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

thank you
so if I store a live set on an SD card
then I load it
Do I understand correctly that it will temporary store the project to the internal HD.
and that’s why it is suddenly loaded to 95%?

There’s no disk-streaming on the MPC Live; so yes, when you load a project from your SD card, thumb drive, or external SSD, all your samples get stored temporarily in the 2 gigs of internal RAM (which is also used to run the operating system, FX, plugins, etc.).

It works out to a usable space for about 45 - 53 minutes worth of samples; which is plenty if you’re using one-shots of a reasonable length. However, if you’re using a ton of plugins, FX, and long stereo audio tracks, then yes, you’ll run out of RAM quickly. Again though, consider what the MPC was designed for, right?

Cheers!

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Live and X both have a great sounding phono preamp if you sample from vinyl ----not even a Pioneer Nexus phono stage will match the Live/X quality ----that is worth price of admission alone !

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A quick update on this issue.

Akai sent me a file to reinstall the factory content.
A really simple process, which took about 20mins.

Everything’s now back to normal.

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Does anyone have a Force and an Mpc Live/X?

I’ve just sold my OT and was going to buy a backup Mpc Live. Now thinking about getting a Force, for making more melodic techno type tracks.

I’ll still use the Force standalone and i’m interested in the workflow differences.

Cheers!

I have MPC live and force. Not using the force yet, waiting for OS updates to get me back to it. I’m sure it will be a great bit of kit once the OS matures though.

In its current state the force is workable, but the outstanding bugs annoy me and keep me using other gear (1st world problem I know lol). You can make music with it already, but the full potential of the force is yet to come IMO.

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Is your intention to use them together or do think you’ll end up with just one? Do you think you’ll make different types of music on each machine?

My intentions are varied, but most of the long-term plans revolve around the coming of MPC 3.0 which will hopefully unify the project compatibility of both machines. When that becomes a reality, I intend to use the MPC live at home and the force at my project studio (because of ableton integration, I will also be able to use the force as an ableton controller), ultimately dumping resources from both ableton and MPC projects into the force for playing gigs with.

None of this will be a reality for me until Akai sorts out the software… its a waiting game ATM. I anticipate MPC 3.0 to drop within the next two years…

You might think “Who the f#ck buys an expensive piece of hardware only to wait years until they can actually starrt using the piece as they intended?” Guess that makes me a sucker LOL. My only excuse is, I don’t know if I coulda been able to afford the force hadnt I bought it now (gloomier financial times ahead and all that). So I am gambling with Akai, hoping that Dan will lead us all to victory :nyan:

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This sounds dangerous. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hoping for the same thing, I own an MPC Live, but in 2+ years of owning that machine, every time I get close to a usable workflow, I find a show-stopping quirk in the software, something so basic and still not implemented that it makes me think again that Akai is outdated and will not show the software quality that is needed without a deep change within the company. The amount of stuff that needs fixing is big for any company and, IMO, too much for them:

  • Automation lanes & automation management in general. Workable but not great and definitely not at the level of p-locking. This is a real issue for people who need to introduce evolution and mutation in sounds, not so much for trap beat makers so this is why it wasn’t a priority for Akai I guess…

  • Disk streaming: one could do without, sure, but it removes the possibility to make more complete/complex and long sets. My guess here is that they have been trying for a while but lack good developers. The issues with disk mounting in 2.2, the performance drops due to bad UI optimization on the visual remake of FXs or the massive user password on their website when 2.4 dropped are mistakes that unexperienced/plain bad developers would make, my colleagues and I often joke about it (I work in IT).

  • Countless UI/UX issues. Making an exhaustive list would be impossible but the ones that annoy me are the inability to reorder tracks or programs, the lost space in pretty much every screen, the bad defaults everywhere (samples at max volume when loaded for example), … I could go on for a long time but having a look at the get satisfaction website and seeing the only one guy from Akai answering a year later makes me chuckle. HIs answers are usually something like “There are methods that work around this that have been mentioned so at this time, I would advise using one of these methods to [basic functionality]. I do think that this function would be useful to the MPC hardware’s workflow so I will submit this as a feature request for you to the Akai team”.

I hope I’m wrong about Akai’s inability to fix what they aimed for and failed. But I have even more hope that some other company will understand the appeal of such a product well done, and implement it better. I’ll see what Superbooth has in store this year, but I’m definitely considering a 2nd OT to rock double OT instead of the MPC…

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Have an opportunity to grab a live cheap. I’m like a few others above and looking for one device amongst my guitar and DN.

I love the AR but built in limited space is not for me, found that out quick. What I do love with the AR and DN though is I work well with pattern based machines. Will this be an issue with the MPC?

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MPC can be as pattern-based as you want it to be.

Not a single thing in my wish list has been added so opinion is the same. Needs P-locks… needs multitimbral midi in…

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Will I be able to add effects per note, say delay on the third snare hit in a pattern. Sorry if this is a dumb question.

The easiest way I could do a thing like that on MPC live would be to copy the snare pad to a new duplicate slot (pad) and add the desired delay fx to the copied pad… You have 128 drum pads to burn in every drumkit :diddly:

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Thanks man, ordered, on it’s way. Price to good to pass up. Look forward to new frustrations as i was pretty settled in with the RYTM with the little time I had it.

Trust me this was a great move :+1:

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[quote=“toodee, post:5173, topic:32978”]
in 2+ years of owning that machine, every time I get close to a usable workflow, I find a show-stopping quirk in the software, something so basic and still not implemented…[/quote]

As someones once said about the missing features, they know wat they want and where they want to go with their stuff! This let me think that if it isn’t implemented since the 1.0 until now, that mean that it will never be implemented. Don’t need to waste your time to wait for the 3.0 or 3000.0!

Look at evidences. Everybody’s asking for automation lines, best midi implementation, what they give us? Splice!

This is not only Akai. Pioneer, Elektron act sometimes this way, they give tou beta stuff and promises. They keep releasing new stuff and put on hold old beta stuff the sad thing is when you complain about this, someone’s try to silence or discredit you.

You just have to pay and stay quite even when you feel you get scammed

The MPC has been around for so long, it’s very much about a paradigm these days. It seems to me, the MPC is much about live playing, hitting Undo if you get it wrong and play it again until you get it right. And that’s what it is. Everything seems to be designed around that experience.

It’s quite possible that many of the features that seem obvious on request will never happen, because it’s just not what the MPC is about, from Akai’s point of view.

Just because it’s a great idea, doesn’t mean it will ever happen. Discarding bad ideas is easy. It’s choosing between the good ones remaining, that’s hard, cause go for them all and you’d get a blurred product.

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On the other hand, why buying a product for features it doesn’t have and complain they are missing?
When I bought the Live I was aware that automations editing in standalone was not possible and that there was not such thing as p-locks.
Would I like them?
Yes.
Do I expect Akai to implement them?
No.
Am I still making music with it?
Yes.
I do have a list of things I would like to see but I’m well happy with what the Live is today.

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I didn’t put my money on it waiting for features… but you can’t deny that everything they announce on Live is true, things that works very good on old MPC’s.

Alongside with MPC Live i’ve OT and DN, 2 inferior gear, on the paper, but best implement and more mature than MPC Live. Feel more instant gratification on that combo than with MPC Live. The midi connection between DN and OT is very accurate, the same we can’t say adding the MPC to the party. The same connection that worked very well with the MPC1000

The way i do and i want to do my things maybe the Force could be better for me but i’m afraid and i’m very reticent giving my money to akai

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