Forum to discuss all matters relating to the MPC1000 and MPC2500 operating systems created by 'JJ' (all versions).
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By OKJoy Sun Oct 24, 2021 6:25 am
I've been on the free JJOS for quite a while now, but thinking of upgrading to the full version.

The only thing is, all my production so far has been on the free version and for playing out live it would be tough to have to boot into each different OS for different beats.

Wondering, what features of the full version are indespensable?

Trying to figure out if it would be worthwhile to upgrade, if anyone has any input about what features the full version has that makes it worthwhile, let me know.

Thanks in advance
By littlejackal Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:44 am
Reading a list of features makes for a difficult decision unless something jumps out at you (not a dig at @neartao’s reply) so my honest recommendation is just to boot into paid XL and play around. Since you can’t save, try to recreate one of your existing beats or songs and see if the workflow is any more or less to your liking. Then try to experiment with it — maybe you’ll come across a feature you really like, or maybe you’ll find that your workflow is just fine with the free OS and you saved yourself a hundred and something dollars.

I know asking for others’ recommendations is the way I learn best too, but in this case I think using the product is the only way you can decide whether the features will be valuable to YOU and that way you’re not just upgrading for upgrading’s sake :)
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By NearTao Mon Oct 25, 2021 12:20 pm
While fair that a list of features is not going to give hands on experience, it's also so large that it is pretty hard to pick out a handful of favorite features. You're right though, just install the unpaid version, you just won't be able to save... but it will absolutely give a taste for what is there. There were a few features from OS2XL that I missed in OS3... OS3 is mostly an update/upgrade to OS2XL... but they both diverged a bit on how Q-LINKs are handled, and I think you could make chords in OS2XL (or maybe OS2? been a while now)...

Personally I did like the key groups to create much better instruments, the changes to filtering were really handy, and just overall the faster workflow was great.
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By HanHuman Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:51 pm
Plus midi editing, looper (great for live instruments), non destructive chopping, and many more on OS2XL.
Unless your music is only made of samples with basic chopping and recording all the hits live (which is absolutely fine), composing on AKAI or free JJOS doesn't make sense imho, It's just too limited. And even with a simple musical structure, you'll have a much better experience doing it on OS2XL / OS3 depending on what you look for. To me OS2XL is more oriented towards MIDI overall, OS3 a little bit more on the sample side with play & chop, real time time stretch among other stuff etc.
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By OKJoy Thu Oct 28, 2021 5:30 am
@ NearTao

I've seen the feature list for OS2XL, it sounds great but I don't know what a lot of the features do. I'll keep an eye out for the key groups and filtering, thanks for mentioning.

@littlejackal

That's a good call! I'll boot up OS2XL and see if I take to it.

@HanHuman

Awesome to hear specific features that you find useful. My stuff is sample based, I micro chop a lot of stuff and step edit quite a bit. I'm not much for midi but real time time stretch sounds amazing!