Akai MPC Live
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Akai MPC Live
youtu.be/2IhSmq4WDMU
Weirdly not discussed on Subsekt.
Akai getting back to what they do best.
Sampler with pretty much unlimited sample channels
DAW style sound editing, piano roll sequencing, step sequencing
midi sequencing, fx on every channel, rock solid midi.
Fantastic for live but great as a Music Production Centre, DAW in a box basically.
Pads are lovely, super responsive and expressive.
So far I`m loving mine to bits, the OS is still in beta and lots of additions are coming, but this is the perfect hub for my live PA (though I am starting to make tunes with it too).
Game changing MPC...
Some practical usage
youtu.be/VPZZNiUDiC0
Weirdly not discussed on Subsekt.
Akai getting back to what they do best.
Sampler with pretty much unlimited sample channels
DAW style sound editing, piano roll sequencing, step sequencing
midi sequencing, fx on every channel, rock solid midi.
Fantastic for live but great as a Music Production Centre, DAW in a box basically.
Pads are lovely, super responsive and expressive.
So far I`m loving mine to bits, the OS is still in beta and lots of additions are coming, but this is the perfect hub for my live PA (though I am starting to make tunes with it too).
Game changing MPC...
Some practical usage
youtu.be/VPZZNiUDiC0
Re: Akai MPC Live
I haven't looked at any videos yet but it does seem like a beast. Been using an Octatrack for about a year and I'm still discovering new things on it, and I usually wait for a few months before buying anything new but this would be top of my list.
How would you say it compares to the Octatrack or is it a bit more different that it seems at first glance? The one thing I love about the Octatrack is it's sound mangling capacity, you can completely rip up a sound very easily, would be interested to see if this can do similar.
Interested to find out how the effects sound too, I find the effects on the Octarack a bit bland, I didn't really care too for them too much at first but it's always a nice addition to have good quality effects.
For what the MPC Live can do though it seems to be decent enough value.
How would you say it compares to the Octatrack or is it a bit more different that it seems at first glance? The one thing I love about the Octatrack is it's sound mangling capacity, you can completely rip up a sound very easily, would be interested to see if this can do similar.
Interested to find out how the effects sound too, I find the effects on the Octarack a bit bland, I didn't really care too for them too much at first but it's always a nice addition to have good quality effects.
For what the MPC Live can do though it seems to be decent enough value.
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
SixOfOne wrote:I haven't looked at any videos yet but it does seem like a beast. Been using an Octatrack for about a year and I'm still discovering new things on it, and I usually wait for a few months before buying anything new but this would be top of my list.
How would you say it compares to the Octatrack or is it a bit more different that it seems at first glance? The one thing I love about the Octatrack is it's sound mangling capacity, you can completely rip up a sound very easily, would be interested to see if this can do similar.
Interested to find out how the effects sound too, I find the effects on the Octatrack a bit bland, I didn't really care too for them too much at first but it's always a nice addition to have good quality effects.
For what the MPC Live can do though it seems to be decent enough value.
Been asked this a few times.
The short easy answer is don`t compare them, they do very different things.
Octatrack is a great sample mangling super creative device with wonderful Elektron sequencing and all that entails.
MPC Live is a very modern MPC, designed to be a hub, so the sequencing is amazing, sequencing external stuff with the Octa (chords!!) is not so great, with the MPC it`s a joy. Unlimited sample tracks (as opposed to Octa`s 8). The sampler editing is great, but mostly what you would expect in a DAW, rather than the madness of Octatrack.
The interface is super super intuitive and very easy to use. Pads are great for banging out beats and launching clips and so forth. The fx are effective, and you get a lot more and can use a lot more at any one time than the octa, but they are workaday tools. You can run in MPC legacy mode so your samples will have the sound of various old MPC`s. If anything you could say the MPC Live is like an Elektron Digitwat, but a gazillion times more powerful and user friendly.
So they really aren`t aimed at doing the same thing. Ideally have both.
Re: Akai MPC Live
Woah, that looks like the thing I always wanted after selling my 2000xl.. That big dislplay and concept looks really good. Damn, GAS.
- g3_d9
- Unfriended
- Posts: 34
- Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 4:16 pm
- Location: https://www.instagram.com/g3.d9/
- Contact:
Re: Akai MPC Live
Had a short play with the MPC Live, though only in store.
Felt quite like a windows surface machine and a pad controler squeezed into a fairly sturdy case.
