The whole Push/Maschine (is Maschine dead now?) thing seems really cheesy to me. I don’t have any skin in the DAW game, though.
Push 2 is great but its not competing with the OT in terms of instant sample manipulation. I have both and use them together. I’m seriously thinking in investing in the Novation Launch Control XL to control the OT with faders and constant access to mutes and fx sends. Push 2 is great and I’m happy to have it but if I’m doing a live gig, I have the black and silver trinity! MD,OT and AR. The Push 2 will stay at home in the studio.
Definitely.
I have no interest in taking Push 2 out on a stage.
Well, I’m one of these people using ancient samplers and I don’t feel stuck in the ravages of time. 
I’m sure you meant that as an offhand remark, but a sampler, for me, is about sound. Nothing else. This includes the artifacts created when pitch shifting.
I can’t replicate the sound of a vocal at 20 Khz on an Emax, for example, I just can’t. And it fits into my music perfectly.
I treat hardware samplers as color boxes, and magical outcome boxes. The OT, too, has a color, and I’ve grown to like it.
Having said that, I’m pretty interested in a new laptop + Push 2 set up. I’m not lacking color at the moment, I’m lacking DAW ergonomic ease.
Well, I’m one of these people using ancient samplers and I don’t feel stuck in the ravages of time.
I’m sure you meant that as an offhand remark, but a sampler, for me, is about sound. Nothing else. This includes the artifacts created when pitch shifting.
I can’t replicate the sound of a vocal at 20 Khz on an Emax, for example, I just can’t. And it fits into my music perfectly.
I treat hardware samplers as color boxes, and magical outcome boxes. The OT, too, has a color, and I’ve grown to like it.
Having said that, I’m pretty interested in a new laptop + Push 2 set up. I’m not lacking color at the moment, I’m lacking DAW ergonomic ease.[/quote]
Nothing beats hardware mojo!! The push 2 is another tool for studio not a studio replacment!
I agree.
In fact, I think I wrote that…
FYI everyone, Here’s the cable lead extension you’ll want for your Push 2 if you don’t have a power outlet 3 feet away from it.
Also, Kotare… you seen the Strymon Deco yet? Seems right in line with your lust for tone, and as a bonus it can do stereo. Has a few secondary trim and stereo controls as well.
Also the EHX LPB 2ube looks up your alley. 
Well said. After abandoning Live for an all-in-the-OT set-up; Im going back to using the two in a hybrid approach, at least in the studio.
And the two years I’ve invested into learning the deep mysteries of the OT have made using Live a much easier experience for me.
The two really compliment each other quite nice
Yes I was reinforcing you stance. lol I wouldn’t recomend anyone selling off their gear to get a Push 2. That being said the Push 2 is awesome!
Hi Adam. It totally would be, but I’ve got a H3000 here that gets a lot of use.
For tube I use a Sebatron VMP 4000e which is 4 channels, I swapped out two stock tubes for vintage Mullards to have slightly different tone options. The benefit of the 4 inputs is big, 4 RYTM outputs etc…, but I can also reamp a mono drum output 4 TIMES in series…
I miss iron preamps badly and would love another Great River pre but, you know, it doesn’t hold me back, that’s just being picky.
Now, if I was starting again on a smaller budget, those two options you mentioned would be well considered!
On a side note, I think that the Klangheim MJUC compressor is really REALLY good at creating an authentic color and I recommend it at its tiny price point… best VST comp of this kind that I’ve worked with. 
Yes I was reinforcing you stance. lol I wouldn’t recomend anyone selling off their gear to get a Push 2. That being said the Push 2 is awesome! [/quote]
No worries bro.
Sadly, I think I’ll be that guy who sells off an 808 and buys a new laptop and a Push controller… I wince when I hear those stories, but if the gear isn’t giving you a horn then you should pass it on?
For me, I just need something that makes it easier to complete projects quicker, and that’s my big focus at the moment.
The included power cable is that short? Why not a regular power extension cord instead? Mine hasn’t arrived yet, so maybe the cable looks different from what I’m imagining.
2 years from now if anyone wants to sell their Push 2 for $75, holler at me.
[quote=““Libertine Lush””]
[quote=“AdamJay”]FYI everyone, Here’s the cable lead extension you’ll want for your Push 2 if you don’t have a power outlet 3 feet away from it.
[/quote]
The included power cable is that short? Why not a regular power extension cord instead? Mine hasn’t arrived yet, so maybe the cable looks different from what I’m imagining.[/quote]
This extension just makes that small lead longer, and is more portable when folded up for travel.
Never tried push/Maschine but looking at push 2 with an open mind I don’t see how anyone could have beef with the work flow/creative potential compared to something like OT. I reckon I could do almost everything I do on OT on Push in half the time/tedium. + it has polyphony + better fx with 3rd party plugs + saveable/recallable presets across projects + it’ll be easy to mix/finish songs/ideas. Kinda resent paying so much for a controller but it is what it is and it’s the end product (finished songs…) that count…I’ll hopefully be able to afford to keep OT to use at shows… Not in to using laptop outside of studio.
I would like to add to the debate one more concern: reliability. I just feel more confident that my Octatrack & other stuff won’t crash, won’t jitter, won’t do anything unexpected. Of course, there can be problems. But the software is more simple than a general purpose operating system, less things can go wrong.
Ableton is pretty stable when just launching clips and working the effects. Its when using soft synths things get dicey for my laptop.
And then Spotlight indexing kicks in…
(okay, the trivial answer for this last one is to turn it off, but my point is, computers are complicated, a lot of unexpected things can happen)
Agreed. I wouldn’t use push/laptop at shows due to laptop paranoia. Though in honesty I’ve had more glitches/freezes with my OT than I ever have with ableton. But I’ve learned what to avoid on OT now (for example auditioning flex track default slot samples while sequencer is running etc. This is fixed in recent update but that update apparently caused other bugs so I haven’t made the switch yet) and OT seems stable enough to do shows with so I’ll try to keep hold of mine for that reason and sofa jams/studio instrument etc. But For studio sequencing/sampling and composition it looks like Push 2 beats it in most areas of my work flow.
One of these companies really needs to make a unit that nails both sides and can do standalone as well as it does daw integration and easily switch between the two. Everyone would be happy then and they’d sell a ton. Possibly something like the new Microsoft surface books. So when it’s attached to ableton/daw it uses the extra computer CPU. But then there’s also CPU inside the hardware that allows for you to use it standalone. Maybe some kind of one-click ‘freeze as necessary for standalone’ save option for projects. So all soft synths and audio fx tracks were frozen to reduce CPU requirements and enable the project to be played standalone at shows or for sofa jamming etc. Would take some fine tuning and a lot of planning but it seems like no company is going to put full laptop power inside hardware due to the cost/limiting target market. Maybe there’s a compromise somewhere that would work…
Edit
Pie in the sky but as digital continues to push certain boundaries I wonder if well ever see hardware with CPU options? Would be a way for companies to target all of the market. For example an Octatrack that was available with 3 different processors. Similar to the Macbook/laptop pricing structure. So you have an i3 model, i5 model, i7 model. Possibly increased ram in each model etc too. Track count and fx options etc increasing with each model. And possibly user upgradeable. Probably a nonsense idea. Just seems like companies panic about limiting they’re target market by making anything super powerful/expensive… maybe in future they’ll look at this kind of strategy…