New standalone MPC(s)

[Ill Green]

wow
ill wait for your critic

So far, its pretty dope, I never used the Touch or the software for that matter, so you can believe me I was blown away just exploring the machine. Its filthy rich in features for a standalone even though it cannot use vsts or plugins but its got over 50+ effects, option to sound like an MPC3000, SP1200 or MPC60 and the XY axis effect which automates parameters by drawing your finger on the screen, its crazy stuff, but I haven't made a beat yet, I will as soon I understand it Tons of stuff I need catching up, its easy though, just need to know the new lingo.

[ellaguru]

, option to sound like an MPC3000, SP1200 or MPC60 and the XY axis effect which automates parameters by drawing your finger on the screen,

wow, that alone, yet....
so it has very good converters and nice algorythms...

its crazy stuff, but I haven't made a beat yet, I will as soon I understand it Tons of stuff I need catching up, its easy though, just need to know the new lingo.

: ))

[Chess]

Hey Ill Green, can you comment on any included virtual instruments or samples that come loaded on the machine?

Are there lots of instrument sounds you can play with a midi keyboard hooked up?

While I'm interested in this unit myself, I'm asking for a friend who really liked the numerous sounds that came with his old Roland MV-8000.

Thanks a lot if you can help here.

[Saint James]

It looks incredible -

[Ill Green]

, option to sound like an MPC3000, SP1200 or MPC60 and the XY axis effect which automates parameters by drawing your finger on the screen,

wow, that alone, yet....
so it has very good converters and nice algorythms...

its crazy stuff, but I haven't made a beat yet, I will as soon I understand it Tons of stuff I need catching up, its easy though, just need to know the new lingo.

: ))

Converters sound crystal clear. Different than the old 1k and 500.Or maybe an upgrade since then. It very quiet too.

Hey Ill Green, can you comment on any included virtual instruments or samples that come loaded on the machine?

Are there lots of instrument sounds you can play with a midi keyboard hooked up?

While I'm interested in this unit myself, I'm asking for a friend who really liked the numerous sounds that came with his old Roland MV-8000.

Thanks a lot if you can help here.

I spent a whole night browsing through the included sounds, there are a lot of stuff to get busy out the box. From one shot drum kits to long melodic tunes to chop up. I did take a piano sound and played the chords on the pads. It is possible to connect a MIDI keyboard straight to the MPC Live and play those sounds as well, even a USB controller. Qlinks however cannot be assigned on 3rd party controllers unless it says MPC.

[BruteCoan]

Congrats. Looking forward to hearing from your experience.

[Chess]

Hey Ill Green, can you comment on any included virtual instruments or samples that come loaded on the machine?

Are there lots of instrument sounds you can play with a midi keyboard hooked up?

While I'm interested in this unit myself, I'm asking for a friend who really liked the numerous sounds that came with his old Roland MV-8000.

Thanks a lot if you can help here.

I spent a whole night browsing through the included sounds, there are a lot of stuff to get busy out the box. From one shot drum kits to long melodic tunes to chop up. I did take a piano sound and played the chords on the pads. It is possible to connect a MIDI keyboard straight to the MPC Live and play those sounds as well, even a USB controller. Qlinks however cannot be assigned on 3rd party controllers unless it says MPC.[/quote]

Thanks, Ill Green!

You mentioned "long melodic tunes" that you can chop up. Just curious now - does it have actual instrument patches, like virtual instruments, similar to a voice on a synthesizer or something? I hope I'm making sense. Like can you select an instrument sound from a list (Example, "Muted trumpet") and then start playing the various notes of that instrument either on the pads or a connected midi keyboard? not necessarily a chopped sample of a pre-recorded phrase. Does that make sense what I'm asking? If so, is there a lot of these instruments on board or more just a large collection of other samples that you can chop and rearrange, etc.?

Thanks again. A lot. I couldn't find answers to this question anywhere and its not in any reviews I could find online.

[Headphones]

Keep us updated on what you find are it's strengths or weaknesses. Is it making you feel you no longer need other gear in your studio or is it just a DAW with pads? Have you sampled some wax on it yet? (Or CDs/mp3s) Is there anything you noticed they forgot to include?

[Ill Green]

Thanks, Ill Green!

You mentioned "long melodic tunes" that you can chop up. Just curious now - does it have actual instrument patches, like virtual instruments, similar to a voice on a synthesizer or something? I hope I'm making sense. Like can you select an instrument sound from a list (Example, "Muted trumpet") and then start playing the various notes of that instrument either on the pads or a connected midi keyboard? not necessarily a chopped sample of a pre-recorded phrase. Does that make sense what I'm asking? If so, is there a lot of these instruments on board or more just a large collection of other samples that you can chop and rearrange, etc.?

Thanks again. A lot. I couldn't find answers to this question anywhere and its not in any reviews I could find online.

Your welcome

Long melodic tunes are actually long samples. Some are like stems to layer and mix and match yourself. Some are like 15 sec. long.

