MPC Live 2 retro - double triggering AND insensitive pads?!!

So I picked up a brand new Live 2 retro yesterday, finally got a chance to play with it tonight and am so disappointed with the pads! Double and triple triggering but at the same time insensitive and not registering some hits. It's insane. It seems the centre of the pads are incredibly insensitive, and the edges are significantly more sensitive. Changing pad sensitivity settings is not helping whatsoever, not unsurprising if the sensitivity isn't consistent across each pad.

Still have my Live 1 and loaded the exact same kit on both machines and the difference is night and day. On the mk1 the sensitivity is equal across the whole pad surface and it's fully sensitive to light touches everywhere, no double trigger and no missed hits, complete joy to play, all using the '8/8' 'curve A' defaults.

I'm assuming this Live 2 is a duff unit so it's going back. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this on these newer units?

Got an original Live mk2, and found it compared well with the MPC X and original Live for pads and sensitivity.

Hopefully it's just a dud and not an indication of using inferior parts in the updated products.

it feels like the rubber isn't making proper contact in the centre of the pad, a bit like my MPC1000 pads. I think that's taking the retro idea a bit too far though

It arrived with a completely dead battery so I assume it's been sat in a warehouse for some time, it was running firmware 2.7.1 which is 19 months old. Perhaps poor storage conditions has caused issues with the sensors, or just bad luck. I'm actually pretty unlucky with my MPCs though, half of them have arrived with issues.

MPC-Tutor wrote:it feels like the rubber isn't making proper contact in the centre of the pad, a bit like my MPC1000 pads. I think that's taking the retro idea a bit too far though

It arrived with a completely dead battery so I assume it's been sat in a warehouse for some time, it was running firmware 2.7.1 which is 19 months old. Perhaps poor storage conditions has caused issues with the sensors, or just bad luck. I'm actually pretty unlucky with my MPCs though, half of them have arrived with issues.

My One Retro also came shipped with 2.7.1. They probably just flipped the outside of older units I guess...

I had another go just before boxing it up for the return, I can imagine a completely new MPC user isn't going to see this as such a big deal as they will just learn to hammer the pads really hard. It's the direct comparison with the Mk 1 that really makes it hit home how poorly the pads are set up on this particular unit. Annoying.

BTW, those built in speakers, I've seen people saying they were 'actually pretty good', but really? They sound pretty horrible to my ears. I get that they can be useful if you just want some convenient amplification somewhere, but my son has cheap Anker bluetooth speakers that blow these out of the water. They were also struggling with kicks in most of the kits I tried - clipping, distorting etc, at only 50% main volume level. Perhaps I really did get a completely duff unit.

I'm trying to decide whether to give the Live 2 another chance or just go for an MPC One. Basically I'm actually very happy with my Live Mk 1 but people are asking for tutorials on using the CV outs, plus I want I want one of the newer models for video work (and the retro models don't show up the dust and fingerprints on camera).

If you're looking for CVs for putting together some tutorials I'd just go for the One... my brother in law has a One and I got a chance to play with it. The pad size reminds me a bit of the MPC 1k, but I found it to be totally usable, they definitely are not comically small like some people make them out to be.

I'm one of the people who like the built in speakers for the MPC Live mk2 for some use cases, but I will totally agree that it is easy for kicks and bass to just not come through, and worse eat up headroom so that your mix just comes out horrible. For me I like it for just getting some quick ideas down, but you're not going to get beyond the first 20-30% of the song creation process if you are planning on actually making something balanced for mixing and mastering. I put it in the nice to have category, but it definitely could have been implemented better.

Yeah I was initially just going for the One, I don't have an issue with small pads, I never had a problem with the ones on the Force which are of course tiny.

Anyway, forgotten about my MPCs now as I just plugged in my shiny new Korg Minilogue XD. GAS strikes again

MPC-Tutor wrote:So I picked up a brand new Live 2 retro yesterday, finally got a chance to play with it tonight and am so disappointed with the pads! Double and triple triggering but at the same time insensitive and not registering some hits. It's insane. It seems the centre of the pads are incredibly insensitive, and the edges are significantly more sensitive. Changing pad sensitivity settings is not helping whatsoever, not unsurprising if the sensitivity isn't consistent across each pad.

Still have my Live 1 and loaded the exact same kit on both machines and the difference is night and day. On the mk1 the sensitivity is equal across the whole pad surface and it's fully sensitive to light touches everywhere, no double trigger and no missed hits, complete joy to play, all using the '8/8' 'curve A' defaults.

I'm assuming this Live 2 is a duff unit so it's going back. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this on these newer units?

Where did you get the unit, Tutor? I only ask because I'm eyeing up replacing my MK1 Live with a Live 2...

Andertons, seem good so far, first time I've used them.