Played with the Elektron Digitakt on the same store visit and far prefered that.
The clicky buttons and layout of the Digitakt felt more conducive to techno creation than the traditional style MPC pads which have always seemed better suited to Hip Hop production and techniques such as 'finger drumming'.
The menu navigation and UI on the Elektron also appealed more to me than the MPC Live(s) touch interface.
Felt quite like a windows surface machine and a pad controler squeezed into a fairly sturdy case.
Played with the Elektron Digitakt on the same store visit and far prefered that.
The clicky buttons and layout of the Digitakt felt more conducive to techno creation than the traditional style MPC pads which have always seemed better suited to Hip Hop production and techniques such as 'finger drumming'.
The menu navigation and UI on the Elektron also appealed more to me than the MPC Live(s) touch interface.
"The sad thing about artificial intelligence is that it lacks artifice and therefore intelligence" -
Jean Baudrillard.
Jean Baudrillard.
Re: Akai MPC Live
Cheers for the insight, had a quick look at the videos and it does seem very intuitive. The screen looks to be a nice size too, compared to the tiny fucking thing on the Octa.Lost to the Void wrote:SixOfOne wrote:I haven't looked at any videos yet but it does seem like a beast. Been using an Octatrack for about a year and I'm still discovering new things on it, and I usually wait for a few months before buying anything new but this would be top of my list.
How would you say it compares to the Octatrack or is it a bit more different that it seems at first glance? The one thing I love about the Octatrack is it's sound mangling capacity, you can completely rip up a sound very easily, would be interested to see if this can do similar.
Interested to find out how the effects sound too, I find the effects on the Octatrack a bit bland, I didn't really care too for them too much at first but it's always a nice addition to have good quality effects.
For what the MPC Live can do though it seems to be decent enough value.
Been asked this a few times.
The short easy answer is don`t compare them, they do very different things.
Octatrack is a great sample mangling super creative device with wonderful Elektron sequencing and all that entails.
MPC Live is a very modern MPC, designed to be a hub, so the sequencing is amazing, sequencing external stuff with the Octa (chords!!) is not so great, with the MPC it`s a joy. Unlimited sample tracks (as opposed to Octa`s 8). The sampler editing is great, but mostly what you would expect in a DAW, rather than the madness of Octatrack.
The interface is super super intuitive and very easy to use. Pads are great for banging out beats and launching clips and so forth. The fx are effective, and you get a lot more and can use a lot more at any one time than the octa, but they are workaday tools. You can run in MPC legacy mode so your samples will have the sound of various old MPC`s. If anything you could say the MPC Live is like an Elektron Digitwat, but a gazillion times more powerful and user friendly.
So they really aren`t aimed at doing the same thing. Ideally have both.
Unlimited channels would be sweet to have on a machine too. Hopefully I'll be able to add this to my setup over the next few months!
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
I've had it for a month, "feels" nothing like a windows machine, though I'm not sure what that even means. It responds instantly to anything you do.
Menu system and gui for sequencing is just sooooo nice and easy, especially for sequencing external gear, literally could not think of a better, more user friendly hardware sequencer for driving midi gear, no punching random unrelated buttons and then fucking about with dials trying to find each note.... all the notes are there for you to see, just tap them in and Shazam, bassline, chord progression, whatever, done in an instant.. Zipping around this getting tunes made pretty quickly now. Installed a nice big SSD the other day, very easy to do, took 2 mins and now I have 500gb storage on board.
The manual is a tome though, so much going on with this machine... Clip mode is ableton-ish which will probably be how I use it live mostly.
Full recommend this box, my best hardware buy for a long time.
Menu system and gui for sequencing is just sooooo nice and easy, especially for sequencing external gear, literally could not think of a better, more user friendly hardware sequencer for driving midi gear, no punching random unrelated buttons and then fucking about with dials trying to find each note.... all the notes are there for you to see, just tap them in and Shazam, bassline, chord progression, whatever, done in an instant.. Zipping around this getting tunes made pretty quickly now. Installed a nice big SSD the other day, very easy to do, took 2 mins and now I have 500gb storage on board.
The manual is a tome though, so much going on with this machine... Clip mode is ableton-ish which will probably be how I use it live mostly.
Full recommend this box, my best hardware buy for a long time.
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
Not entirely unlimited. 64 note stereo sample polyphony, but... Near enough.SixOfOne wrote:
Unlimited channels would be sweet to have on a machine too. Hopefully I'll be able to add this to my setup over the next few months!
