Maschine user wanting to try MPC Live

Hey guys & gals. The thought of a standalone groove box sounds exciting and I was thinking that it would give me new motivation for music production. The problem is I've only used Maschine and nothing else. I wasn't sure if I would like the MPC workflow so I went to test one out at Guitar Center. I wanted to try some hands on by myself with no help to see if I could figure it out on my own. Well, I was not successful. I understood the menu a little bit but trying to load sounds and kits was not working for me. When I asked the GC staff I was surprised that they were also clueless. So my question is should I try it again? Would a Maschine user like the MPC workflow? I would like to see what it does in person before buying one since it's pricey. By the way if there's anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area that has a MPC X or MPC Live and wouldn't mind showing me some features that would be great.

Hey, J-Fly!! I came from an MPC 2500, to Maschine, bought a 500 for portability, & then the MPC Live dropped & BANG! I had everything in one box, daw, sampler, audio recorder, storage system, everything. I'll admit I'm not totally desktop free, but the majority of my workflow is inside the box. It goes to work with me, & on my lunch break, it comes out of my backpack & off I go!! Best 45 mins of the day!
Think of it as a Maschine, but without all the fancy plugin gui's, they're not that different.
You will notice some differences, but the basics are pretty much identical, it's just a matter of becoming familiar with the menu system, buggy as it is, but then, Maschine throws the odd wobbly too...
It's a great box. Glad I bought it.
Generally, I've found peeps that work in audio equipment stores to swing wildly from bloody useless, to legends!! I would give it another go.
To load sounds, go to browser, then places. programs (ending .xpm) should appear. Either double tap on the desired program, or use the jog-wheel, scroll to the program you want & click down on the jog-wheel. it'll load the program with sounds. Go back to Home, & then go to programs at the bottom of the page & click on the drop down (double-tap) and select the program. & you just assigned it to the track. Pads should sound.
Hope that helps.
Alternatively, buy Tutor's MPC Live/X bible, & study it. THEN go into GC & put that knowledge to good use..)
Peace, bro..

Former Maschine user here. I now own the X. I can tell you this (my opinion of course):
Maschine is great. From a controller point of view it is vastly superior in flexibility, workflow, stability. The kits are amazing. Now, there is no standalone with Maschine and really wanted to try out an OTB workflow, because with maschine i was often distracted by the possibilities and doing a lot with the mouse (especially grid editing). And it's so close to a daw like ableton that it frustrated me that actually isn't. The transition from a maschine project into a ableton project (to finish the composition) is so cumbersome that i stopped using it and went with Push2 instead. I reckoned if i'm using the mouse all the time, why not do that in the program all my compositions end up in after all. Ableton.
Now with the MPC X there are a lot of limitations, mostly because it is based on an ancient workflow. And this... is kind of growing on me. The whole psychology behind standalone, not being able to do anything with the PC, is liberating and really helps me focus and get in the flow. I am learning to work with it's limitations and frustrating. It's far from perfect but there are quite a few nifty features unique to the mpc workflow. It really lends itself to sampling, sample manipulation, pitching, copying samples across the pads and making variations. Stuff i didn't do with Maschine. With maschine i would mostly use factory content and build grooves from that.

If you mainly use it in the studio i would strongly recommend the X. The Live has a crippled interface to me, since much needs to be done via the touch screen, which kind of takes away the idea of working on a dedicated machine (with dedicated controls). If you're playing live, that's a different question. If i go live i prefer the push/laptop combi since the live is too limited and would always need to be accompanied by other gear (quality reverb, distortion, master fx, limiter/compressor). But there's no denying the fun of making music on the go with the Live.

So Yes you should give i another try, but first read the manual (or bible as suggested above (..hmmm that sounds devine.)), watch movies and then take a few hours in the shop. It took me a few weeks to decide wether it fits my workflow. And I don't have the definite answer yet, but i'm having a great time using with the occasional frustration about bugs and some obvious missing features and the occasional double triggering pads. But the limitations work for me and i'm getting faster at doing what i want and, most important, having fun doing so. So yes for me it is a motivator.

But only buy it if you really go standalone. In controller mode it's fine (and more suited to use without the mouse then maschine) but way behind the machine software. E.g. building songs is cumbersome, re ordering sequences and tracks is impossible .In standalone i can accept those limitations and there are ways around this , but you really need to put in the effort to learn the MPC way. And like with everything, once you learn to master it, you can make great things with anything. I really hope you can try it with someone near you. If i was, you would have been invited, but there are a few thousand miles between us . Why not buy it, use it for a week or two, and bring it back if it's not you thing. That's possible with GC right?