Not currently in stock (two weeks) but Thoman are selling the Live 2 for less than I paid for my Live 1...

https://www.thomann.de/gb/akai_mpc_live_ii.htm £888


The One is £595

https://www.thomann.de/gb/akai_mpc_one.htm


EDIT - I posted that without even checking andertons, and Thoman is more expensive for the One. I get my synths from Thoman because they are always much cheaper than I can find in the UK

I’ve also just bought a new Live 2 Retro, also from Andertons (who are local to me and who I use for all my gear… great shop).

I’m new to MPC but not new to pads (eg I have a Push 2 and have played with Maschine).

My unit was also on 2.7.1 but battery wasn’t flat.

Pads aren’t quite what I expected. Consistently sensitive on all four edges of each pad but markedly less sensitive in the centre of the pad. This was equally the case for all 16 pads so didn’t feel like a manufacturing issue (eg poor connection on part of the pads contact sheet). TBH after a couple of hours it didn’t bother me. I just kind of adapted and have started to teach myself to catch the pad closer to the edge not the centre. If I do that, the feel is consistent (and really good) and there’s no double triggering. It works. I’ve also played around with the sensitivity, threshold and curve settings and found what works for me, which helped.

I had this down as a MPC quirk I didn’t know about in advance but maybe that’s not the case (or maybe there is a slightly different pad contact design in the Live 2 Retro?). Either way, I’m fine with it… not stopping me using (and loving using) the MPC. Won’t be returning it. Overall the pads are a step up from the Push 2 (which is a great bit of kit, but can’t compete with the MPC for pad feel IME).

BTW the MPC Bible is terrific… such a good resource. Nice one - thank you!

MuttBeats wrote:Pads aren’t quite what I expected. Consistently sensitive on all four edges of each pad but markedly less sensitive in the centre of the pad.

This is exactly what the pads were like on mine, this isn't typical though, not in my experience at least. Perhaps on some legacy MPCs you could find the opposite, i.e. sensitive in the middle, less sensitive on the edges. But on my live Mk 1 the sensitivity is consistent and even across the entire pad, they are very good pads to play as you can hit them anywhere and know exactly what response you will get.

I wonder if this is just the way the Live 2 retro pads are made, different colour rubber can have different properties, or perhaps Andertons just had a batch of pads with a different action, may be from a different production run. As I said though, new MPC users probably won't be too bothered about this and would adapt their playing style accordingly.

Glad you're liking the MPC Bible

I must say I'm easily getting double triggers on MPC One Retro, and it's very difficult to play a note with a duration. If I want the note to have a definite duration, I have to first touch the rubber pad lightly - which won't register - and then push it down for the duration of the note I want. Sort of like playing piano. And the center of each pad seems to be more like a dead spot, but on the edges it's closer to something that could be actually played, with dynamics and all. When playing normally without trying to hit some specific spot on a pad with millimeter accuracy, the dynamics on the pads are not very consistent, I certainly wouldn't advertise it as a physical instrument for learning how to play dynamically. I have it on full level to get clean controlled notes. And aftertouch recording has to be off, I don't want the random CC curves polluting my tracks. So it shouldn't be like that? I have no experience with other MPC units.

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:And the center of each pad seems to be more like a dead spot, but on the edges it's closer to something that could be actually played, with dynamics and all....So it shouldn't be like that?

No, not in my opinion, sensitivity should be consistent no matter where you hit the pad (within a small tolerance), but if I had to choose I would want the centre to be the 'sweet spot', I don't see the logic in making it the edge of a pad and I don't believe that would have been the manufacturing intention.

As for double triggering, again this seemed to be a real problem of the Live 2 retro I tried. I had the same kit set up on the Mk 1 and was switching back and forth between the two and no matter what pad sensitivity/threshold settings I tried, the Live 2 would definitely be more prone to the double triggering, even when set to the most insensitive pad settings. The Live 1 was just on the default 8/8 settings, I've never changed those, always really happy with them on the Live and the MPC Touch.

Anyway it's definitely making me think twice about buying any of the 'retro' editions (on the assumption that it's the retro pads that are the problem). The Live 2 was destined to replace my Live 1, but the pads made it seem like a downgrade. I might buy a cheap MPC One 'standard' just for tutorial and video work and keep the Live as my main day-to-day workhorse.

Do I understand this picture correctly, the sensors on the MPC One have a circular hole in the middle? https://www.mpcstuff.com/pad-sensor-she ... 61-mpcone/
So maybe that's just reflected in the actual response, and the Retro has a material that highlights the phenomenon? If there was a layer of some harder substance on top of the rubber pads, it would cause the pressing force to be more evenly spread towards the edges of the sensors?

Would the Thick Fat Pads help? https://www.mpcstuff.com/akmpcthfatpa.html

The larger models have a rectangular shape
https://www.mpcstuff.com/fsr-16key-pad- ... ch-live-x/