I know JJOS is really powerful, but how does it stack up to the daw-like features of the new MPCs with the touch screens? Is it worth waiting for them to drop, bugs and all, and risk some stuff either not working or behaving wrong, or is it best to stick with something proven and solid with JJOS running on a refurbished 2500 or something?
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As the new MPCs are yet to be released, any answers to this are speculative at best.
No doubt about that. Got any speculations? 
I suppose my main concern is that Akai has a history of bungling up the initial run of its hardware products. The features we know about seem cool, but if they screw up something basic it might be worth holding off until they figure it out. That could take months.
One thing I’ve never been able to find regarding the older MPCs with JJOS is a complete description of what they can actually do, not just a list of updates from the previous version or a comparison between versions. I know some versions have audio tracks, but how they are handled remains a mystery to me.
IMO the new MPCs (Live and X) will not be like Ableton Live in the box
But there will be some interesting improvements compared to the vintage machines. In short, I would wait with the decision, why
- Even a MPC 1000 in mint condition might be sold for $600 - $800, MPC 2500 might start at $ 1000.
- Now compare the price to a MPC Live … $1.200 at Sweetwater
- Compare the specs vintage vs. new
My impression is that the workflow of the new series has improved wrt audio and midi and if AKAI doesn’t mess it up, those new machines will be much fun and reliable. There might also be a price-drop for the recent series like MPC 1000, 2500, 5000, if the new ones hit the market eventually. The prices of old veterans like MPC 60, 3000, and 4000 might stay stable, because they are famed.
That’s why I recommend … waiting
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Yeah… yeah. You rite, you rite.
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Love it.
The way I see it, the Live is like the 1000, the X is like the 2500. If you live in the US the 1000 is close enough to the price of the Live to wait for. The X to the 2500, I mean, mint condition would be something, still a mighty price hike
Maybe the best course of action is to wait longer and see of the new MPCs result in any price drops on the used market.
Personally, that new tech looks really awesome and it would have to suffer a MASSIVE price drop to make me swing in that direction
I have a mpc1k and I’m in no rush to sell. Curious about the live… but at the same time conscious that this is not the same akai. Maybe it’ll take a year to see how bug free and good the hardware is on these things.
The new ones are also more geared towards interfacing with the computer, that may be a plus or minus for you.
Sorry, I don’t speculate. I have already preordered a live and will be one of the “chumps” who bought into the hype without having any certainty how it all will pan out. If it turns out to be a duck, I’ll just power up my 1k or my 4k and go on with my life.
But I cannot really recommend this kind of behaviour to anyone. Caveat emptor and all that. Best to wait until the first user reactions surface.
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