MPC2500 vs Live

lol funny thing is Akai had some glitches but some of the stuff had to do with dudes not installing correctly.

I wouldn't pay that gor no 2500.

CharlesRandolph wrote:
MPC 2500 tact switches have always been an issue and as far as Ripbay aka Ripoff Ebay. Most of the those 2500 will not sell for that price. I agree best to get a live or X at least there is support for it.

Then you won't have to open it up, test all the switches, caps, main board, power supply, screen, knobs, faders, pads, pad sensor and everything else.

Listing says smoke free environment. But inside the machine it has more ashes than a Catholic church during Easter.

[/quote]

If he can find a 2500 in great condition, I say pick it up. However if he has to upgrade it and repair it. The cost is not worth the issue. As of now, the LIVE and X is an excellent buy, if there are issues he can take it back.

I find it funny they want 1299 or more for some of these machines. All because it has a purple skin decal and purple pads. If PRINCE did not own it. They won't get 1299. RIP-BAY! [/quote]

$2000??? For a paint job & a bit of cheap memory , hdd, cd drive & fat pads?? Only one of those 25k's has a larger screen!!
I paid about £950 for mine TEN YEARS AGO!! I've upgraded it sure, but that's one hell of a mark-up!!
it's basically half the price again for parts that don't cost that much (with the exceptions of the pads, screen & cd drive)

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my 25K, it's a very capable machine, but I prefer my Live for all the reasons I've previously documented.

Well I didnt pull the trigger yet

Wow this aint an easy decision... goddamn, the Live looks more and more like it actually has a future...
But if I get a Live and Akai releases the next machine 2 months after and my firmware is not grade A at that point then I‘m really done with Akai

CharlesRandolph wrote:
The listener do not care if you made it in FL Studio, Cubase, SP 1200, MPC 4000, or a with a broken guitar and busted drum-set. All they care about is do they like it.

With that said, get what works for you. Resell value do not matter, your music composition should pay back the cost of the gear ten fold. As far as sound goes, it all depends on the ROOM you are in and the SPEAKERS you use, The cables you have, and the other gear you have connected.

The sound difference between the 2500 and Live is really not that noticeable. Now a SP12 to the LIVE/2500 is night and day. But in the end, all the matters is do you like the music you make? Do your audience like the music you make?

You've mentioned that you will traveling with MPC and Portable Turntable. If sonic quality is your aim, you may not want to sample off those portable turntables. To much flutter, horrible cables, horrific noise floor, and the needles are not good.

I disagree,

My music neither has to make some sort of income, as making music is not the job I earn my money with. I make music because I love to make music. Any side effect of maybe earning some cash here and there is nice, but I never expected or planned to make even a dime with my stuff... I do my music for myself, for my friends and for my followers.

Yeah and J-Dilla basicly used the same record player by Numark lol. I doubt the sound quality is going to be noticeable bad, but what do I know

http://equipboard.com/pros/j-dilla/numa ... ord-player

I can‘t carry a 10kg giant ass record player with me, I got one of these at home tho

And 2500 cannot preview samples on HD while your song is playing.
If it could, I'd still have it.
Live can do this.

And that Numark quality IS bad. Compare it to any decent turntable, and then you'll notice.
You'll get really thin drums, for example. Shame; I see a lot of dudes use it. You'll miss out on a lot of meat by using that.
OK for thinner sounds like strings, but drums and bass…not good.

ayatolli wrote:

CharlesRandolph wrote:
The listener do not care if you made it in FL Studio, Cubase, SP 1200, MPC 4000, or a with a broken guitar and busted drum-set. All they care about is do they like it.

With that said, get what works for you. Resell value do not matter, your music composition should pay back the cost of the gear ten fold. As far as sound goes, it all depends on the ROOM you are in and the SPEAKERS you use, The cables you have, and the other gear you have connected.

The sound difference between the 2500 and Live is really not that noticeable. Now a SP12 to the LIVE/2500 is night and day. But in the end, all the matters is do you like the music you make? Do your audience like the music you make?

You've mentioned that you will traveling with MPC and Portable Turntable. If sonic quality is your aim, you may not want to sample off those portable turntables. To much flutter, horrible cables, horrific noise floor, and the needles are not good.

I disagree,

My music neither has to make some sort of income, as making music is not the job I earn my money with. I make music because I love to make music. Any side effect of maybe earning some cash here and there is nice, but I never expected or planned to make even a dime with my stuff... I do my music for myself, for my friends and for my followers.

Yeah and J-Dilla basicly used the same record player by Numark lol. I doubt the sound quality is going to be noticeable bad, but what do I know

http://equipboard.com/pros/j-dilla/numa ... ord-player

I can‘t carry a 10kg giant ass record player with me, I got one of these at home tho

There is nothing wrong with making music as a hobby and Yes many people use the numark to sample, that's why I said, If sonic quality is your aim, you may not want to sample off those portable turntables. Not to mention, those numark needles DESTROY VINYL. I had one. and its one of the reason many record stores, don't like people using them to playback records on. Playing records on the pt1 is like digging a nail into it.

