yeah there are a lot of features I couldn’t do without that other beat machines don’t have that’s why I have mine, but there’s nothing worse than a piece of kit in front of you that you have no use for…
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I mean, if you have the space and means - they both give off very unique vibes.
In my own personal journey, I’ve come to conclusion that my computer can do all the things to make release ready tracks and I’m totally comfortable with that.
The hardware is more about a vibe, weirdness, creativity, etc. Fun if you will.
So these days I’m not looking to buy gear in the hopes it’ll help me produce tracks. I’m looking for things that are just fun to have and play with. The OT checks that box.
The MPC is super fun to make house and techno with, so, it’d check that box.
But I’ve come around to the idea that buying gear to fill a production need is pointless for me. I’d rather buy gear to play around, get super creative and see where all that can take me.
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Should I test if this is true with the MkII?
For Science?
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No need to test, pretty sure it would still be true 
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Yes and the good thing is, I’ve owned them both before and got quite a lot of music from them (even won one of those Battles on op-1 forums 
). I go through phases; I’ll play with a couple of bands and do some really good shows and then I get tired of it and just want to make music by myself. I’m back in that phase now but this time I’m not selling my sh*t.
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I’m currently comparing these two (MPC Live 2 and Octatrack), as I need something I can take with me for long distance travel.
I’ve spent a good deal of time making a “music case” for local travel, meaning that I can put it in my car and take it to our sessions. This has a DT, Argon8, computer and audio interfaces. However, I’m not comfortable shipping that or taking it on a plane.
So I realized I want something more than my computer when I’m away. I want some buttons and knobs!
I’m heavily leaning towards an Octatrack, as I love the Elektron sequencer, but I’m also impressed with what I’m seeing with the MPC Live 2.
The main things I need to do when I’m away from my home studio are:
- Sequence drums
- Record guitar (or scratch vocals)
- Add keyboard parts (bass, melodies, and chords)
- Do some lightweight arranging
- Add FX
- Explore ideas (do some weird stuff, and experiment)
- Export stems
I never thought I’d need an Octatrack, but I’m very close to ordering one. (well unless I decide an MPC would be better for the task).
Edit : I ended up pulling the trigger on an OT.
@Gino I recently bought a Octatrack. First I use it for sequencing my Iridium and Micromonsta 2, so a total of 4 midi tracks. The other tracks are for playing some drum- and audio samples. Playing live with it is so wonderful, the FX are not the best but still very usable.
The sequencer is very flexible and can give you much variation while sequencing external synths. I owned a MPC Live 1 a year ago, but I don’t get friends with it. It looks like the Elektron way suits me better.
It’s also portable enough to take it while travelling. You can even battery power it if you wish.
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Thanks Peter, that’s very helpful. I just placed the order for an OT
We’ll find out soon!
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Gino, I think you will like it! Let us know, please.
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Wasn’t hard to convince you apparently…
Spanish / Italian thing? 
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Yeah, I already had it in my cart and just had a moment where I had some second thoughts
LOL - No, I just never typed it before. OT is better
Embarrassing that I purchased one, and didn’t know how to spell it.
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Don’t worry, many people call it Octotrack even after buying it.
(I’m afraid I’ll be autocorrected by my smartphone with Octotrack now! 
)
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The title of my next full length album will be La Ottatraccia
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you’ll need a preamp if you want to record scratch vocal bits (or sample off a mic). my most lightweight setup is a Cloud Lifter being powered by a 48v phantom power supply run to my mic.
i used to be an MPC guy a long time ago, but the OT is the center of my studio and songwriting process. the new MPCs have some amazing workflow improvements (roughly chopping samples etc) that is faster than an OT, but the performance side is dominated by the OT.
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I’m currently deep diving into a MPC One, a very capable machine, actually better than I expected, my last MPC was the 2500 (w JJ) which I did not enjoy as much as the 2000xl.
A lot of the MPC frustrations are still present, lots of menu diving, lots of undocumented shortcuts, poor manual, some daft limitations, lots of workarounds.* However if you don’t want to use a computer DAW then the current crop of MPCs might be worth a look.
Very quick to come up with ideas, after you have set up your programs (which makes setting tracks up on OT look quick and easy)
The sequencer is very basic, nothing wrong with it though, similar to any older sequencer like Cubase on the Atari for example. But no stuff like trig conditions, different meters etc, editing sequences at single event level is nowhere near as fast as Elektron.
But, it does have some great sequence editing for things like removing just a particular event across a range of bars etc. The step sequencer is ok, a bit long winded to do parameter automation, you first have to menu dive down a few layers to add an assignment for example, god forbid if you want a few lanes of automation using this method. You can do it in the regular sequencer in realtime, then edit in the step sequencer though, which saves a bit of the hassle.
The touchscreen is pretty bad, a bit like a ATM, but does get better with use, and for a lot of things you can just poke it the adjust with the value dial or q-links.
I think that for people who want to get right under the hood the MPC offers quite a bit, it seems that most MPC users just want to chop up some loops, lay them across the pads and have that quick classic MPC workflow, I think if that were me I’d go for an older MPC, which is more limited but also more focussed. Not to say in the least that you can’t use the modern ones like this though.
I think the Octatrack once mastered is more direct, more limited, involves the use of workarounds* also, is far more hands on. Sound quality is great on both, no real difference although I think OT filter and eq’s are better for me, MPC does have some interesting and nice fx, and a lot of not so great ones.
Also consider the free MPC beats software, it takes a bit of getting used to but offers pretty much most of the stuff the MPC hardware does but with a bit more precision for editing sequences using the mouse, that coupled with the OT offers the best of both worlds I think, you can easily export samples between them and use the MPC beats to record OT into.
All in all though I think the MPC One is very good value for money, if you like lots of built in sounds (I personally don’t, but they are easy enough to ignore) then you will probably be very happy with it.
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concur on much of that, however if what you’re into is the sample content or plugins I’d buy something else… those are the only things on the mpc I don’t use… but if you wanna get hands on and have 4 different layers of a break assigned to different velocities under each pad , there’s a lot of creative fun to be had in triggering stuff like that in various ways… just so many ways to do things on them.
I am not a fan of the FX, but when you can stack them in different ways and freeze them I can’t complain too much, that feature alone is worth buying a beatmachine for… but I run the mpc through a plethora of pedals and you can still stack and freeze…
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Surprised that you think the MPC One sequencer is “very basic”. I think that it is a lot more powerful than the Elektron sequencers and it can definitely do do different meters, simply change the time signature.
Basic in the sense that it has no more modern things like scale division, trig conditions, percentage etc. Yeah it can do different time signatures and so on, and you can fake trig conditions by using programs with layers/empty samples etc, it isn’t a big negative IMHO but something to be aware of if coming from an Elektron sequencer - which of course have their own limitations also.
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Well, in comparison to Elektron sequencers the MPC One sequencer offers:
More tracks with 7 different track types.
Track length can be anywhere between 1 beat and 999 bars long
Much higher resolution (96 trigs per bar).
Variable grid size (scale division?) and support for different time signatures.
The play-head can be freely moved and a loop can be set between any two bars
Allows punch-in, punch-out and over dub recording.
Bars can be freely deleted, copied and inserted
Grid, piano roll and list editors
Patterns can be imported and exported.
A range of timing correct options.
Tracks can be grouped, exploded and bounced to sample or an audio track.
Events can be split, pitch quantized, humanized and randomly generated.
Track mute and solo events can be recorded.
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