MPC/ MPC Forum veterans, what are your X/ Live verdicts?

Danoc wrote:LOL
DAM LOL

IMA say it in the other direction.

I was looking for a replacement to my 2000XL and l found it in the live lol

I think that was the way to go, because you've improved on your Tools, which has allowed your music to grow. Many times people, let price get in the way of their growth. They keep buying beginner tools and wonder why they are not inspired, have not improved, or just outgrown that gear.

They also buy too much gear, to fast, that they are not ready for or just does the same exact thing.

CharlesRandolph wrote:
That may be fine for working in the box, however if you ever want to work with live musicians and vocalist. You're going to need more than a Macbook and Ableton.

Yep.Like a mic input !!!!! Keyboard,multiple inputs.......

dryad-66 wrote:

CharlesRandolph wrote:
That may be fine for working in the box, however if you ever want to work with live musicians and vocalist. You're going to need more than a Macbook and Ableton.

Yep.Like a mic input !!!!! Keyboard,multiple inputs.......

Yes, with the current MPC you have....do you feel you've outgrown it's capabilities?

No.Because i use it in conjunction with the daw,MpC software ect.The 5000 sounds like hardware.Its a bit grungy and 3D.When you adjust parameters it comes alive.Which is why i like the 4000.The cleaner stuff comes together inside the box usually.The thing i dont like about all the old school MPC's and hardware is that searching,loading and making new projects ect is laborious.But with the minimum i have i get solid results.I dont have to scan huge libraries,plugins ect.But yeah it can be pain in the butt.The Live excels in this regard.

Icepulse wrote:

bredal187 wrote:Bang for the buck is not the MPC Live, but that doesn't mean you can't make better music on it then with better equipment

Do you have one?

Yes. And I also own a Maschine Studio and Kontrol S49

I like the Live, but it's not worth the current price tag. It's nothing more then a sample player.

In Denmark the Live cost $1300 and it's honestly not worth more the $1000... MAX

dryad-66 wrote:No.Because i use it in conjunction with the daw,MpC software ect.The 5000 sounds like hardware.Its a bit grungy and 3D.When you adjust parameters it comes alive.Which is why i like the 4000.The cleaner stuff comes together inside the box usually.The thing i dont like about all the old school MPC's and hardware is that searching,loading and making new projects ect is laborious.But with the minimum i have i get solid results.I dont have to scan huge libraries,plugins ect.But yeah it can be pain in the butt.The Live excels in this regard.

Its good that you enjoy the 5000 however i hated the thing when i had it. i was one of the idiots that bought one day one and then sold it and bought it again after the OS 2 came out. I just didnt like the sound of the thing at all. it was very clean sounding at the time when compared to the 1000.

I expected the live to sound too clean when i first bought it but i definitely has its own sound. i have no idea if its my imagination but if you make a beat in standalone and then reopen it in the software it definitely sounds different. I like the Live as i said before however i would in no way spend the extra cash on a MPC X.Now that thing seems to be ridiculously overpriced for the minimal differences between that and the live.

Don Blake wrote:
Its good that you enjoy the 5000 however i hated the thing when i had it. i was one of the idiots that bought one day one and then sold it and bought it again after the OS 2 came out. I just didnt like the sound of the thing at all. it was very clean sounding at the time when compared to the 1000.

I expected the live to sound too clean when i first bought it but i definitely has its own sound. i have no idea if its my imagination but if you make a beat in standalone and then reopen it in the software it definitely sounds different. I like the Live as i said before however i would in no way spend the extra cash on a MPC X.Now that thing seems to be ridiculously overpriced for the minimal differences between that and the live.

Its certainly clean generally but is also very dynamic.Hits pretty hard in the general scheme of things.Has some texture but is not colored.If you dont like the sound or whatever thats fine.Just the general reaction even today on the web is to dis it.Kinda gets old when your sitting there with it and its performing impeccably.The filters are severe.Maybe my favorite filters due to the extreme variety of the samples tones you can sweep (ie high pass) and could rip your ear drums off. I compared many many times sound for sound with the SW and the 5000 had/has more energy.Like the individual same hits feel warmer,more present.The SW feels more like playback.Which is fine.Just leaves me a little cold.Still they are both pretty much the same thing.

edit-Sad but im gonna probably sell the 5000 as im moving east for the winter and its maybe just too big to take.The SW does not replace it but is great in its own way.And in some ways a lot easier.And some ways better of course.

We did blind test using a mpc 1000, 3000, 2000 XL, 4000, SP1200, MPC 5000.

Before sampling we Unity Gained each machine.
CD player ran though the same mixer and same channel same cables.
No Volume. EQ or Compression added.
Sampled the same drum loop into each machine.
Sample into the inputs on the sampler.
Then assigned a sample to a pad and record it back into the same DAW.

In the Blind Test most people could not tell the difference. We also sample a Guitar, Bass, and Piano and in that those test the SP 1200 was called out. However, the other machine people could not tell any difference. The end results, showed that at optimal setting, all the devices will reproduce abut 94% to 96% of what it samples. The biggest change happened in a drop of 2 to 4 DB. (SP 1200)

Profoundly said

They also follow the next man instead of getting what works for them. You don't need tons of gear you need talent and to know your equipment! When you have clients you have to be dead on with getting what works for you.