Good luck!

oh and the MPCX hardware is Ace. That really adds to the users experience imo.

Hi J-Fly!!!
My first time music production gear was MPC live and it took about a week or so to understand what really MPC Live is. But I'm really satisfied with this machine and I'm enjoying it!
Before I buy Live, I researched another gears(old MPC models) and I also checked Maschine. I chose Live because It is standalone and I really don't want to make music with computer but if Maschine is standalone, I would've choose Maschine.
I guess there's difference in Maschien and Live and I think both has their own good point. So if you have chance to try Live at Guitar Center, I recommend you to try it few more times and understand the differences.
And there's many "how-to" on youtube, so check them out and try that on the GC!
Hope this will help to you

Thanks for the replies. I was digging through this website and found the MPC Bible that was mentioned. I think it will be a good read. MeProd, you really got me thinking on if I need a Live or X. I would have to really weigh the pros and cons once I commit to going the MPC standalone route. So the reason why I chose the specific Guitar Center that I went to is because they had a MPC Live on display. There’s another Guitar Center that told me they didn’t have one on display but would pull one out the box and show me how it works. I think I’ll give theme a visit. I’m not making music with Maschine because honestly I’m too distracted with all these libraries and VSTs. Sampling is also not that easy with Maschine so I don’t use but would like to get more into that. I need the convenience of not sitting in from of a computer and just banging out beats.

I was using nothing but my Maschine Studio at one point and picked up the MPC X and never looked back. Wait! I did go back to the Maschine briefly a few weeks ago and immediately shut it off and went back to my X. The Maschine integrates well with the software, KK2, etc. but I have to work too hard to get things to feel comfortable. I still do not know why this is the case, maybe it is just my approach to it.

In short--Yes try the MPC Live! You will not be sorry.

You sound like me
MPC Live will fit nicely to what you need...

J-Fly wrote:Thanks for the replies. I was digging through this website and found the MPC Bible that was mentioned. I think it will be a good read. MeProd, you really got me thinking on if I need a Live or X. I would have to really weigh the pros and cons once I commit to going the MPC standalone route. So the reason why I chose the specific Guitar Center that I went to is because they had a MPC Live on display. There’s another Guitar Center that told me they didn’t have one on display but would pull one out the box and show me how it works. I think I’ll give theme a visit. I’m not making music with Maschine because honestly I’m too distracted with all these libraries and VSTs. Sampling is also not that easy with Maschine so I don’t use but would like to get more into that. I need the convenience of not sitting in from of a computer and just banging out beats.

I think I should just buy Live and play around with it. If I don’t like it maybe I can return or sell it. If I like it but notice limitations then I can upgrade to the X. Is that a good strategy?

J: Buy the Live & learn it. Persist, don't be put off by limitations, they are simply there to help you solve problems & create workarounds.
The X will be a good buy once you know how to use the Live. Plus, the Live is portable, so the scenarios for where & when you make your beats are endless!

J-Fly wrote:Hey guys & gals. The thought of a standalone groove box sounds exciting and I was thinking that it would give me new motivation for music production. The problem is I've only used Maschine and nothing else. I wasn't sure if I would like the MPC workflow so I went to test one out at Guitar Center. I wanted to try some hands on by myself with no help to see if I could figure it out on my own. Well, I was not successful. I understood the menu a little bit but trying to load sounds and kits was not working for me. When I asked the GC staff I was surprised that they were also clueless. So my question is should I try it again? Would a Maschine user like the MPC workflow? I would like to see what it does in person before buying one since it's pricey. By the way if there's anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area that has a MPC X or MPC Live and wouldn't mind showing me some features that would be great.

Im outta town right now. If I were back home I would help you out, but just cop it. It's really easy to learn.

To start out just go to Browser, click The Vault2 to the far left, make sure the four square symbol is highlighted, find the program you want to work with and click load, go back to the main screen, select the program in the Drum Program window and youre off and running.

Ok, I'm going slow........very slow. Just following the MPC X MPC Live Bible step by step. I noticed that sometimes audio takes a few seconds to kick in after it goes to sleep (slightly dark screen). I assume that's normal.

Its a laptop in an MPC, just configure what you need at the System page. My Live never sleeps

I'm sure it's probably not appropriate to make duplicate posts but I asked in another thread and thought I could discuss hear since it's related. In the MPC X & MPC Live Bible, it has me experimenting with a sequence starting on Pg 78. I don’t have any sound with the sequence example that I’m supposed to use so I assume I’m doing something wrong but I can’t figure it out. Sound through the MPC is fine but there’s no sound with this specific Overdub sequence.