Jesus had a brother? Dude owes me $20. I ain’t poor - I made my first million at 23.
Can I have one?
Old question but interested in the take from my friends here in this thread: I got a good offer for a potential upgrade from the One to the Live 2 for a small price difference of about 150-200 EUR. Would you upgrade?
I’m hesitating because it looks like the workflow is less quick on the Live 2 since it makes navigating to Program Edit, Track/Pad Mute and things like Sample Edit slower, and it’s obviously bulkier on the desktop and costs more.
I’m attracted to the idea of being able to move around the house with no cords, and to jam out live using the speaker with my kids. But then again, what happens if the battery gets old, can it be replaced relatively easily or will it turn into a brick in a few years time?
Can the wifi/Bluetooth be used for things like transferring a file to your phone? Or are there some other key benefits of the Live 2 that I should know about (I know about the added I/O of course).
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Definitely.
Navigation with menu+pad 12 will become second nature and take you to the program edit screen. Track/pad mutes are a double click away, so is the sample edit screen.
On the plus side you get the speakers, which I ended up using more than I expected and portability, and mine moves around a lot, even to just sit on my lap rather than on my desk.
And the internal hard drive and more ins and outs.
I’ve only used Bluetooth midi with the IPad for sequencing but quite sure there is no file transfer.
Overall a no brainer to me.
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I’d echo what @Automageddon said… I’d do it in a heartbeat, especially with 2.11 around the corner.
You’ll have some workflow adjustments to make, but they’re just different, I don’t ever feel frustrated by it. Well apart from typing names in on the touchscreen which the One and X also have.
I wasn’t sure I’d use the speaker and/or the battery that much… but I’ve used them 50x more than I would have expected.
It’s a handy tool to have around, apart from just MPC’ing. I listen to records through it. I play other synths/instruments through it. It’s great.
In fact, right now, this is how mine looks… I just picked up a Circuit Tracks, so wirelessly able to hook it up and play in my living room. (EDIT: ‘wirelessly’ if we ignore the wire connecting them. You know what I mean. 
)
The freedom it gives is great, you find yourself constantly making music with it.
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HOWTO: automate volume, pan and fx parameters on master and submix busses.
Since it may well have gotten a bit snown under in the last bit of the previous thread between all the discussion about screen foils…
…posted here again, written down a bit more structured.
Required: A usb midi controller and a DIN midi cable
Steps:
-Connect the midi controller to your mpc
-enable “control” and “track” for the controller input in “midi settings” menu
-Use “Midi learn” to assign midi cc values to the parameters you want to automate.
-Create a midi track, send its midi to the midi-din output on the channel that your cc’s are defined on.
-Set the midi input for this track the port on which the midi controller is coming in.
-Use the DIN midi cable to connect a din midi output on your mpc to the din midi input (midi loopback)
-Enable the din midi input on the mpc for “control”
Result
Now you can use the knobs of the midi controller to record automation into your dedicated midi track, or you could use the step sequencer to draw it in.
One snag: You have to subsequently play and resample the whole track, since these automations will not be heard if you just choose mixdown.
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Another argument maybe: I always liked the buttons on the Live much more than those on the One: Less noisy, they feel more convenient and they are backlitted in the dark.
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That seems only to be the case with the normal edition, and not with the live retro…
…backlit text, that is.
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Seriously? Glad I got the black version
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Yes, I just double checked, there’s a backlit bar on the button but the text isn’t backlit. Never noticed until now.
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I’ve gone the other way…
Had a one first but had to send it back because of cosmetic damage. Ended up getting a Live 2 and had that for a while before eventually selling.
Live 2 pros-
speak is pretty damn good!
Battery life was ok. Pretty sure it’s easy to get to for replacement through the HD compartment.
Cons-
It’s bloody huge and heavy. Check the weight on that thing!
Buttons missing you mentioned
Buttons generally felt like they’re in odd places
Screen to one side never felt right
Black soft touch finish damaged easy and started peeling at the corners (maybe I had a bad one, but have seen it on others)
Personally I preferred the more positive buttons on the one even though they felt cheep.
Anyway, ordered a live 2 again recently as Andertons said it was a retro version bstock, turned up and it was the normal black one. Sent that back. Ordered a one retro last week, so will update. Hopefully I feel the same as before and memory served me well haha.
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Maybe order some Weetabix with the new one. 
Funny though, I often find myself doing impromptu overhead tricep curls with mine. Lends itself beautifully to them.
You might have had a dodgy one, but, regardless, the finish is a bit of a dust magnet. I’ve found myself committing to it looking ‘worn in’, like my guitars.
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Lol. It’s 3.4kg!! That’s not a mobile device. My kids weighed less than that when they were born.
Guitars look nice when worn and used. Black plastic synths look nasty when worn.
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using a decksaver and dusting like once a week or two and my X looks like the day I bought it. also if the lights there btw that means there should be nothing stopping you getting some replacement buttons for it? akai might even send you some out
think it’s just the LIVE that has that soft touch paint that gets filthy no matter what you do. Assume the X doesn’t have it?
Unfortunately, it is not. Also, currently neither Akai nor any third party (with the exception of MPC Stuff.com, and that’s only on occasion) sell any replacement batteries, so even if you could easily get to it (again, you cannot), having it user replaced is going to take a lot more than you think.
For the record, MPC Stuff.com used to sell the battery for the OG Live for about $200 USD, and that was before the pandemic and massive inflation. I don’t even see the batteries on their website anymore. Haven’t for some time. 
*Update - actually, they sell the Live II replacement battery for $219 USD currently (don’t know if this fits the OG Live though):
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That’s good to know. I really don’t like the idea of having a dying battery that I won’t be able to replace easily myself. All li-ion batteries die after a few years so that seems like a bad design decision to not make it more user accessible for a product that could last you for at least a decade.
Also good to know that the black Live 2 is a dust magnet. I take it the Retro edition is not?
Went the other way. Sold my Live and bought a One. Prefer the hard buttons than the Menu+Screen - which is really fast. And. You still have to use that combo on the One to access some things like Song mode. So…
Prefer the smaller foot print. Not a lot of desk space
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I have both, the Retro is nowhere near as big of a dust magnet as the black Live 2. You just wouldn’t think about it at all with the Retro model.
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