MPC Thread : MPC Live - MPC X - MPC One (Part 1)

Ihr voraussichtlicher Liefertermin: 5 April 2017 (MPC X)
Ihr voraussichtlicher Liefertermin: 2 März 2017 (MPC Live)

This is going to be a loooooong wait :sunglasses:

@William_WiLD

I will get the MPC X first, so i can center everything else around it and maybe the Live for some on the road fun

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February is a short month, cheer up!

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It will be six months once they sell out the first batch :smile_cat:

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Just to party poop a little, though I don’t need it, the big X looks like the more interesting product. A real industrial production centrepiece with lots of touchable control and solidity. It has a clear purpose.
The smaller Live on the other hand has sort of missed the boat for me.

In trying to identify its key selling point/role: if I needed to decide on minimal on-the-road kit that fits in a laptop bag for a long time away between (a) the MPC Live or (b) ipad/laptop+irigHDpro+small controller, I’d go for (b) because I’m going to be bringing my ipad/laptop anyway for all that extra versatility and I’m not going to leave my ipad/laptop behind anyway. So it is really a decision between a small controller or the MPC Live in addition to the laptop/ipad I’m bringing anyway.

If I want to sit on the couch with something, I’d prefer it was moreso a focused instrument (like OT, RYTM, A4, MNM) to noodle on a few riffs & tracks, than a portable DAW with drum pads.

The MPC Live does look very nicely executed, but it isn’t really bringing any new functionality to the table.

Funny thing is, I always wanted a near full DAW with good IO and a battery in an elektron sized box. Now that it’s actually available, I’m not so sure!

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Ahhhh the voice of reason, gas subsiding. Thanks :slight_smile:

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Absolutely agree, iOS as a music environment sucks horribly, but as an amazing synth, or 2, used as sample fodder, that’s where it’s at for me.
But man, I tried to make stuff all in the iPad, it’s all about workarounds, exporting stuff from one app importing to another etc, just crap!
iPad plus octatrack plus mpc and a couple guitar pedals tho and all you sound sources, sampling sequencing etc is covered.

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It’s only a ‘daw’ if you want it to be that? I mean some dudes knock out full tracks on an Sp404. If you wanted to it’d be pretty easy to just impose limitations like that and make it a ‘focused’ box like you mention. Or just make some beats etc. I don’t see the point of that need for limitations or the problem with a ‘portable daw with drum pads’ tho? If the UI and workflow works and allows me more tracks to be started and finished then I’m in :wink: if it’s a disjointed, buggy mess I’ll skip it :wink:

I’ve got a ton of half finished ideas/patterns/songs in each Elektron box that I thought ‘I’ll finish that when I can get some time with everything else connected’. Seems like on the mpc I could prob go start to finish in the same box in the same session anywhere in house/city and then just tidy up/switch out sounds etc when I’m at main setup… That’s pretty big deal for anyone that has problems finding time to be in their studio.

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That is such a big crux of hardware, going from loops and ideas to full arrangements! For me at least!

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I agree, I shouldn’t pigeonhole it. Though the promo stuff so far seems to be pushing the DAW aspects and a start-finish-something approach rather than pushing its drum machine heritage.

Biggest draw to the Live for me would be as a multi-track instrument-in recorder/looper that I could also easily compose accompaniment tracks to using tangible controls. It would also make a nice elektron sampler to piece together arrangements from clips on multiple boxes. It’ll depend on how friendly it is to tinker with. Can’t help but think, given its large touchscreen centrepiece, I should just make more use of my iPad if I think I could grow to love the MPC Live.

I suppose it is like a big swiss army knife at a very fair price… need to think about whether the tools are bringing me anything I can’t do already though.

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What is the batterie autonomy?
I can’t hear if it is 45 hours or 4 to 5 hours…

Op-1 lasts 10h.
Seeing the touchpad and lights I’d say 4 to 5, no doubt.

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I don’t want to sound rude but why so many people think the new MPC is kind of a mobile DAW replacement?

there are so many important aspects in a DAW impossible to replicate with the current MPCs and it’s guess this is not Akai’s target.

VST? Sidechain compresor? High quality FX?

Any word on multi-sample capabilities?

Massive footprint not withstanding, a sampler-groovebox that I can use with SamplesFromMars sampled synth libraries would get a ton of use in my music. Even if I have to import/build the libraries manually.

To be fair I think that’s been a big part of Akai’s marketing angle so far…

Seems better to think of it as a whole bunch of things. Portable sampler, sequencer, drum machine, looper, soundbank/rompler, scratch pad, multitrack recorder, clip launcher, daw controller etc etc… And a pseudo-standalone daw.

Kind of an OT without the mushrooms :wink: Which could be a good/needed thing sometimes for more linear kind of stuff etc. And nice partnered with OT :wink:

I think I read (or some Akai dude said in a video) that it will support all previous Akai formats, so I assume it will have mutlisamples

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Yeah pretty sure it does multi-sample. Not sure of details or what file types it can read etc. Can’t remember where I saw info, maybe vid or forum post. Tho might have been related to Touch. Guessing they wouldn’t kill that capability for standalone tho?

Bro I’ve heard your tunes. It sounds good. You could probably subscribe to Groove3 or puremix for a month and learn everything you need to. Learning recording in a DAW and mixing in a DAW will get you a longer way than another hardware sampler. Just saying

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I’ve had an MPC 1000, loved it but like others I didn’t like the old tech. Had a 4000. Same. Both great for composing full tracks, both rubbish for getting stems out easily to mix. That is what I see as the big advantage with these new boxes. A bit like overbridge. The ease of making a finished track quickly on the hardware and then easily connecting it up to a computer to polish up and pre-master. This is what I’ve been waiting for for a long time. Composition away from my computer but with seamless integration when I need it.

Oh tried iPad too - getting things on and off and getting things to work together is like repeatedly poking yourself in the eye with a sharp pencil. And whilst the workflow of iMPC Pro is cool, the timing and gainstaging are awful! (Edit: I really hope Retronyms didn’t do the coding for the new software!!!)

Really like the look of X, especially the Qlinks, many physical buttons and large screen - but I don’t need CV, midi, or all the outs etc. as I’d use it exclusively with internal samples - so should probably be sensible and go for the Live.

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Ah, yes.
It looks like in the touch the multi-sample functionality is known as “keygroup” programs. 4 samples per key.
Hmmm, I wonder how long setting up the SFM Voyetra library would take.

I’ve got a bunch of Kontakt instruments id like to have inside too… Dunno how many I’ll have the patience to rebuild by hand tho… Maybe someone will figure out some kind of automatic batch convert utility :confused: