You know the new MPCS are a failure when...

What up mang how are you? I thought you knrw it didn't have phantom power from the first specs.

MaScHiNeHeAd wrote:No probs with the Live here. The only issue I have is having enough hours in the day to learn the bloody thing properly!!
For the most part, everything works the way it's supposed to for what I'm doing, (given the progress of the os!)
Had the occasional crash way back, but certainly nothing recent, so I'm really happy with it.
The only downside is the lack of Fantom power for mics, but that's not a deal-breaker for me.
I have a tube pre-amp that has it, & does the job nicely!!
Happy as here!!

Yes it starts to be useable and actually when you start to learn it you go with flow perfectly.
Using track mute and pad mute and saving midi notes to an external synth and opening and closing filters is a beauty.
Today I realised how good is the tape delay, i was disappointed at the beginning for its minimalistic display but it has a great sound if you push the feedback and filter all with qknobs.

The new MPCS are the last controller/software you will need.

@ Danoc: Wassup, homie...I'm good thx!! How u?
Yeah, I knew phantom power was missing, but i didn't really need vocals then, so it wasn't an issue.
It's only recently that I've started to experiment with vocal tracks, as one of my buddies is doing the vox duties!!
Another thing I forgot to mention, was (more a strength than anything else..) was how handy that VST hack that Tutor came up with..bloody brilliant!! Means I have every sound I need @ my disposal!!
Peace..

The new MPCs aren't perfect, but then again, what is.

If I got touchscreen automation capabilities on standalone + PDC on software, I wouldn't ask for much more.

Yes sir! Im good.

MaScHiNeHeAd wrote:@ Danoc: Wassup, homie...I'm good thx!! How u?
Yeah, I knew phantom power was missing, but i didn't really need vocals then, so it wasn't an issue.
It's only recently that I've started to experiment with vocal tracks, as one of my buddies is doing the vox duties!!
Another thing I forgot to mention, was (more a strength than anything else..) was how handy that VST hack that Tutor came up with..bloody brilliant!! Means I have every sound I need @ my disposal!!
Peace..

Profound

Fanu wrote:The new MPCs aren't perfect, but then again, what is.

If I got touchscreen automation capabilities on standalone + PDC on software, I wouldn't ask for much more.

If you’ve been on MPC-Forums for a long time, you’ll notice this same trend when a new MPC comes out.
When I first joined the forum in 2003, it was total **** session on here when the 4000 came out, also when the 1000 came out, also when the 500 came out, also when the 2500 came out, also when the 5000 came out ...

I'm honestly on the fence with mine, but I am honest and say it is more the user than the tool. I wanted standalone capabilities. The MPC Live did that, though for it to do what I wanted, I was also bringing along my XKey and iPad Pro with me to work everyday. It would take me a couple moments to setup, but I put in work. Then I realized that for how I was using the MPC (sampling synths and the such I was making on the iPad as I've never been a big sampler), that I could just use the DAW softwares I already had on the IPad (Beat Maker 3, iMPC Pro/2, Korg Gadget, Tabletop, & Music Studio). So I stopped bringing the MPC to work, as the iPad Pro by itself was good enough. Then at home, I don't use the MPC software, I run an Ableton/Push setup with a ton of outboard gear...so my MPC has had VERY little use for a couple maybe even a few months now.

Is it because its a bad product? Absolutely not. It did exactly what I wanted. Are there things I would change, absolutely, but I also admit, that most of them are born from me not coming from an MPC background (Reason/Fruity/Sonar/Reason/Ableton). I would gladly have paid extra money for the horse power to have some built in sound generation. Though the options are there I haven't seen much with regards to additional options on effects. There is a ton of menu diving that I feel could be handled better, I actually question the touchscreen, I primarily use it for saving files & navigating menus, it isn't bad, but I don't feel like it speeds up my workflow (and I admit I am still a MPC scrub). The process for pulling sounds from a VST should be quicker/shorter, I look at all the stuff I have for iMPC, and would love to be able to quickly migrate everything.

Being realist, I'm sitting back trying to figure out what to do, I think for me to REALLY get the most out of the MPC Live, I need to really bring it into my home studio, trying to use it for 'just' stand alone cuts off too much of its value, and then I think of my hardware synths and sound generation sources, and think that if I'm doing that, I should invest in the MPCX, which again leaves my MPC Live with little use...and I would be abandoning what I have for Ableton in that situation - which aint happening.

In short I think they have something good, but there are some "adjustments" that could/should be made in a future iteration (sound generation via drums and via a couple basic synth types) as that would help the stand alone crowd, maybe a 1 cm height reduction if possible to make laptop bags more usable, etc. But I would HARDLY consider it a failure, just not as far sweeping as its competition.
- Unreall

My suggestion:
Learn how to use Live, dig into it and you will slowly start not using the rest.
I started with Mpc Live, a synth, external effects, a sequencer all going to a mixer.
As I started to understand Live, i started selling something. I sold the sequencer, then an external delay, a kaoss pad and so on.
Now I just have Live with a synth and the mixer.
For example I just realised how good Mpc delays are after 4 months and so I sold a Strymon Timeline.
I realised how good the filters and I sold a Roland bitrazer.
You know, the only thing really missing is a good stereo reverb, so I still keep my SA Ventris, for now.
I really think that if you use MPC Live as it is and not as an alternative of a daw, you get to its power and you don't need anything else.
Maybe just a synth. And a reverb

Moral of this thread is when Akai gives you lemons you make lemonade?

Ill-Green wrote:Moral of this thread is when Akai gives you lemons you make lemonade?

That's music equipment in general though.
- Unreall

another positive post from me: Yes, my MPCX works fine. As mentioned in another post - I am having a 14 year history of using the Yamaha RS7000 and was eager to find a replacement - I found it. The RS7000 was far away from being perfect, but the best one could buy at the time as an integrated standalone MIDI studio.
People like Rokgod are constant complainers. What ever you buy in your life, it will never meet your expectation by 100% (..a partner ). And as mentioned by MaScHiNeHeAd - learn the machine and get used to it, find ways around issues instead of hammering your head against it al the time. This way you will never get happy with anything.

DeaDeus wrote:another positive post from me: Yes, my MPCX works fine. As mentioned in another post - I am having a 14 year history of using the Yamaha RS7000 and was eager to find a replacement - I found it. The RS7000 was far away from being perfect, but the best one could buy at the time as an integrated standalone MIDI studio.
People like Rokgod are constant complainers. What ever you buy in your life, it will never meet your expectation by 100% (..a partner ). And as mentioned by MaScHiNeHeAd - learn the machine and get used to it, find ways around issues instead of hammering your head against it al the time. This way you will never get happy with anything.

It really seems to me that people who complain about a product have bought the product based upon some promise from a company for a feature or fix that hasn’t been implemented yet. The trick to avoiding that is to not buy with expectations of features or fixes.

I have three sequencers I really love that I bought without expectations of anything more and thoroughly did research on. Two of them out of production and no hope of anything newer happening to them and knew after the research just what complaints there were and decided up front before plopping down my cash on them, that they were what they were. No reason to complain. The third and last purchase I made I bought for all the features it currently had, but a big bonus is that some new cool stuff coming in next firmware release and great responsive support from the company. Also thoroughly researched.

When the new MPC’s have their final version out, I’ll decide if it’s something I still want and if I can live with stated complaints or drawbacks from other owners, I’ll buy and never look back. That’s why I’m still hanging around here reading all the comments (also cuz its a great forum in general)