Same software for X and Live no?
At least, the Live is the closest, and it has been compared to Octatrack many times…
The midi control over midi tracks is fine, but the midi control over the sample tracks is really poor in my opinion. As a result I feel like the Octatrack is very much aimed at programming rather than playing. Which is literally the polar opposite of the MPC.
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Was just reading and I already contradicted people.
Point being it’s personal opinion of what you want.
Watch all the videos you can and see what you like.
OT is very playable once programmed. 
Yes, midi recording of your playing is definitely better on MPCs (overdub, linear, more poly, better quantize…).
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Yeah that is definitely a better way of putting it. Once programmed, the OT is insane at manipulating the sequence (fader, delay trig mode, live resampling).
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For me, this is really a question of workflow and how your brain works with the different workflows. I loved the concept of playing the pads of the MPC, but outside of playing patterns into it, it was a workflow my mind just didn’t gel with, so I sold my 1000.
The Octatrack workflow on the other hand just works with my convoluted head.
I tried really hard to like, learn and love the MPC but it just didn’t gel and the Octatrack does. Sorry, I’m sure that doesn’t help. 
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Ok.
So first of all I just compare the MPC X to the Octatrack.(not Live or 1000…)
Second, I watched all I could, but I nèed the experience of people working with both, as workflow goes.
For example I kind of liked TR8s up to the point of browsing, loading samples and menus diving… when I turned to Mpc Live, browsing was more friendly, but not having enough knobs and those only through different menus hated its workflow and liked more the TR8s…
…and I was thinking that if Mpc Live had all the knobs just like the Octatrack maybe would have been better… maybe… so I though then about the Mpc X… and so on.
Sorry for the long post… only to really say what I m looking for… (friendly workflow)
With external midi it’s easy to have much more knobs, different kind of controls.
You didn’t explain what do you want to do musically, much more important than knobs!
Octatrack definitely kills Mpcs for crazy live control with scenes/crossfader, experimental things, random variations, generative stuff…
For usual stuff, recent MPCs are probably better…
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How many knobs do you need to browse samples?
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If it’s knobs you want, hooking up a faderfox thing to either machine will help it a lot. If you are going to get an MPC, I’d get the X. The one & Live are the same besides CV and internal phono pre amp, battery also. But the q link assignable knob option on the Live is a joke. Track mutes + pad mutes don’t glide, & you can’t mute/unmute audio tracks in the mutes section. So you have to bounce everything to a pad and have it triggered in the grid. Then adding effects and using them live just felt the same as clicking and scrolling on a computer. Sure, you can Q link assign effect parameters. But, when you do that, you lose the ability to use the Q links on the screen you’re looking at, unless you go into the q link menu & switch it back and fourth.
Not sure if it’s the same on the X or not with all of those fancy knobs. But man the MPC was such a vibe killer for me. 
I even loved it so much I bought it twice
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I recently discovered the LIVE-software again. It’s not the best software with a not so intuitive interface (AKAI should be ashamed!!!) but connecting to the MPC and using it with real good plugins and not the AIR or stock-plugins is killer… let’s say you made a layout for a track on the LIVE - just very basic - and then you are going to the software and refine the track and do a mixdown / stems / whatever and use the achievements for further use in the MPC - or make a good prepared sample-cannon out of the MPC just for integrating into a live-set
it’s quite an interesting approach not really DAW-like and not really standalone-like — something in between, i’m trying to get my head around it, but i guess pure ITB would be easier
anyway, I wish that Elektron made a peace of SW for the OT - i would have gone deeper on the OT
I have an OT and a Live (Understand OP looking at X). They are equally awesome in such different ways.
I sold the OT MK1 for a live a while back and quickly regretted it. Not because I didn’t like the MPC, in fact I really like the Live. It was the fact that the OT spontaneous creativeness was gone.
With the Live I sit down with a plan and get to work with expected results.
With the OT I sit down with a plan and end up wherever it takes me.
Both tools to fuel the creative mind in different ways. I picked up another OT MK2 last fall, pairing the two seems like a song writers dream come true.
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Some people say: add a controller to [MPC Live] and it will be just as an [mpc x] or [Octatrack], but I doubt it, cause the Q-links knobs on [mpc x] change with the screen u r in…I don t think this can be done with an external controller.
I was wondering if you get the same degree of control with the X like with the [Octatrack]
OT main strength for control : scenes + crossfader; possible morphing of up to 250 parameters, between 2 scenes (16 scenes available per part). I don’t think any Akai thing can do that…
Otherwise it’s 6 knobs per parameter page, +Track Level…hence not direct access control (track change needed to control other tracks).
