My choice is Octatrack + Mpc. 
2 Likes
Iām going to try that eventually because it seems like a really good combination, but since Iām mainly working on stuff I plan to play live the MPC2000xl is to bulky for me to lug around along with the OT, Anshri, CZ101 and cables. If I was going to do OT + MPC Iād do it like your photo and use only those two things with nothing else, but thatās something for the future. Just based on my experience with each of them separately, though, they really do seem to complement each other well (also I actually really like sample editing on the 2kxl).
I bet you can get a really god workflow down by building beats in the MPC and then sampling them as loops in the OT.
Personally I have no interest in the MPC Live, the last MPC that was interesting to me was the 4000 (although I never got to try one).
EDIT: as someone who has used the 2kxl for almost a decade the statement about MPC sound quality in that video is pretty unny. Donāt get me wrong, I love the way the 2000/2000xl sound but I wouldnāt call them āgoodā in the way he means. Theyāre really colored, if Iām not mistaken the well known āpunchā of that particular generation comes from an OS bug where even with the filter resonance at zero and the cutoff at full thereās still some resonance thatās giving you a bit of a high boost and tightening up the bass a bit (and the filter quality is, letās call it āfunctionalā), and the effects on the expansion board are completely wretched sounding (but in a way I like). What makes it good is the overall workflow and the pads. My god, the pads. Although even those double trigger like crazy until you spend some time practicing with them and getting a feel for them, so itās debatable whether theyāre really objectively āgoodā in terms of function - theyāre just really expressive once you get a feel for them. I imagine the 3000 is better in all aspects but the only 3000 Iāve had my hands on didnāt have a boot disk so I couldnāt use it, just poke at the pads and buttons and get an idea of how they felt. I definitely wouldnāt say that an MPC 2000 or 1000 sounds better than an Octatrack though, just different, and from a standpoint of fidelity the OT is way ahead of the 2000xl.
But I absolutely love the 2kxl and Iād never sell it, itās one of the few pieces of gear I plan to keep until either it or I break beyond repair.
Thanks I prefer the MPC Live to OT MK2. But, bboth can do things that the other canāt.
However, in my experience, one can do a lot more and connect to a computer if you choose to go that route on any given day. I like that flexibility.
2 Likes
Had an mpc1k for Years, it s really slow to load, the 128 mb samplesā¦ Sample manipulation is anoying, a bit c64 styleā¦ ;), jjos is the best, pads, thick pads, are great! Now w ot it s another game. Stream the flow out of the stuff while realtime random slicing und p locks on the fly, ot is far better hardware than mpc, much! Better support! The ot architecture is much more advanced. Serious stuff. Mpc is more suited for only beatz. Ot is the experimental eldoradoā¦ And a sort of suiss music knife, looper, player, sampler, remixer etcā¦
2 Likes
Ryan
52
Also longer patterns. Composition by time signature. Alterable time signature.
Donāt mind me, tho. Iām just experience remorse for selling my MPC 2500
2 Likes
Board and Octatrack can NEVER live in the same sentence.
I went from an MOC to an OT. And now two OTās to do my bidding.
You do the Math with that info!
Good luck!
Quoted because this is simply not the case, it just illustrates that you do not understand the Octatrack, the record buffers are totally independent from the tracks unless you assign the record buffers to the tracks. So if you understand this, you would see that as well as having 8 tracks running, you could resample 8 separate things at the same time, from almost any combination of cue, main, individual track, or any of the 4 inputs. Also you can sample more than 4 bars, FYI 
11 Likes
apmbpm
55
Hmmmm. I guess itās not for you then.
Thereās such a wide variety of so many things in the world; I hope you donāt whine this much about all of the ones that donāt work for you. Youād lose half your life to typing negative remarks on forums and suchlike. 
1 Like
How is that going for you?
No, it really is a bitch to learn for some people, including myself. But itās worth every minute, and not just for masochists.
I never had an MPC, but I quite like the ergonomics of the OT. It seems like it was designed to two handed play with a right hand bias. I just love setting up scenes and playing the crossfader while muting and unmuting parts or triggering slices in real time. It feels like a true instrument.
I didn t want to start another topic so I ll leave it here:
Octatrack vs MPC Xā¦ what would be the pros and cons comparing to each other?
Thanks!
Maybe enough informations in the topic imho!
The MPC LIVE is pretty similar to X.
Personal subjective sum up :
The MPC X is huge, heavy, and uggly.
Octatrack is magic.
I had MPC1000, kept an MPC500.
OT MK2 + MPC Live Killer combo! - #28 by Purusha
2 Likes
blaize
60
MPC X
pro : Itās an MPC !
con : Itās not an Octatrack
Octatrack
pro : Man, itās OCTATRACK
con : No, itās OCTATRACK
Hope itās help
9 Likes
Not really.
In the control department very differentā¦
1 Like
Kuro
63
What do you wanna do with this new piece of gear?
Wanna mangle in real time, live sample, do fun stuff with a crossfader, program a cool step sequencer? Then itās OT time.
Wanna play your stuff with nice pads, record it as is, send midi everywhere? MPC is your buddy.
5 Likes
Norb
64
I had both an MPC live and the OT. Didnāt really gel with either.
MPC has these lovely playable pads, tied to dozens of menu screens with multiple pages each and itās just such a workflow killer.
Octatrack has a super nice tactile interface but it really doesnāt feel that playable. Even with 1.40 the midi in is a chore to set up and doesnāt even record note length.
MPC if youre about playing stuff in live, OT if you prefer programming sequences instead of playing them. I personally like a mix of both and much prefer the Rytm and MC-707.
Also consider the Polyend Tracker. You lack the multiple ins and outs and recorder buffer tricks, but itās otherwise better if you ask me. Nicer interface, better sequencer. Less than half the price too.
2 Likes
I donāt know what you mean by this. The midi is very clear and simple to set up, you just assign a midi channel to a track and you are in business. I just double checked, you definitely can record midi notes of varying lengths. I have come to enjoy playing the trig keys as a keyboard, but itās also very easy to set an auto channel and use an external midi keyboard and have the OT act as a midi router.
I do not have a deep understanding of the midi features, because they quickly can become a chore. But even with my lazy disposition, I find midi set up to be easy enough to do once per project or save as a template.
4 Likes
Had the MPC Live & One with a total of about 2 years. I learned everything I could & tried to use it for genres itās not specified for. I really had to fight with the box to get it to do anything I wanted.
Maybe the X is better because it has more macros.
I feel the Elektron flow is way more exciting and live"ish" than the new MPC series.
Iāve seen people say the complete opposite though.
It completely depends on what youāre trying to do with the device.