Fanu wrote:And that Numark quality IS bad. Compare it to any decent turntable, and then you'll notice.
You'll get really thin drums, for example. Shame; I see a lot of dudes use it. You'll miss out on a lot of meat by using that.
OK for thinner sounds like strings, but drums and bass…not good.

You got it! After 3 passes on that numark. There's no drums or bass left to sample. I won't even put my 180 Gram records next to it.

Also the MIDI and Audio Jitter on the 2500 even with the jjos is not up to par. Has anyone tested the Jitter for the Live and X yet? Because the last I've heard it was between 2 and 4 ms.

Lmao lol yeppers paying for a paint custom job pretty much.

I wouldn't go backwards either. Hell l'll take a glutchy Live new over used MPC any day. The technology in these new MPCs are so dam nice. It saves me a ton of time. That "Exploding Tracks " function is so sweet. I use to manually copy and paste sounds from one track to another on the 2000XL. Hell no l would never go back to that old technology. I don't have to track out using a bunch of cables. You get the option to again Explode your tracks and export stems l couldn't do that ish with my 2000XL. That XY Effect filter joint is sick you can't do that on any of the legacy MPCs.

The live/X is a Computer/ Drum Sequencer/ Sampler. Plus it has a battery to make it portable. That sold me right there. You can't do that with the 2500. Lazy chop samplws OMG when l saw that l pissed my pants! Its to dam easy now!

Here's the sweetness , it comes with a toilet bowl of sounds and you get the sofware which hive you FREE Vsts like Velvet, which is one of the top joints that supply you with the Mark I and Mark II. No one can day it sounds like garbage. Mini Grand OMG! Is a top Piano and l had to pay for it and Velvet when l had Protools. Hybrid 3 is crazy hot, you can do any genre of music with it. Xpand is another free dope Vst and the list goes on. You're not going to get all that with the 2500.

There's to much goodness to even think about going back to the Legacy machines. And that 3000 emulation in it is a beast!

The convertors are extra sweet in both machines. Vocals come out nice and clear. I was shocked --->:-O

I got a 7 inch screen instead of that iddy biddy screen and its sensitive and works very well. You can nudge midi notes in place quickly, add swing etc. QLink knobs work like a charm.

The Live have way more than l expected and the X would of been over kill for me. Hell the live is overkill for me lol lm not going to use everything in it but l love the technology which l do use.

I would not trade up for a 2500 nor 2000XL or any other machine for the Live. Don't even get me started on the on the X! Its the Cracklin! Lmao

MaScHiNeHeAd wrote:$2000??? For a paint job & a bit of cheap memory , hdd, cd drive & fat pads?? Only one of those 25k's has a larger screen!!
I paid about £950 for mine TEN YEARS AGO!! I've upgraded it sure, but that's one hell of a mark-up!!
it's basically half the price again for parts that don't cost that much (with the exceptions of the pads, screen & cd drive)

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my 25K, it's a very capable machine, but I prefer my Live for all the reasons I've previously documented.

Ummm dude it is the future! Akai is still working on it. 2.2.1 is nice. I kid you not the Sequencer is on point! I have zero glitches!

I tell yah what wait 2 more months and you will be waitng. Akai isn't coming out with new machines no time soon.

But the future is looking good. They're no machines on standalone like these machines out here.

ayatolli wrote:Well I didnt pull the trigger yet

Wow this aint an easy decision... goddamn, the Live looks more and more like it actually has a future...
But if I get a Live and Akai releases the next machine 2 months after and my firmware is not grade A at that point then I‘m really done with Akai

It just depends on what you need/want. I have a maxed out 2500 & 500 that I could sell, buy the Live & have money left over. Main reasons I don't:

I use the 4 midi outs on the 2500 to control my studio. Live only has 2. 2500 has more individual outs (I think it has double), I have mine connected to guitar pedals & other effect processors.

The 500 is more portable than the Live. Just because the Live takes batteries doesn't mean it's super portable. The 500 is the same size as my ipad, WAAAAY smaller than the Live. Plus I don't mind leavin the 500 in my car & taking it to work everyday. I would never leave the Live in my car & wouldn't want to lug it around everyday.

I don't like making beats on an ipad because I don't like using a touchscreen to make music. Just can't get into it.

I don't use a DAW. I don't export stems, I don't download samples, none of that shit. I don't use sample packs, ect, ect.

I actually like limitations. I made some of my best beats on my 500, also on the 404sx. Might take more time, but my skill level has increased big time & I'm more proud of beats when I put the work in.

