I have both the 1k & 2500 w JJ XL. I haven’t used the Akai OS since 2006 or 07 & would cry if I had to use it today.
I get what people mean that it’s less distracting to a point, but the extra features are well hidden. Some may go years before they use the 8 drum FX in the drum program. The extra stuff is great once you got a rough idea & want to spice it up.
Knowing your weakness is a sign of strength. Stay sober dude! Or, set up that quick menu & work on being discipline. Good luck with your decision. Also, the drum program is so much better than the 1k with more filters & 8 pad layers now on the MPC. As well all the other ways it can mess with samples without even using the FXs. Also the macros are very powerful & fun to mess with.
Over here… JJ OS Comparison Chart
I believe you want to compare the columns AKAI OS Ver. 2.13 to OS Ver. 3.16… ignore OS1 and beyond if you just want to see what the JJOS free version brings to the table.
Thanks, I saw that. TBH the meaning of most of the items of those list eludes me or at the very least the significance of them.
The only thing that I kind of understand / understand the significance of is that there’s no chopping on the stock OS (but still way better trimming than on the MPC 500). That is certainly something that would be nice to have.
And no reverse in stock OS. Really? Ugh …
I’ve never fully understood the strong resistance so many feel against touch screens on instruments. To me, it’s just far more intuitive and quick do edit some notes in a sequencer using the fingers than endlessly twisting encoders to indirectly select and modify notes. Plus, the touch interactions on the MPC are always with one hand, where the other hand twists the jog wheel.
Tap on the filter cutoff of the skeuomorphic interface of the Jura synth, then twist the job wheel. It’s intuitive and effortless. And it’s not an iPad, nor is it “work” (which is the typical argument against working ITB, that there’s this association with a computer == work).
I’m not saying you’re all wrong - just sharing my perspective on it. I think the MPC would suck without the touch screen and I see it very clearly on the Push 3, which has an (imho) horrible interface for editing sequencer data and navigating across nested plugins/effects in the rack. The MPC is so much more surface-level and immediate.
There’s no rubber coating on the MPC One. However, there was rubber coating on the MPC Touch and I think the Touch and the Live (MK1) had the same rubber coating 
The very first runs of the live 2 had a different rubber finish but they changed it quick.
You can still move them in the list editor just like on the older ones, is just that now we have the piano roll thing that wasn’t in the old ones… it is new and needs the touch screen, but you can still do it the old school way too.
You must have nimbler fingers than I do because especially the note editing on modern MPCs was really annoying to me.
On the other hand, during my brief adventures with an MPC 500 I came to really enjoy the jog wheel + buttons only note editing experience. It’s almost tracker like except you don’t get to see your entire pattern so you have to keep it in your head - which is a good thing, IMHO.
I’m willing to believe you when you say the Push 3 button only workflow is bad: most of them are. The MPC button only workflow is really good, however (or rather: it really clicks for me).
Ah, I read it backwards… thought he was asking if the Live mk2 had the coating… haven’t used a One/One+ myself
Ah, ok. I think you would like the One. Of the current modern MPCs, it’s my favorite.
As much as I think the MPC is great, I find the piano roll totally infuriating. Why can’t it just support all the gestures we are so accustomed from our mobile phone?
Taking the piano roll in iOS Garageband as an example. I can do everything efficiently without having to switch from a zoom, edit, or delete mode. There is even a way to easily select all!
The 3.0 update is nice and I personally feel it is going in a good direction. But I sure hope they revisit the basic touch interaction paradigm at some point.
People say it helps to use a stylus pen for the screen.
There’s a way to select all in 3. Is way smoother than it ever was, especially because of the ability to select all 
It sure does, but it is a bit of a crutch that puts in light how bad it actually is.
Leaving aside the issue that piano rolls aren’t great interfaces to begin with (for me, anyways) the one on the MPC really suffers from the sluggish touch screen on these devices. The piano roll in Koala on an IOS device is pretty bad (worse than the MPC one, I think) but at least it responds quickly to your touches.
How many notes are you guys messing with? I go in and do 1 or 2 if I get them wrong, otherwise I just re-record it. I get extra time playing, which is fun, more practice (because I suck), and don’t have to curse the screen.
The screen is great by the way, I’d rather lick sandpaper than use one of those old MPC’s. But that’s the beauty, everyone has something for them in the MPC realm.
Apologies for the basic question - I load up a plugin on one of my tracks and then I want to resample something I play in live. I go to the sampler page but now the pads don’t play the plugin. What am I doing wrong?
You can play pads on a plugin track from the sampler screen. Make sure the ‘Sample’ mode is selected, and adjust the octave using the bank buttons.