MPC4000 for live "improvisation"?

Hi,

I've been performing live with Ableton Live and MIDI controllers for awhile -- even written some tutorials for Ableton on the subject -- but it's starting to occur to me that something like an MPC is just more "musical".

I'm considering making the switch from laptop to MPC for music, and since I sometimes use long field recordings, subtle multisamples, etc, the MPC4000 is most appealing.

I know this is a broad question, but how viable is it to use an MPC4000 for expressive live performance?

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2 Specific questions (at least for starters):

How viable is it to trigger longer audio phrases (not single drum hits) on it? Is it possible to quickly assign a group of audio clips, for example, to one column of the pads, while not interfering with other audio clips that are assigned to pads?

How viable is it to dynamically reroute effects while audio is playing?

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Thanks for any thoughts!

Ok, so not to leave you hanging like this...

Basically, it's no problem at all to trigger long samples from it. You can assign samples independently to any pads, let them play polyphonic or monophonic, organise them into different Programs (which define what sample is assigned to which pad) and so on...

Don't know for sure what you have in mind, but I think a 4000 is well suited for live performance...maybe even the 2500 is sufficient for you, which is a little cheaper.

I suggest you read a little in the MPC manuals (available online) which give you a little insight already how these work - if you didn't do so already.

Stilo.

I've done some reading -- the "MPC4000 Bible" thread here, the MPC4000 manual -- but I still don't have a feel for the "feel", if that makes sense.

Thanks for your input also -- it does help. It looks like I can do all I want to and more on the 4K.

I think so too. Your best bet would be to try it out somewhere, possibly with someone who owns one to have a little time to play around.

In the meantime check out this guy's video, no long phrase samples but worthwhile nevertheless

http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=51104