Had booth, sold the MPC one. I came from Elektron world to these machines therefore Octatrack wasn’t a strange but it’s definitely not that instant machine as the MPC One. I sold the MPC One because the two inputs is just not enough for me I couldn’t use it as a center piece for my sets, while Octatrack is easy for that. However after reading your comment, I think the price shouldn’t justify the Octatrack if for other reasons the MPC fits you better.
Oh boy, this is a Sophie’s Choice situation for sampler enthusiasts. I think the current MPCs are a genuine evolution of the format, and capable of so much as all-in-one solutions. But the OT is unlike anything else. If you want to sample a lot of vinyl, I think the One and a big SD card are a great choice - bulk sampling and editing will be a lot smoother on the One. It’s also excellent as a MIDI hub, and the fact it works as a MIDI host is another strong point in its favour.
Having said that, if I could get a Mk2 OT for 700 euros, I don’t think I could pass that up. The MPC One isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and if the OT doesn’t work for you you could easily sell it to fund a new MPC. If mangling samples is your goal, the OT absolutely will not disappoint you there, and it brings stuff to the MIDI table that the MPC can’t do, such as the excellent MIDI LFOs and all the trig conditions.
Either would be a good choice, but it kind of feels like the universe wants you to have an Octatrack at this point in time.
do these steps in this order to any loop and it will be mangled before you even begin to sequence it.
sample, slice, offset, layer, FX, freeze/flatten, offline sample warp, resample, Repeat
then
sequence tracks, explode tracks, merge tracks, set tracks to different lengths, resample, and repeat
and there are so many things I didn’t even mention like automation, the step sequencer, looper, audio tracks, simultaneous pads, next seq, patch phrase, randomization, autosample, performance mode, and if you’re into the plugins etc…etc…etc…
that’s why I agree with Nick, the mpc in all of it’s iterations will always be there and be useful but you don’t want to have that nag in the back of your mind that you skipped a nice opportunity to try something else out.
Can be on OT too using quick sampling method
Also OT can do auto sampling of external midi synth or self, if you set it up. It could be argued that MPC makes this easier to do, which is probably correct, but you can do multiple sources simultaneously on OT.
Either way both great choices, with little overlap.
I own a live and OT and used to own a force.
I think the argument about mpc being just like a computer with a touch screen carries merit. They are so much friendlier to walk up to. OT feels like an instrument. Something you play and perform.
Don’t buy gear for unfulfilled promises, but the OT is done getting better. MPC is still being worked on. It has usb in and out. It is rumored to support audio interfaces soon. I’m quite excited for what the mpc could be and will likely build my setup around the two of them together in the future.
All that said. Never thought about getting rid of the OT. It is timeless kit that I can imagine people using still 10 years from now. You might use an mpc in 10 years but it will be a new one
I think it is a huge stretch to say that the OT can do auto sampling because auto sampling involves automatically creating keygroups which zone samples over pitch and velocity ranges.
Yes, agreed… the OT is obvs fantastic for a lot of what it does, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to the MPC for auto-sampling. Just the fact that the MPC gives you polyphony of those samples is a huge win for the MPC.
Sure it depends on the requirement, but for example you can easily do stuff like sampling the hits from a drum machine, then slice up ready to play, pretty quickly.
Or sampling a analog synth where velocity is not needed etc.
The auto sampling feature is awesome, no setup or slicing needed. It’s so cool to get a DN patch and hit record, it grabs a few octaves above and below and saves it.
OT is great! And sampling individual notes and slicing them is very simple with the OT. But… that kinda takes the automatic out of the equation.
Fair, it does take some setup, I tend to save them for reuse though. But yeah auto sampling probably means different in mpc workflow (I never used the new ones)
All strong points in the OT’s favour for sure. It’s a true performance sampler, ultimately, whereas the MPC is a sampler you can perform with after sampling. One of the killer features for me with the OT is being able to set a recorder trig and throw live, synced samples straight into a waiting pattern. Times four!
Multisampling is a good example of how the MPC is a better choice for a workhorse sampler. If you want to capture, edit and archive a source, it does a really good job. Sit down with the MPC and a flexible synth or a stack of vinyl, and you’ll have a great time. Clock an external synth to the OT and feed it in, and you’ll have a great time. This is why it’s such a tough choice. But it can only end well!
With regards to auto sampling any synth (digital or analogue), and even when velocity is not required, you need to remember that when you play the auto sampled synth, MIDI note numbers determine which sample is played (hence the term keygroup).
As far as I remember, the OT cannot select samples via MIDI note numbers?
Buy the OT, that’s too much of a good deal. You would always wonder « what if… » thinking about it
Then if you don’t like it, you sell it for 800€ and get a 100€ discount to buy an Mpc
I’d say if you want more like a DAW in a box, MPC.
If you want to experiment and dedicate some time to learn an instrument, go for the OT.
Do people buy/sell/rebuy/resell as much with the MPC as for the OT?
two of my mpcs are older than 10 years, never had an issue either, not even pad issues although I did have an mpc 1000 that did have pad issues one time, but that was one out of 3 mpc 1000’s that I’ve owned… considering the rigorous treatment of mpcs the way they last and their resale value of all the models is pretty incredible.
For sure. My point wasn’t that it would be useless. It was more that there will be a newer one and I’m guessing “character” of this generation won’t matter as much as the past.
I am trying out the MPC beats software, basically a cut down free version of MPC, the autosampler is a bit limited in that minimum note duration is 1 second, is this the same for the hardware versions?
minimum is 1000ms
The minimum 1 second sample duration for auto sampling is not particularly limiting it just means that of the bat you cannot be as frugal as you may wish with sample memory.
Obviously the audible part of the auto sample can be less than 1 second in length, the remaining time just being silence.
If you find it necessary to regain some RAM you can reduce the length of each multi sample in the sample editor.
no, there is only RAM limit - maximum sample length is 850 mbyte. I personally dont record anything over 4/8/16 bars.
I was asking about the minimum time, since I wanted to use it for very short sounds that would not need trimming, surprisingly few solutions exist for this as far as I can tell. Also to be clear I was not going to be using the sounds in a MPC, but was thinking of using MPC to capture them.