if I do this then it gets noisy and hums, so I have to increase the send level on the mixer, and lower the MPC input, which is a bit inconvenient as my other samplers require me to turn the send level back down again. I will probably look into using a pre-amp to get around this.

Are these issues familiar to other MPC One users?

#1456

I have had zero issues with noise on my One, and it is definitely something I would notice (and not be happy with).

I generally don’t have it connected to my computer but it is usually connected via 5 Pin Din and USB MIDI to other equipment.

I feed external audio into the One and connect its outputs to my Babyface.

#1457

I had the MPC One for a week or so, I notice several weakness, mostly related to building quality which, for the price, are quite acceptable.
But regarding sound quality, it is excellent, it blows my OT MKI away night and day.
Now I have the MPC Live MKII and general building quality is much better in all ways.
In your case, electronic components failure should be an option, but I suggest to make few tests, like disconnecting everything and start with a proven device like a battery powered recorder and quality cables, if you notice the issue, try replacing the cables, then the source, etc. But you probably already know these things…

#1458

is this a bug on the mpc, load up the EP plugin, choose any sound, start the looper, set recording to resample L&R and loop record to overdub, now start looping some piano and adding a few layers…

now while the loop is playing
go back to the main screen and touch the tempo box , then use the jog wheel to turn the tempo down… your loop should completely disappear after the first increment of dial turning… Bug?

#1459

My theory is, by the time the One breaks I’ll be able to afford an X.

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#1460

don’t sleep on the looper, that thing is sic for sample mangling and fodder creation too

#1461

Curious as to what issues you had exactly with the build quality. I think the build is very solid so surprised to hear this. Haven’t my One for too long but it seems super durable.

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#1462

Can anyone please provide some feedback regarding the feel of pads? In particular, is there any give to them?

I have a Force in front of me and the pads are fine for percussion but not so much for melodic parts due to their hardness. Supposedly, the ones on the One :slight_smile: have an extra layer on top…