How is the MPC Live II for playing back stems?

Hi all,
first post here. Also asked the question on Reddit, if you happen to recognise it from somewhere. Reason for pushiness is I have a good deal on a Live II, so trying to make a decision before it disappears. Hope you will forgive me.

I tried out my friends MPC Live and got very interested in switching over from my Octatrack.

How does it handle pre-bounced multitrack stems?

On the Octatrack I can trigger a sequence and have up to eight tracks of stereo Wav playing for the full track, letting me effect/mute/unmute/volume change the tracks in real time. I.e, Bass Wav on track one, Kick Wav on track 2, cymbals & hats Wav on track 3 and so on.

Pretty much working as an advanced playback machine.
Is this possible on the MPC Live?

Also, I read something about SSD streaming/memory loading/stems issues but not sure exactly what it's referring to.

How long are the WAV files in your example?

The MPC must load the complete WAV file before play it.

valdemar wrote:Hi all,
first post here. Also asked the question on Reddit, if you happen to recognise it from somewhere. Reason for pushiness is I have a good deal on a Live II, so trying to make a decision before it disappears. Hope you will forgive me.

I tried out my friends MPC Live and got very interested in switching over from my Octatrack.

How does it handle pre-bounced multitrack stems?

On the Octatrack I can trigger a sequence and have up to eight tracks of stereo Wav playing for the full track, letting me effect/mute/unmute/volume change the tracks in real time. I.e, Bass Wav on track one, Kick Wav on track 2, cymbals & hats Wav on track 3 and so on.

Pretty much working as an advanced playback machine.
Is this possible on the MPC Live?

Also, I read something about SSD streaming/memory loading/stems issues but not sure exactly what it's referring to.

Yes, this is all easily possible on the MPC Live 2 (and the original Live, One, and X) with a maximum of 8 stereo audio tracks. But currently there is a 5-minute cap on length for each track (which is why many of us are waiting out/hoping for proper disc streaming, which is rumored to be coming in MPC Software (standalone firmware) 3.0.

EnochLight wrote:Yes, this is all easily possible on the MPC Live 2 (and the original Live, One, and X) with a maximum of 8 stereo audio tracks. But currently there is a 5-minute cap on length for each track (which is why many of us are waiting out/hoping for proper disc streaming, which is rumored to be coming in MPC Software (standalone firmware) 3.0.

Yeah that's a bummer. And a bit weird, seeing how the Octatrack and other devices do fine streaming from disc. All my music breaks the five minute wall, hope they remedy that.

Is there a five minute limit even if you don't max out the memory?

I already got one in the mail and the Octatrack up for sale and am sure I will be happy or manage to find some kind of workaround either way, but it would be nice. Is 3.0 mainly hopeful thinking or do the rumours hold a bit of weight?

I think the 5 min limit is for audio track recording.
20 min for sampler recording.

I own the ONE, the Force and the OT MKII, and love them all. Although I don't own the Live, I feel that there's enough similarities to chime in.

If you're looking to swap the OT out for the Live, then you'll be disappointed with some aspects nd very pleased with some others.

In tandem, they're a fantastic pair. Absolutely tip top. But if you can't have both, I'd think carefully and weigh up what you'll lose, before making the switch.

mpc load files into ram so you will chew thru it real quick, software mode if your computer has lots of ram can handle a bit more but i would go with sp303/404 or octatrack for longfile playback in sets, octa if your running stems, but yeah it wont replace and mpc they are different beasts, collect them all