Apparently the first major update is coming very soon, there are a lot more features people have requested so hopefully some of the ones I want will be in that update.
I'll shoot some video soon of implementation.
Re: Akai MPC Live
Looks great fun.
On a workflow regard - how do you go about mixing and applying effects? Do you have to compose dry then apply bus processing afterwards?
On a workflow regard - how do you go about mixing and applying effects? Do you have to compose dry then apply bus processing afterwards?
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
FX can be applied per sound or pad or kit.
Obviously it`s not a full DAW so you don`t get multiple busses (yet, the software is still in development, this could be added).
Obviously it`s not a full DAW so you don`t get multiple busses (yet, the software is still in development, this could be added).
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
As the MPC live is portable (4 hour battery life) and has great converters, you can use it as a field recorder of sorts.
youtu.be/fgg6KLI0_6M
youtu.be/fgg6KLI0_6M
- terryfalafel
- Component
- Posts: 876
- Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:56 pm
- Location: Amsterdam
Re: Akai MPC Live
Hi LTTV,
Since you own one of these, I wonder if you can answer a question...
I'm considering buying this with 10% off today, but I can't see reliable information about whether it's possible to bring the sample tracks in MPC Live into your DAW over the usb connection (like Overbridge in the Elektron world).
If it's possible, is there a limit to how many channels can go over USB?
This works so well with the rytm, but I'm realising more and more that the rytm just ain't for me. But I don't want to use inputs on my audio interface to get the sound out of the MPC Live and into Cubase...
Since you own one of these, I wonder if you can answer a question...
I'm considering buying this with 10% off today, but I can't see reliable information about whether it's possible to bring the sample tracks in MPC Live into your DAW over the usb connection (like Overbridge in the Elektron world).
If it's possible, is there a limit to how many channels can go over USB?
This works so well with the rytm, but I'm realising more and more that the rytm just ain't for me. But I don't want to use inputs on my audio interface to get the sound out of the MPC Live and into Cubase...
- terryfalafel
- Component
- Posts: 876
- Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:56 pm
- Location: Amsterdam
Re: Akai MPC Live
Currently looking at ditching my Octa for an MPC Touch since I don't need the mobility anyway. I can't find anything online about a legacy mode though. Are you referring to some of the effects that emulate vintage samplers like Resampler?Lost to the Void wrote:You can run in MPC legacy mode so your samples will have the sound of various old MPC`s.
Edit: Nvm, it's called Vintage Mode. Too bad there are only four emulations available.
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
That's right vintage mode runs old legacy emulations.
It does the 3000, the 60, and 2 modes of sp1200
I like the 60.
There is possibility of further modes with firmware updates.
It does the 3000, the 60, and 2 modes of sp1200
I like the 60.
There is possibility of further modes with firmware updates.
Re: Akai MPC Live
Anybody has experience with the MPC X?
It seems like that unit has more dedicated controls so I should have a better interface and workflow.
Did anyone tested/compared both units?
It seems like that unit has more dedicated controls so I should have a better interface and workflow.
Did anyone tested/compared both units?
- Lost to the Void
- subsekt
- Posts: 13518
- Joined: Sat Feb 18, 2012 1:31 pm
Re: Akai MPC Live
I was thinking about getting one for production, spoke to an owner at the weekend and the conclusion I came to is to wait as there are still some teething troubles with the X. They are updating and sorting things out quickly, but it's not 100% stable.
MPC live has had longer to iron out the creases, and runs better.
Workflow for both units is the same, same OS.
MPC live has had longer to iron out the creases, and runs better.
Workflow for both units is the same, same OS.
Re: Akai MPC Live
Ah man, that piano roll... Would kill to have that on the octatrack.
Website: www.stevenmcfarlane.design
Instagram: @stevenmcfarlanedesign
Instagram: @stevenmcfarlanedesign
- nomadjames
- mummy!!
- Posts: 611
- Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:30 pm
- Location: Pittsburgh
- Contact:
Re: Akai MPC Live
Didn't they just introduce Ableton Link to these?
www.soundcloud.com/nomadjames
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." - Hunter S. Thompson
www.nomadjames.com
Pittsburgh Ableton
www.facebook.com/groups/558333351022659
"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." - Hunter S. Thompson
www.nomadjames.com
Pittsburgh Ableton
www.facebook.com/groups/558333351022659