I think I know what you mean and yes, you can take any sound and play them pitched or chromatically across the pads with a push of a button. Its kinda trippy using whole 3 second samples. Single oneshots turn it into an instrument.

Akai also provides an elephant shitload of virtual instruments to download when you register your Live online.

[Ill Green]

Keep us updated on what you find are it's strengths or weaknesses. Is it making you feel you no longer need other gear in your studio or is it just a DAW with pads? Have you sampled some wax on it yet? (Or CDs/mp3s) Is there anything you noticed they forgot to include?

Its actually a fun box, I got lost at first because most things are on the screen and I was looking around for more buttons but after a few minutes you get used to it and things start getting faster to beat making. I'm graduating from an MPC500 and the world here on the Live is kind of alike but with much added features upon features within features. Its like the MPC is becoming a 2017 MV. And remember when they said the MV is a wannabe MPC... tables turning thats why I bought the Live, because its like a portable MV8800.

Once I spent a couple hours, I was back to my old workflow in no time.

The effects are nice. Tame, but once you layer up to 4 effects you can get SP like results. Speaking of SPs, one would go lovely with the Live just for the mfx alone because you will desire more out of the Akai effects.

So, Live will always need a companion, but not really if you choose not to. You can be all alone with it. Also it doesn't have to be a DAW in a box, consider that stuff a bonus. Like I said, if you used an MPC before, its a walk in the park but if you are new it will take some time until you get into your workflow, but you can make beats here like any other sampler.

I did experience some screen lag on some pages, some bugs are really overlooked glitches and appear fixable. Nothing major at the moment but Akai about to drop an update in a couple days

[blavatsky]

Old SP head dropping in on the thread - I'd been telling myself I didn't need the MPC live but the more I read on it (and saw Ill Green talking it up) I had to get it.

It's fucking sick.

My MV8800 and SP404SX are going up for sale, to put it that way.
As Ill noted, one of the only cons is that the FX are 'vanilla' sounding, think simple VST type effects. Not bad, just not in your face Roland stuff. But it can have so....many...effects. Up to 4 per pad(!), then up to 4 per program, then up to 4 on the mains. I've already gotten a very SP/MV type lofi pumping compression by messing with the main outs, so it can do dirty as well as clean.

Drum samples it comes with are strong, def some usable hits. Instruments are a mixed bag, some are chromatic (play w/ keyboard), not bad quality, sort like mid-range workstation rompler sounds. Others are phrases/loops which might be useful chopped but as is, kind generic. But i didn't buy it for the presets.

I made a couple of synth patches, just using single cycle waveforms....you can set it them to loop, then assign across pads. Once you add some LFO action, filtering, and effects, some very decent synth tones with a tiny memory footprint

[Ill Green]

Haha! Yeah, this machine is so fun, maybe because I've used MPCs before its easy to pick up but even if I didn't, I understand it and still haven't crack the manual yet.

I believe the effects are the way they are because you can stack 4 fx. Not oversaturating or overwhelming to samples.

My MV is going up too, as much I love it, I don't utilize it 100% and need something faster. The Live is like a little MV so I feel I'm covered but I really need that pitch-shift feature the Live lacks. Its on the software but prefer it standalone. I heard it'll appear on the next update.

[PHeMoX]

Did the next update include the pitch shift you were looking for Ill Green?

I'm thinking about selling my MV8800 and getting an MPC Live too. Or maybe save some more money and get the MPC X instead. I just have no clue what to think of the Akai software at this point. Back with the MPC Studio's release it was not exactly blowing me away lol. I'd imagine a lot was changed for the better since then?

[BruteCoan]

Timestretch is available in standalone mode...I think it started in 2.0.1 or some version close to that. Have you seen the"lazy chop" features?

[Ill Green]

Did the next update include the pitch shift you were looking for Ill Green?

I'm thinking about selling my MV8800 and getting an MPC Live too. Or maybe save some more money and get the MPC X instead. I just have no clue what to think of the Akai software at this point. Back with the MPC Studio's release it was not exactly blowing me away lol. I'd imagine a lot was changed for the better since then?

Sorry, just saw this. Since the hurricanes, I had no power from September to the last week of November.

Yes, pitch shift arrived in 2.07 I think.

The MV can still do things the Live can't and the song mode on the Live is crippled compared to the MV. You can do MV song construction on the Live, but through one (1) sequence. You can't record audio tracks over a song, only over sequences.

Also, the elements on the tracks must be identical to all sequences to create a song, for example, if Seq1 contains a snare on Track3, then Seq2 and Seq3 must have that snare on Track3 as well. Unlike the MV where you can be liberal as you want placing sounds on whereever tracks and won't affect the final result. On the Live, most likely the song will silence if you have sounds scattered on various tracks of different sequences.

Other than that, can definitely replace the MV, its just as powerful and faster too. Some quirks like the above mention, but when you have a full grasp of what the Live is about, its possible to do things like you used to on the MV.