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

The Lounge Other Gear
#2367

MPC song mode is more or less a list of sequences only … that’s it. Each sequence has a fixed length, which is defined by it’s track lenghs. All tracks of a sequence have the same length.

Each line of the song (list) defines:

  • the sequence to be played
  • the number of repetitions of this sequence
  • the tempo

The list can be edited, new list items can be inserted, deleted etc. and the song can be transfered into a new sequence, which then is everything copied in series to this new sequence, without any structure, one long spaghetti-sequence of the entire song. No fun to edit this later :frowning:

It’s quite an outdated concept, if we compare it to Ableton-Live and the option to work on clips, put clips together to scenes with clips having different lengths, improvise on clips and scenes, record or copy to the arrange view and always keep a good overview of what’s going on.

I guess that was the critic in the article on “song-mode” :wink:

Having a MPC myself, I only can agree. It’s not the finest feature of the machine. But there are “work-arounds” and I think the new sort of “clip-program” will be an improvement :smiley:

The MPC concept has so many advantages, which I love that I can live with this kind of “song-mode” :wink:

2 Likes
#2368

Ahhh got it, thanks for the replies. So it’s pretty similar to the octatrack arranger then. If you’re familiar with the OT arranger are there any aspects that are implemented better? More suited for live use? Many thanks

#2369

I am SO inclined to sell my A4, OT and Push 2 to go in on the MPC X. Every time I play with my silver boxes I’m blown away with the notion that I really don’t NEED other gear.

#2370

Why X?
If you don’t need the CV outs, what has it to offer that Live don’t, in your mind ?

I’m resisting to go for the Live, main interest being the battery mode (I always travel with my OP1)…
But I also have already too much gear :wink:

#2371

Thats crazy thinking.

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#2372

Yep, uncontrolled GAS detected.
:smile:

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#2373

The layout appears to be more designed to arrange entire tracks from within it with out a “computer”, and then when it’s deep production time take the files and transfer them over to the computer immediately. The layout of the Live looks more for sampling and sketching. At least how I’m seeing it.

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#2374

I want to make songier songs, which I find REALLY difficult to do with my (pretty much) Elektron only setup.

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#2375

I believe they rock the same OS and can both been externalized on the computer.
Both being sampling stations as well.
X offers more control, but otherwise I haven’t seen many differences between the two units.
But I might be misinformed…

#2376

Ryan, if you are planning to do any live - mobile sets then the X is not the best option to replace the OT.
The only time I would consider the MPC is to replace the DAW component in the setup, possibly the OT component, but I am focused on the mobile-live capability as part of my setup.

Currently my dark trinity linked with a suitable DAW covers all bases. For example, build tracks for live use in Elektron. Migrate them to DAW and polish them for production songs.

Also use the DAW to produce stems to migrate back out to OT.

Now i just need to learn how to do all this :loopy:

1 Like
#2377

Yeah, both have the capability of doing the same thing(sans the CV on the Live) and the extra money would be going solely to the layout and the larger screen. I think the layout would provide the benefit worth the cash. I suppose I COULD save the money and spend it on another OP-1 and have the ultimate portable studio. I just really miss the feel of my initial studio where I recorded live into my Boss BR1200CD(except for the hassle) i haven’t been able to comfortable cope with recording into a computer

The extra hands on control would be cool, I think. And also make the process less computer-like. Also it just looks really, really pretty

#2378

Ive actually talked myself out of buying either MPC, was hot for it for a while. Has become a little redundant when considering OT capabilities in the live situation.
Burying myself in Bitwig which is super and if my plan works out will be fantastic for building songs frm elektron gear, and in turn producing stems for OT food.

#2379

I don’t really perform live, as of right now. I just get my kicks from making tracks. The notion of performing doesn’t appeal to me. First, there’s a lot of people(and that’s if things go RIGHT!) I wouldn’t know how to get electronic gigs OR even how to actually put together a set. Obviously Elektron stuff is very performance based, I’m a fanboy because I like to make quirky things and I like the workflow that has an emphasis on sounddesign. But, right now, when it becomes time to record a track/riff that I’m digging I get really anxious before recording, and I get lost while I’m trying to record. The tracks I make now are HEAVILY structurally edited.

Granted, the OT would definitely be helpful to send audio recorded onto the MPC and then mangle it up. Definitely would be cool.

Edit: However, I COULD do a sufficient amount of mono mangling on the MDUW…

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#2380

Im not planning on performing either, except when I visit friends houses and we set up stuff for fun. This is when mobility is useful.

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#2381

17 posts were split to a new topic: Playing in a band

#2389

I’m still really interested to hear about the possibility of the Live and X supporting Ableton Link. This would be such a great way to link my hardware and software worlds. Did anyone who read the SOS article get any info on that?

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#2390

Apparently that will come at a later stage

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#2392

Seems like April the 28 is the Europe date for most of online shop. I have a confirmation from Stars Music Paris that Algam (Akai distribution France) give this date too…

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#2399

I dreamt I had a beta mpc live last night. <-- wtf. My imagination’s hit new lows. It was a piece of junk too, ran like a zx spectrum downloading the entire internet on a 56kbs modem. Nothing worked. Gas still intact tho.

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#2400

Will there be PDC in version 2 ?
If no it sounds like less fun to take a project from control to standalone mode since we would have to manually determine the latency and trim the start. This gets annoying when you have an track where things do not start on 1.