Decluttering the Live 2

I just got a Live 2...any bullshit to turn off? Uninstall? Settings & preferences to adjust? Like random example: these have BluTooth/WiFi? So if I'm working on a project...will that be running in the background and potentially slow things down? Don't want to be in the middle of something and have to deal with pop-up windows or being reminded to update. Saw a video that upon boot-up you can stop the stupid factory presets from populating the home page and it's just your projects instead. I see you can drag/rearrange icons on the screen. A lot of shortcuts I've figured out on my own just knowing previous MPCs had them. I'm familiar with MPC workflow...so I'm trying to clean up the interface on this machine to where I can go back to working fast & efficiently.

I just came over from JJOS and the 2000XL before that, so this Live is basically a computer in a box to me that just runs a bunch of different programs. I know to bounce down/flatten audio & effects, not run too many VSTs at once etc., but I'm thinking maybe there's something in the machine's settings themselves I should turn on & off first to ensure a smooth experience.

Should have lots of extra space with upgraded SSHD, but from what I understand, you can't uninstall some of the VSTs? I guess they're nice to have, but I won't really use them, so they take up space. I'm still confused what you can & can't delete off these.

No. Definitely dont uninstall anything from the internal memory, that'll **** shit up

bluetooth and wifi does not slow the mpc OS down

Nothing to declutter per se, nothing that will slow down your MPC. You should go to MENU > Preferences and work your way through all the different preference categories, maybe change the new project settings, turn off tap tempo flashing, disable data sharing, configure your temporary location. I believe bluetooth/wifi is disabled by default.

OCD is Real nowadays

Yeah I read a post of someone deleting the wrong thing and it basically bricked their shit/needed some sort of root reinstall or whatever, so that was the one thing I've been avoiding so far i.e. file management, deleting, uninstalling etc.. I'm still trying to familiarize myself with saving/loading architecture, how I want to set up my own folders & contents. Previous owner didn't swipe it, so I have to delete their stuff still and the plugins look to be in their name, so maybe when I go online with it down the road, I'll have some sort of registry BS to deal with.

After focusing on just the menus for like half an hour and watching some videos here & there the last 2 days, I managed to:

- turn off secondary "hold to start" boot screen
- turn off the factory presets from loading
- turn off wireless stuff
- turn off data harvesting bullshit as well
- rearrange icons
- turn off Q-link popup window
- for some reason I was surprised you can choose which 5 icons you want on the sidebar
- figure out which directory/folder my stuff saves to
- made up a template for the hell of it (something I never do)
- mostly just familiarize myself with pushing buttons, opening menus, muscle memory, navigation

Everything feels more cleaned up and more like an MPC now and less like a computer. Scrolling through sample packs/VSTs can be slow, but I'm not going to be in those menus very often. I feel like I'm caught up on it operationally, now I just need to learn some of the new features. Last night I had no problem making up a quick jam in the same way I've always done on MPCs. I can go in & out of functions I'm used to, considering one of those mini USB keyboards for the few extra inputs it provides. I have some JJOS projects off my 1000 to try importing first though before I go any further with using the Live 2 as my main setup. Hopefully I can get that done soon, then I get to rock my new shit

The Jackal wrote:I have some JJOS projects off my 1000 to try importing first though before I go any further with using the Live 2 as my main setup. Hopefully I can get that done soon, then I get to rock my new shit

You made a lot of progress. The JJ beats are going to be little tricky trying to match them parameter setting wise & getting to sound 100% the same, but you can get close enough if you're willing to put in the time. If you used the JJOS dual filters a lot like me, just know that you can usually match it only one of the filters in the Drum program editor.

Also the pitch of sample needs to be pitched down some simi-tones but I forgot the setting.

Good luck with you transfer. I moved about 60 beats for the 1k to the Force & that was learning experience to put it nicely.

I looked through some threads about importing JJOS files into the Live 2, I will post my results in one of the more recent ones when the time comes. I did see that I might be doing pitch correction, luckily what I want to import is the beginnings of a small lofi house album I sketched out with the same drum kit/program across all my projects, so it's the MIDI I need more than the samples. And if I can't import, I will just track out the bits n' pieces I have.

So I have a USB multicard reader (https://www.bestbuy.com/product/insignia-usb-2-0-multiformat-memory-card-reader-black/J2FPJKCWS7...will that work with the Live for transferring my JJOS projects off my CF cards? Lamp's comment about the USB 3.0 confuses me a bit and I'm trying to sift through the manual...does it have to be minimum USB 3.0 and powered? Or do you just mean if it's specifically a USB 3.0 connection it has to be powered as well? That multicard reader is USB 2.0. Can I plug that in and will it read my CF cards? Or is it going to think it's a drive and not work? I guess I can just get an SD card too, then just drag & drop from CF card/desktop to that. Or Live into the computer (but obviously I'm trying to avoid that for the hassle)

I think he was saying that if you use USB 3, you need to use a powered hub. You can still use 2.0.

You should be able to put your JJ file on the your Live2 folder & load it from there directly. Then compare it with the project on the old MPC & fix/adjust whatever needed. Something in the JJ have now way to be transferred & you'll have to just sample that shit like you mentioned.

Alright looks like I'm off to the local gadget stores to shop for one of those today. And to clarify, this is because the MPC's USB power output is poor? And does anyone use SD cards? I'm thinking about picking one up too because if I'm away from my MPC, I can hook up my multicard reader to the computer and transfer from PC to SD card and back & forth instead of PC to Live 2 in Controller mode. I don't need it for storage, but file transferring.

(well shit, I just realized I have USB thumb drives laying around everywhere and according to the Akai site, I can even plug these in too)

Because of studio ergonomics, I'm just trying to avoid hooking the Live up to my PC unless necessary; pretty sure there's some Akai software I need to put on my computer too (which is fried, but functional)

Yeah I decided to forego picking up a hub & SD card because I'm just trying to transfer those JJOS files off my CF cards and the thumb drives will do; another reason for picking up a newer MPC is it basically has enough storage space and drive options that I don't have to resort to external physical media for saving anymore or deleting old projects...I have like two dozen CF cards laying around because I found some for cheap on Craigslist looong ago for the 2000XL & 1000...but I suppose people had even more floppies back in the day