MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By Dj Bo Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:25 am
sinik wrote:as the software seems to evolve, im thinking of ditching my LIVE for the X. i just miss that hands-on control that i had on my 2500..

as a former 2500 user, i wonder if the X is still give me that compact feel where every knob sits in its perfect place and is reachable whitin no time.
also, how much can u do from the controller, without using the touchscreen? is there a dedicated button for grid edit or quantize?

and is the screen so bloody big that it's distracting or is it just fine?

thanks for some clarification


Hi. I think you should take the advice of Ill Green and try it out first if you have a store near you. I too was thinking about going from the live to the X because I also wanted more hands on control without using the touchscreen and looking less at the screen, but after 2 hours in the store I decided to not go for it yet.

To answer your questions: You can do a lot from the controller but for certain tasks you still need to use the touchscreen. Don't get me wrong. It's definitely better than the Live and the dedicated buttons that are there feel much better to work with (also the f-keys are handy), but for that amount of money I want more hands on control without using or looking at the touchscreen.

- the screen size is not distracting in my opinion. When using only the dedicated buttons, q-links and transport buttons I noticed that I was mostly looking only at the controller and not the touchscreen. The screen is less in your face than with the Live.

- there's no dedicated button for grid edit, you have to use the touchscreen or use the menu button and use the cursors and enter to go to grid edit.

- On the main screen you can't move to every tab. Not the left grid/track/stepseq/xy tabs. Not the warp/assign/edit samples tabs and not to the TC of Metro tabs. Only the ones which are red squared when you select it on your Live, like track, program of transpose. Those ones you can reach with the cursors.

- In grid edit you can't use the cursors to go to pencil, erase, lasso or zoom. You can use the shortcut Shift and cursor buttons to zoom horizontally and vertically though, so you don't have to use touchscreen to zoom.

- There's no dedicate TC button. Of course you can use the Q-links for limited tc settings when in screen control, just as in the Live with the fourth row of Q-links.

- In grid edit you can't select single events without using the touchsreen. As in the live you have the option to select all events for 1 pad, but not a single event. You can use the shortcut Locate + </> (Event |</>| to move the audio pointer to the next event but you can't use the controller to select that event to edit (nudge, transpose etc) it. You still have to use the touchscreen.

Quess what, while I was trying it out in the store in Amsterdam last week Andy Mac, the Macster, Rihanna hit maker, was checking out gear. So I asked him about the possibility to select single events with the controller. He called one of the developers. The developer said it ' was on his list'. So maybe in a future update we can use the cursors to move from selected event to next event on the X or on the Live use shift plus rotary knob or something.

Go try it out first.
Also check out the forums on c.getsatisfaction. com: some posts about soundcard troubles with the X, before you spend 2000+ euros or dollars. It could be that there's only a small percentage faulty units. The guys here seem to have no problems with the X though.

After trying the X I'm now trying to learn the Q-link rows by heart and for moving through bars and locations am using an external midi controller controlling Ableton controlling the MPC Live in slave. Trying to find work arounds for using the touchsreen and looking at the screen.

Greets
Bo
User avatar
By Danoc Sun Feb 25, 2018 11:53 am
Dam you mix in Reason too? I don't master in it but l do gain staging and mixing in Reason. I master in Studio One 3. I see a lot of Reason users popping up.
summer2k wrote:I bought the X. For my needs, it is perfect. I only use it in the lab or sometimes roll it to another room on the Onstage stand it sits on. So outside portability was not a requirement for me which is why I did not get the Live. That's the only advantage the Live has over the X. Everything else the X trumps the Live.

I mainly use the X in standalone mode during the early stages of producing a track so the extra knobs, buttons and bigger screen definitely makes it that much easier to work without the use of a computer. I'll connect the X to the 2.0 software if I need access to my VST plugins or when I need to bounce my tracks to Cubase 9.5 or Reason 10 for final mixing and mastering.

The X for the win in my opinion...YMMV. :nod:
By summer2k Sun Feb 25, 2018 2:18 pm
Danoc wrote:Dam you mix in Reason too? I don't master in it but l do gain staging and mixing in Reason. I master in Studio One 3. I see a lot of Reason users popping up.

Yessir... I've been using Reason since version 1. The only thing I hate about it is the tiny sequencer which is why I don't use it as much as I would like to. I also use Studio One 3.5.

My weapons of choice lately have been the X and Cubase 9.5. My only limitation is finding time to use them but when I do it's all smiles and head nodding. :mrgreen: :nod: :lol:
User avatar
By Danoc Mon Feb 26, 2018 4:23 am
:WTF: you have Studio too? Dammm dude.

