I have (and love) an MPC 1000 for the following two things:
recording real-time midi sequences and controlling multiple hardware synths
recording samples (eg. live guitar, records) and chopping them up (not too crazy glitchy stuff and not too effected)
Is there any reason for me to get an OT? I think the OT would be much better for glitchy stuff / effects but the downside seems to be menu-diving. The MPC is super simple and fast for live sampling, the OT maybe not so easy?
If you love your MPC and are satisfied with everything, there might be better sinkholes for your money than an OT.
It does sequence synths very well (though in a bit different way than an MPC), and sampling, chopping the samples and creating new things with them is very good as well.
They’re different, and more importantly have a different idea of what realtime is (and both equally valid).
They can both record samples and MIDI. The Octatrack’s sampling is more complex (but with the ability to sequence recording, more powerful) but there are certain MIDI sequences that the Octatrack cannot record (e.g. 5 overlapping notes on one track).
The Octatrack allows much more editing while the sequence is playing, which is why it’s associated with a glitchy style I guess? Menu diving is about the same in both machines in my experience.
For the specific items you asked about:
recording real-time midi sequences and controlling multiple hardware synths
Totally possible on the Octatrack, and in practice you probably won’t run into the limitations of the sequencer if you’re making hip hop or most kinds of electronic music.
recording samples (eg. live guitar, records) and chopping them up (not too crazy glitchy stuff and not too effected)
Totally possible, I personally way prefer the Octatrack’s implementation as it can take care of starting the sampling in time, and because of the way it works it can be set up in such a way that it is immediately chopped up and starts playing. If you’re happy with the MPC’s recording then this probably isn’t as big a sell for you, but it’s certainly not as intuitive at first.
One basic question - can you (like on the MPC) plug in your source sound to the inputs and simply press a ‘record’ and ‘stop’ button to record real-time, with minimal menu-diving, and without having to insert trigs or have the sequencer running? I really dislike the way the sampling works on the MD.
Sampling can be quick, but won’t be as immediate as it is on the MPC… there will be some light menu navigation (not diving lol) and setup to do at a point…
…they layout of the octatrack is a planet of it’s own…
and once you learn to dance on it, it’s pretty straight forward touchiness…
same with the mpc, which is in fact way more menue diving in first place…
remember your first steps with the mpc…pretty much the same, end of the day…
really…
and they make a good couple…
and the ot sounds better…and whatever you do with jjos on a mpc, if it comes to the planet of glitch, the ot is way beyond…
but the mpc does exactly those things i miss on the ot…
so, if it’s one or the other…stay with the good, old and never made better mpc concept…
but if you’re a sampler guy and wanna go beyond…the ot is your perfect match to add on…
Polyphony and the midi sequencer is the strong point for the MPC. when i first got the Octatrack I didn’t like the idea of only 8 voices, if I wanted to make a drum kit for instance, you need to either put a hit on each of the eight channels,or record the hits in to one track and then slice it and trigger it from the slice trigger page. You can do so much with the 32 voices of the MPC.
and velocity layered samples you can make really expressive kits.
I wouldn’t Try to replace an MPC with an Octatrack.
It’s just not the same.