Who is enjoying the Live 2 vs MPC One+

I’ve been enjoying my Key 61 so much I decided to get a portable MPC for making beats outside the studio I had been debating between the One+ and the Live 2.

I like the additional buttons on the One+ and that almost swayed me but I ended up finding a good deal on a Live 2 so I grabbed it. (Odd that Akai didn’t add more buttons to the Live 2 imo)

Seems like the Live 2 is extremely popular. It’s the MPC I see in most of the user youtube videos. I would imagine the One+ with an external battery would be similarly portable but I guess there’s something nice about having a battery and speaker built in. I also like the backlit buttons of the “original” Live 2 although the retro colorway is definitely cool

I’ll give it a shot with the Live 2, if the lack of dedicated buttons is a workflow killer, I’ll return it for the One+.
Anyone have both?

The Live 2 came out in 2020, the One+ came out this year, so of course the One+ wouldn't have so many videos yet. The original MPC One has a lot though.

I have the MPC Live 2 and like it, despite the bugs and limitations (which exist over all MPC models.) I definitely prefer to have the touchscreen to the side of the pads for when editing programs, although most other modes it makes less difference. Definitely agree it's missing a couple of dedicated buttons which I really don't understand why they didn't include though!

As i have stated in various other threads, holding MENU and pressing the pad corresponding to the feature on the touch screen makes direct buttons mostly obsolete. You‘ll usually need two hands for that and not only one finger. Although I also miss direct buttons, I don‘t miss them much anymore. I wouldn‘t base my decision solely on that feature.

83dude wrote:As i have stated in various other threads, holding MENU and pressing the pad corresponding to the feature on the touch screen makes direct buttons mostly obsolete. You‘ll usually need two hands for that and not only one finger. Although I also miss direct buttons, I don‘t miss them much anymore. I wouldn‘t base my decision solely on that feature.

I have known this and used it but what I did instead is put the Program shortcut in that drag from left quick menu instead, the other missing ones I use rarely enough to not mind menu diving (but should also still remember this exists.)

What I really miss is an Open Last FX Editor Window shortcut! The amount of times I'm editing an effect, think it sounds OK but want to check after adding parts through Track Mutes or on a different Sequence and going back to editing the effect afterwards take so many more clicks than it should! I assume I'm not missing anything with this one???

I switched from my trusty MPC4000 a few months back to a LIVE 2. The One was catching my eye as I wanted something smaller (compared to the gargantuan 4000.) But I eventually settled on the pricier option. Having the portability was a priority so that was my reason for looking at the One in the first place but having a rechargeable battery and speakers makes it easy to hammer out ideas just about anywhere. I'm definitely happy with it and the "missing" buttons don't really bother me now that I know my way around.

underblu wrote:Seems like the Live 2 is extremely popular. It’s the MPC I see in most of the user youtube videos. I would imagine the One+ with an external battery would be similarly portable but I guess there’s something nice about having a battery and speaker built in. I also like the backlit buttons of the “original” Live 2 although the retro colorway is definitely cool

I’ll give it a shot with the Live 2, if the lack of dedicated buttons is a workflow killer, I’ll return it for the One+.
Anyone have both?

Have the retro live 2, this thing is a beauty, sold all my vintage music making gear to get that toy without regrets - this retro followup to the old mpc bring back sweet memories when i had the 2000 and 2000xl.
Stereo speaker sounds like midsize jbl outdoor speaker - but it can be a good thing when comes to mixing beats. (i'm mixing beat to the max before pluging mp into interface and recording in reaper daw)
And for vinyl sampling freak like me - phono preamp build-in is wow!
Mpc helped me to realize i dont need that much studio garbage to make music, just mp, vinyl and headphones.

ONE only has 1 stereo main output. Not good for plugging in to external effects. In before anyoner mentions you can plug in an audio interface. No thanks. MPCs need at least one stereo pair output in addition to the main outputs.

If you want to use external storage plugged into the One+ while in controller mode, stick to the live2

One+ crashes constantly when trying to do so

That pointless Bluetooth they added must of messed it up.