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Some guy had a jungle set on youtube. I think his name is tubedigga. He had some sort of knob per function thing plugged into his MPC one.
Learn your Akai Force, get a used OT MKI for a few hundred, learn how to use it. Done.
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Akai force doesn’t have the midi capabilities of the X I believe.
It can be done. I’ve posted links on how to do it here:
The MPC workflow and philosophy is so different to the Elektron flow that it is hard to make a valid comparison as it is primarily a matter of preferences. So I’ll share my preferences with you in the hope that it will be useful to you.
I love the idea of an MPC Live/X. I’ve owned a few MPCs before (MPC1000, MPC Studio, now MPC Live). With all MPCs though I never could shake the feeling that there’s an additional layer/wall between me and the gear that I just can’t cross. It’s a little like using a computer for me, I know what it can do and the idea of it is exciting, but when I sit in front of it I just can’t get it going.
The Elektron workflow gels MUCH better with me. I sit down on my DT, OT or A4 and I start noodling and from that emerges something that then evolves into music. To me it feels more accessible and more direct, more alive.
Part of the reason is the additional controls on Elektron gear (compared to most MPCs). So obviously it stands to reason that an MPC with the same amount of controls would be as efficient and direct as an Elektron device. So that’s where the X could be more interesting than a Live/One/1000 etc.
And if you read my post I linked here, you’ll see that I actually point exactly that out — the Live with 16 Q-Links and physical Mode buttons already feels a lot better than a Live without those controls. And the X has those controls integrated so the X will definitely be the better experience if you don’t mind being stationary and don’t mind its footprint/size.
However, it still remains subject to the MPC workflow, so in a way that’s just a limiter (or a positive — whichever way you look at it) that won’t be overcome by additional controls.
Wanna mangle a sample on a pad? go into Program Edit, use the touchscreen to select the right page, turn a knob. Wanna do it live and in real time for multiple pads in your program? Switch the q-link mode to “parameters” and map out the mangling parameters you want to use.
Wanna add some reverb? Go to Program Edit (or channel mixer — depending on where exactly you want to place the effect), use the touchscreen to select the Inserts (or Sends) page, double click on on of the four slots, select one of the reverbs available, click the edit button next to your effect, now manipulate to taste.
This is so different to the Octatrack in terms of workflow. To illustrate:
Wanna mangle a sample on a track? Press the track button you want, choose the page that contains the parameters you want to mangle, off you go.
Wanna add some reverb? Double-press the FX2 button, select the reverb you want, you’re ready to go.
Wanna do all of it at once for multiple tracks? Press and hold one of the Scene buttons, tweak all the parameters you want to tweak on all tracks you want to tweak them on, let go —then move the slider and boom.
Even just writing this out, I can FEEL the difference in immediacy and philosophy! 
So to wrap it up — if you liked the MPC Live’s workflow in general and cherish its benefits (lots of tracks, lots of pads per tracks, 4 fx per pad, 4 fx per program, 4 fx per send, very visual sample slicing & chopping, finger drumming, piano roll-based sequencer with no practical limitation to length or polyphony etc) but you didn’t like the MPC Live’s handling then the MPC X will be a definite upgrade as it removes one layer of abstraction and makes the modern MPC workflow feel more like actual hardware.
If you struggle with the MPCs underlying philosophy and workflow (like I do most of the time) and cherish the Elektron workflow, then the MPC X will be an improvement over the Live, yes, but still no match or comparison to an OT (despite its obvious feature limitations in comparison).
I was a hip hop head as a kid in the late 80s and 90s, so I’m holding on to the MPC out of a nostalgic connection and the fantasy that one day, I’ll sample an obscure vinyl and turn those chops into a sick 90s boom bap beat (which I actually don’t really listen to anymore)…but if I look at it without hope or emotion for a moment then the MPC hasn’t helped me to make music the way I best can make music (emergent, jam and discover, respond to sounds in realtime) AT ALL. The OT and DT on the other hand have been my shining stars in this regard.
Hope this helps.
PS: if you want a hybrid between some of the prominent features of the MPC (pads, visual sampling & chopping, 16 Level pitch mode) and the Octatrack (tactile sequencer, fast sample manipulation, fairly flat infrastructure) the Pioneer Toraiz SP-16 is a pretty good hybrid of those features and to me an immediate and powerful machine as well.
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Okay.
I don’t have an octatrack but have a few other Elektron beat machines , the way I look at it is that when it comes to sample mangling they are both extremely capable but how they differ is that with Elektron the mangling is lead by Elektron where with Akai the mangling is more so lead by the user…
they make a wonderful combination imho
sample mangling is really a state of mind
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