You just need to figure out what's important to you. If I used a DAW or computer I would definitely get the Live. I would make sure I could return it that way if I just couldn't handle the touchscreen or whatever else, I would be able to return it & get something else.

It’s interesting that it was marketed as a Standalone, but most that like it use it with a DAW. I’ve held off because I haven’t used a DAW in four years ad it still can’t do some of the things I want in a Standalone sequencer right. Still hoping for updates to address everything I need, then maybe, but found another product that is working pretty good as a true Standalone, portable, has 6 hour battery life and very creative.

Posted about it in Other Samplers section. It’s not an MPC, but does pretty good. Still using my mv8800 too for the not-so-portable (!) sessions

Hmmmm there's no such thing as SUPER PORTABLE! The Live is definitely portable , more so than a 2500 or 2000XL or 500! Id rather port that around than the 500 or 2500.
Here's the scenario , you just left your house to go to the major studio, YOU FORGET YOUR POWER CORD, now you have to go all the way back home then go all the way back to the stu. If l leave my cord home l can stay at the stu for at least 7 hours on battery without worry. I wont have to worry about TRACKING OUT IN 2018. Making it great l don't waste more time on my battery.

You get 2 options on getting tracks out.
1. Tracking out (old way)
2. Bouncing or Exporting stems (fast way). This eliminates extra cords to be attached to the machine. The only cord that is hooked up is my power cord (if l take it) and my head phone cord That's it. Now that's what you call portability! There are two jacks in the stu that can connect into the live to hear over the monitors or just wait until l drop it in Protools. Ask the many people who port their Live aound is it a big problem. Put it in the bag and go!

I never heard the OP say he wanted the 500. Yeah its smaller but you can't compare it to the Live on any scale!

At some point you dump your music into a DAW am l correct? So how are you dumping your tracks?

You get to put a HHD in the 2500 but IDE? That's old ribbon technology once that ribbon goes you gotta replace the HHD. The live takes Sata connection and SSD (no movable parts) drive.

It's cool if you wanna stay in the archaic world but don't make it seem like the Live can't handle its business. Its a power house with new technology in it.

Peace

Sharris wrote:It just depends on what you need/want. I have a maxed out 2500 & 500 that I could sell, buy the Live & have money left over. Main reasons I don't:

I use the 4 midi outs on the 2500 to control my studio. Live only has 2. 2500 has more individual outs (I think it has double), I have mine connected to guitar pedals & other effect processors.

The 500 is more portable than the Live. Just because the Live takes batteries doesn't mean it's super portable. The 500 is the same size as my ipad, WAAAAY smaller than the Live. Plus I don't mind leavin the 500 in my car & taking it to work everyday. I would never leave the Live in my car & wouldn't want to lug it around everyday.

I don't like making beats on an ipad because I don't like using a touchscreen to make music. Just can't get into it.

I don't use a DAW. I don't export stems, I don't download samples, none of that ****. I don't use sample packs, ect, ect.

I actually like limitations. I made some of my best beats on my 500, also on the 404sx. Might take more time, but my skill level has increased big time & I'm more proud of beats when I put the work in.

You just need to figure out what's important to you. If I used a DAW or computer I would definitely get the Live. I would make sure I could return it that way if I just couldn't handle the touchscreen or whatever else, I would be able to return it & get something else.

It was marketed as a standalone because it can work as a standalone , but Akai did it smart to be able to rock with a DAW. I use mine in mostly standalone when doing my drums and melodies. Who's to say what is the percentage of peeps using it with a DAW unless you have some documented statistics.

You didn't name the product you have that uses a battery. May l ask what that is?

You didn't mention any of the things you need that the Live doesn't have. Name a few.

Peace

Wormhelmet wrote:It’s interesting that it was marketed as a Standalone, but most that like it use it with a DAW. I’ve held off because I haven’t used a DAW in four years ad it still can’t do some of the things I want in a Standalone sequencer right. Still hoping for updates to address everything I need, then maybe, but found another product that is working pretty good as a true Standalone, portable, has 6 hour battery life and very creative.

Posted about it in Other Samplers section. It’s not an MPC, but does pretty good. Still using my mv8800 too for the not-so-portable (!) sessions

Danoc,

You just have to navigate to other samplers and beat boxes section of this website and my posts on the product are right there. It wouldn’t fit your style I’m sure, but I don’t really care who’s style it fits unless it’s mine. Live works for you but too many bugs still for me. I need good customer support on a working as advertised machine or a machine that has been in a finished state for awhile.

I was using DAW’s for 14 years before going DAWless again. My mixer has a feature to spit out wav to thumb drive and I put in a two track editor on iPad for finalizing or just use Audacity or Adobe Audition on PC to throw some fade outs and convert to format for my websites.

It’s great your happy with Live, but some people wanna roll with what they know or feel is stable and gives them the tool they need to get their tracks out.