Ive owned different mpc models since 2002 (2000xl, 2500, 4k). Bought an octatrack a month ago. Getting past the learning curve by now and i love it! OT opened up a whole new approach to making music for me and all beats start in the OT at the moment.
But im keeping both machines. Main reasons for keeping my MPC - polyphony! and having all filters etc per pad. Unlimited tracks! Now i start my beats in the OT and when things grow too big, i move some to the MPC. Also i love sculpting kicks, snares and hihats in the MPC, the sound is by default fatter!
I respectfully disagree. When I owned an MPC 4000, I considered its clocking and timing to be better than anything else I’ve ever tried. The legacy MPCs had great timing, post-nuKai MPC’s however have mediocre timing.
1 Like
I do agree! Never selling my 4k! 
Has anyone tried using mpc pads to trigger and record OT samples? Is that hard to setup?
Just set / use the right notes.
With Mpc1000/2500 JJOS2XL, you can even trigger slices. Also doable with any midi controller sending notes + a midi processor.
Harder. 
1 Like
Yeah, tge MPC is a muffuggun JOKE with the recording and automation is just a theoretical tease. The mpc Live is not at all made fir creation. What it does it actually does very poorly, with a truthfully narrow scope of option. I’m very depressed I fell fir the gimmicks it is.
2 Likes
why not just sell it then? AFAIK the live holds its value OK on the 2nd hand market
2 Likes
Octatrack and push is literally sooooo much already. I wouldnt add a thing except utility stuff
sorry but i respectfully disagree. You can say it’s not a friendly jam machine as the octatrack but for creation, in the right hands, it could be as powerful as the Ableron, Logic, FL or any other musc gear
4 Likes
My problem with mpc live
Is that it doesnt amaze me.
I just push my sounds in the sewuencer
Really relaxed, good for long patterns
But it doesn’t suck me in
Octatrack has always been frustrating
Bought and sold too many times
But might be the best solution
It is inable to capture most automations, in sound creation and the fx have only one option - ON or OFF. A slide cannot be created to give moovement to the fx (although x/y touch fx can be recorded.)
Automations are mainly for flavoring sequences.
Then, also, the couple automations that can be made can only be done from a single screen setting. The implementation of the knobs is just embarrassing and vehemently sparse, even false.
The damn thing is built about triggering audio, not creating it. My conversation coukd be very different IF i had any other gear to Feed the bitch.
1 Like
Can I use this chart with the LIVE?
Yes its a sampler.Good for rearranging things,sequencing and some tweaking ect,As much as i like the OT you can just end up with an over tweaked mess.
1 Like
keep waiting, this thing needs to be developed … and AKAI didn’t finished jet
1 Like
Different users, different experiences. I had an OT and struggled to write tracks on it, every time I ended up just mangling audio, on the Live I write complete tracks, with synths, samples and fx. Sure, in standalone there is no automation editing, but at the end of the day, I can live without them, if I really need to edit something without deleting it, I pop in controller mode.
Ot and Live are 2 different things, sure both can sample and sequence but have different ‘philosophies’.
2 Likes
i second this, and by the way you can use the OT for extra long audiofiles to play
I don’t have a Live so I can’t comment on it’s functionalities but I do use both a SP16 and a Octatrack and they complement each other very well. The SP16 is very immediate, it does what it does and does it really well, the Octatrack is a construction set, like a box full of Lego bricks. Each part can be a different device (or several devices at once) and serve a different purpose. So you need to study how to use the bricks to makes devices. If I only had the Octatrack, I would definitely get a secondary sampler for immediacy, like the Live or the SP16.
1 Like
If you don’t like reading manuals, I’d argue the Octatrack maybe isn’t for you.
Is densely complex in places…you’ll get a lot of the way via you tube vids… But the manual is pretty important
1 Like
Yeah dont get an octatrack if reading a manual makes you cringe lol although id reccomend trying to overcome the desire to never have to learn because i guarantee youre using about 25% of your equipments capabilities if youre not reading their manuals
It actually mildly offends me that you are averse to learning about this stuff. Good luck!