Does your MPC synch with Cubase where either one is the slave or master?

summer2k wrote:
Danoc wrote:Dam you mix in Reason too? I don't master in it but l do gain staging and mixing in Reason. I master in Studio One 3. I see a lot of Reason users popping up.

Yessir... I've been using Reason since version 1. The only thing I hate about it is the tiny sequencer which is why I don't use it as much as I would like to. I also use Studio One 3.5.

My weapons of choice lately have been the X and Cubase 9.5. My only limitation is finding time to use them but when I do it's all smiles and head nodding. :mrgreen: :nod: :lol:
By sinik Mon Feb 26, 2018 7:21 pm
Dj Bo wrote:Hi. I think you should take the advice of Ill Green and try it out first if you have a store near you. I too was thinking about going from the live to the X because I also wanted more hands on control without using the touchscreen and looking less at the screen, but after 2 hours in the store I decided to not go for it yet.

To answer your questions: You can do a lot from the controller but for certain tasks you still need to use the touchscreen. Don't get me wrong. It's definitely better than the Live and the dedicated buttons that are there feel much better to work with (also the f-keys are handy), but for that amount of money I want more hands on control without using or looking at the touchscreen.

- the screen size is not distracting in my opinion. When using only the dedicated buttons, q-links and transport buttons I noticed that I was mostly looking only at the controller and not the touchscreen. The screen is less in your face than with the Live.

- there's no dedicated button for grid edit, you have to use the touchscreen or use the menu button and use the cursors and enter to go to grid edit.

- On the main screen you can't move to every tab. Not the left grid/track/stepseq/xy tabs. Not the warp/assign/edit samples tabs and not to the TC of Metro tabs. Only the ones which are red squared when you select it on your Live, like track, program of transpose. Those ones you can reach with the cursors.

- In grid edit you can't use the cursors to go to pencil, erase, lasso or zoom. You can use the shortcut Shift and cursor buttons to zoom horizontally and vertically though, so you don't have to use touchscreen to zoom.

- There's no dedicate TC button. Of course you can use the Q-links for limited tc settings when in screen control, just as in the Live with the fourth row of Q-links.

- In grid edit you can't select single events without using the touchsreen. As in the live you have the option to select all events for 1 pad, but not a single event. You can use the shortcut Locate + </> (Event |</>| to move the audio pointer to the next event but you can't use the controller to select that event to edit (nudge, transpose etc) it. You still have to use the touchscreen.

Quess what, while I was trying it out in the store in Amsterdam last week Andy Mac, the Macster, Rihanna hit maker, was checking out gear. So I asked him about the possibility to select single events with the controller. He called one of the developers. The developer said it ' was on his list'. So maybe in a future update we can use the cursors to move from selected event to next event on the X or on the Live use shift plus rotary knob or something.

Go try it out first.
Also check out the forums on c.getsatisfaction. com: some posts about soundcard troubles with the X, before you spend 2000+ euros or dollars. It could be that there's only a small percentage faulty units. The guys here seem to have no problems with the X though.

After trying the X I'm now trying to learn the Q-link rows by heart and for moving through bars and locations am using an external midi controller controlling Ableton controlling the MPC Live in slave. Trying to find work arounds for using the touchsreen and looking at the screen.

Greets
Bo


thanks for your insights – appreciate it.

wow, you met met the one and only andy mac and made him call one of the devs – great job! even though i'm sure he just act like he would do a call :lol:

so i was checking out the x too and have similar feelings about it. it certainly looks and feels good but it sure doesn't come close to the hands-on control you would have on a 2500/4000 or 2000xl. the one thing that i found annoying is that the screen is a little bit wobbly. not sure if it was a faulty unit but the kickstand seem to fit perfect, while the screen still had some wobble when touching it...

mixed feelings – still want one though
By Dj Bo Tue Feb 27, 2018 6:59 pm
Haha, that’s what I thought too after I left, but it looked like a real call with a person :D


That wobbly screen seems to be standard. I saw a video of a guy saying to put it at the highest stance (closest to vertical). The X I’ve tried in the store also had a bit wobbly screen and putting the stand that way stopped the wobble. But I’d like to put it a little down if possible. I don’t know if the guys how actually own one have a problem with this. If I had one, I’d probably put some sort of foam somewhere to stop the wobble.
But again: I’d like the possibility to work without having to use the touchscreen.

For now I'm happy enough with the Live. I came from the MV-8800 which I could use almost blindly. But the Live is faster to work with, portable, more versatile and my sampler input in the MV quit on me so I needed a new sampler.
By MarkM37 Tue Feb 27, 2018 7:11 pm
They're mass produced. Quality can always vary on items but the live and X are well constructed. I think the X is very good but time will tell.