Massive improvement for dial knob

I am not one to mod any equipment, in fact this is the first time I have ever even replaced a knob on something, but as I used the MPC Live 2, I find myself using the dial knob a lot and really disliked it. The small diameter of it made it difficult to move parameters quickly especially on longer rotations for bigger adjustments. Also the feel of the cheap plastic and ridges was not nice and didn't match the quality of the buttons and pads.

I just put this knob on it, and what a difference. I mean night and day for me. Took just a couple of minutes to install. The key point is to tighten the screw at the lowest height of the knob that still allows for you to click. If you push the knob 100% down before tightening you will not be able to click it. This is the knob Akai should have used for this machine.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TY32628/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now I can adjust quicker and more accurately and it also feels so much nicer. I can rotate it by dragging one finger along its side or running a three finger swipe across the top.

Trust me, best $12 you can spend for you MPC. I didn't care about looks as long as it didn't look bad but it actually looks better, it really seems like the MPC came like this now.

lol,thanks to you i JUST realized i can click this damn thing on my (new) One.That was THE one button (ok/enter) i was sorely missing

allreddv wrote:I just put this knob on it, and what a difference.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TY32628/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Are you sure it's that one? It's 34mm diameter, but the recess on the MPC is pretty much exactly 30mm, so I don't see how it would fit. They do a 30mm version, did you mean that one? The dial that comes with the MPC is around 28mm.

Hahah, yeah I am still getting used to everything, new to MPC and only have had it for a week now. I think Akai made an error not have the Q link encoders clickable also and be able to assign the click values. On the One you have a program edit button and save button. Would have been nice to assign these to clickable encoders on the live. Or be able to assign functions to the +/- buttons which IMO are kind of weird sitting right next to the dial wheel. I guess maybe in a live situation there could be a moment when +/- could be important, but would be nice to be able to assign them also. So far really impressed with the MPC. I think the knob I put on would work on the One also. It really is a massive improvement in the workflow feel, for me at least.

MPC-Tutor wrote:

allreddv wrote:I just put this knob on it, and what a difference.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TY32628/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Are you sure it's that one? It's 34mm diameter, but the recess on the MPC is pretty much exactly 30mm, so I don't see how it would fit. They do a 30mm version, did you mean that one? The dial that comes with the MPC is around 28mm.

That is the one I bought and it works great. I didn't know about the recess size, I just bought it to try, With Amazon prime I get 1 day delivery and 30 day return no hassle so worth a shot. It would make sense though because like I said if I install the knob all the way down on the shaft then the click didn't work. I just pulled it up a slight bit and tightened the screw and works great. Since it works I will be keeping this one as I like the size of it. But maybe the 30mm one is better.

Here is a short video showing it working. I don't have YouTube or similar to upload and doesn't look like you can drop video files here so I used WeTransfer, the free version only allows the file to be live 1 week though. https://we.tl/t-F6jazkePM8

allreddv wrote:I am not one to mod any equipment, in fact this is the first time I have ever even replaced a knob on something, but as I used the MPC Live 2, I find myself using the dial knob a lot and really disliked it. The small diameter of it made it difficult to move parameters quickly especially on longer rotations for bigger adjustments. Also the feel of the cheap plastic and ridges was not nice and didn't match the quality of the buttons and pads.

I just put this knob on it, and what a difference. I mean night and day for me. Took just a couple of minutes to install. The key point is to tighten the screw at the lowest height of the knob that still allows for you to click. If you push the knob 100% down before tightening you will not be able to click it. This is the knob Akai should have used for this machine.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TY32628/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Now I can adjust quicker and more accurately and it also feels so much nicer. I can rotate it by dragging one finger along its side or running a three finger swipe across the top.

Trust me, best $12 you can spend for you MPC. I didn't care about looks as long as it didn't look bad but it actually looks better, it really seems like the MPC came like this now.

Ooooooooh bollocks.


I bought one of these, for the same reason as you, to use on my live, and threw it in a draw as I couldn't click........... Thanks for the tip, I'll dig it out and see if I can get it clicking now!

Yeah, I just kept pulling up it as minimally as possible, tighten, and then test. I tried starting from the top and it worked but there was a slight wobble to the know as I think I was too far up. Then I started with it all the way down making very very small adjustments up. Took 3 adjustments. First one no click, second one there was a click but not enough to actually register, third adjustment was perfect.

MPC-Tutor wrote:

allreddv wrote:I just put this knob on it, and what a difference.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TY32628/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Are you sure it's that one? It's 34mm diameter, but the recess on the MPC is pretty much exactly 30mm, so I don't see how it would fit. They do a 30mm version, did you mean that one? The dial that comes with the MPC is around 28mm.

I bought the smaller 30mm version that you can get from MPC-Stuff. I had the exact same problem as the OP had with the larger version - I had to mount it slightly up the potentiometer in order to actually be able to click it.

I found a better one its bigger and you can turn it with one finger very quickly. It is also made of aluminum.
I found it on aliexpress for $5

Link?

NewAkaiUser wrote:I found a better one its bigger and you can turn it with one finger very quickly. It is also made of aluminum.
I found it on aliexpress for $5

Your image didn't post, you have a link? One thing to consider if going bigger than the 34mm is the size of the indentation for the knob. The 34mm I am using is the max size where it doesn't start to overlap that indentation,

The indentation is sloped so while the 34mm is too big to go to the bottom of it, it still goes in it a bit when pressed, so on full pressed it is slightly below the surface face of the MPC. Any bigger and you will have to tighten the knob on the post higher in order for the click to register.

When I had the 34mm a bit higher when making adjustments I noticed a slight wobble to it which went away when I got it at the lowest level I could while still registering a click. But that could be related to where the tightening screw is located on the knob I got.I didn't know the size of the indentation when I bought the knob, just got lucky on the size, but if a larger one would work it would be even nicer to use. I can't emphasize how much nicer the MPC is to use now, I know it seems stupid and trivial, but really makes a difference IMO especially because of how much I use that knob.

Is the factory knob really that bad? I don't really mind it at all.. if I need to rotate a ton I just type it in.. I like the factory one and it matches the others.. I would never replace it with some weird one that doesn't match.. but do you I guess..

kja wrote:Is the factory knob really that bad? I don't really mind it at all.. if I need to rotate a ton I just type it in.. I like the factory one and it matches the others.. I would never replace it with some weird one that doesn't match.. but do you I guess..

If you are happy with factory no reason to change it. I didn't like the factory one. I have lots of hardware and have never put any different knobs on before, but I also have never used one particular knob on a piece of gear as much as the MPC data dial. I find the MPC Live really dependent on it and I prefer to tap on a parameter and adjust with data dial over using q links, except for setting start and ends for sampling. But that is just personal preference.

I will say, having done so, no way would I switch back. One of those small things that doesn't really matter but made a difference for me and for 12 bucks was for sure worth it. As for the looks, to be honest I think it looks like it came with the unit. If the knob I have on now came with the unit I wouldn't have even thought about changing it.

I'd be way more into getting an acceleration setting for the knob than changing the physical knob. Most of the time it seems cool, but for things like FX sends, it takes 10-15 rotations to get into usable range.