CharlesRandolph wrote:
I think that was the way to go, because you've improved on your Tools, which has allowed your music to grow. Many times people, let price get in the way of their growth. They keep buying beginner tools and wonder why they are not inspired, have not improved, or just outgrown that gear.

They also buy too much gear, to fast, that they are not ready for or just does the same exact thing.

@ Charles R - Agreed there's not a big difference.Especially to the majority of people.But it be there.Every single MPC ive owned over 25 years sounded different.The 5000 for instance and the 4000 for that matter you lose the top end when you sample.That sizzling bit that the computer playback has.Also like the 2000 you kind of get the slightly dull thud of the bass drums.The 2000 had a kind of mild furry tone when sound test monitoring too through headphones next to the 4000.I kind liked that (2000).Felt a tad more vintage and warmer then the 4000.The 4000 dont like 808 bass drums directly sampled.The 1000 does.Reproduces a clean 808 bd better imo.F8ck man....the 4000 and the Z8 sounded a lot different to me.The Z8 sounding more glassy.I dont trust anyones ears on the internet lol.S0.....i find the 2000 up to the 5000 have a nice slightly grungy warmer sound to the SW for instance.And i like it.The Akai racks completely different.Sharper.The SW,live and X from my limited testings are very good reproduction.Clean and pitch well.But lack character.When all is said and done,guess what???they all sound akai like.At least the previous ones did.But maybe there is some quirky character in the Live.I dunno.

Anyhows......its when you start stacking samples up,pitching and all that is when the small differences add up and create the sound of the machine.

Just check out that vid i posted.The sound of the 5k is all over that,Like it or not....

dryad-66 wrote:@ Charles R - Agreed there's not a big difference.Especially to the majority of people.But it be there.Every single MPC ive owned over 25 years sounded different.The 5000 for instance and the 4000 for that matter you lose the top end when you sample.That sizzling bit that the computer playback has.Also like the 2000 you kind of get the slightly dull thud of the bass drums.The 2000 had a kind of mild furry tone when sound test monitoring too through headphones next to the 4000.I kind liked that (2000).Felt a tad more vintage and warmer then the 4000.The 4000 dont like 808 bass drums directly sampled.The 1000 does.Reproduces a clean 808 bd better imo.F8ck man....the 4000 and the Z8 sounded a lot different to me.The Z8 sounding more glassy.I dont trust anyones ears on the internet lol.S0.....i find the 2000 up to the 5000 have a nice slightly grungy warmer sound to the SW for instance.And i like it.The Akai racks completely different.Sharper.The SW,live and X from my limited testings are very good reproduction.Clean and pitch well.But lack character.When all is said and done,guess what???they all sound akai like.At least the previous ones did.But maybe there is some quirky character in the Live.I dunno.

Anyhows......its when you start stacking samples up,pitching and all that is when the small differences add up and create the sound of the machine.

Just check out that vid i posted.The sound of the 5k is all over that,Like it or not....

We did a controlled blind test and there really is no difference at all. The change happens with how the individual calibrate their system.

I did listen to the audio in your video. The music is lacking a bottom and very mid driven. Perhaps you should provide the direct audio, not audio from the external mic.

I also saw your inputs and master knobs. Why is the input knob turned all the way down? You'll get more out of your machine, if you unity gain your input and output to zero. Once set, you should never have to touch those knobs, unless you've changed something out, or re-calibrating your system.

CharlesRandolph wrote:We did blind test using a mpc 1000, 3000, 2000 XL, 4000, SP1200, MPC 5000.

Before sampling we Unity Gained each machine.
CD player ran though the same mixer and same channel same cables.
No Volume. EQ or Compression added.
Sampled the same drum loop into each machine.
Sample into the inputs on the sampler.
Then assigned a sample to a pad and record it back into the same DAW.

In the Blind Test most people could not tell the difference. We also sample a Guitar, Bass, and Piano and in that those test the SP 1200 was called out. However, the other machine people could not tell any difference. The end results, showed that at optimal setting, all the devices will reproduce abut 94% to 96% of what it samples. The biggest change happened in a drop of 2 to 4 DB. (SP 1200)

This maybe the case but as dryad-66 said, i dont believe that this test takes into account building a song in a machine. I would never suggest that taking a sample of one sound across multiple machines would alter the sound by that much however im sure i would be able to identify a beat made on a 12bit sampler compared to say for instance a MPC 4000. There is no way that all those samplers that you mentioned sound exactly the same.

For a sample. That doesn’t take into account the summing as you mentioned. That’s when the differences get multiplied.

It prolly not the biggest difference but it’s noticeable to some degree.

Been playing around with drum processing with the live and when tracking stuff out it sounds way different than everything all in the machine. But that also takes into account everything in each signal chain even if stuff is bypassed.

CharlesRandolph wrote:
We did a controlled blind test and there really is no difference at all. The change happens with how the individual calibrate their system.

I did listen to the audio in your video. The music is lacking a bottom and very mid driven. Perhaps you should provide the direct audio, not audio from the external mic.

I also saw your inputs and master knobs. Why is the input knob turned all the way down? You'll get more out of your machine, if you unity gain your input and output to zero. Once set, you should never have to touch those knobs, unless you've changed something out, or re-calibrating your system.

You joking right.If not your a bit uptight.Your not making much sense brah.

Like i said before i don't really attach much concern in what i read about sound in the internet.Lot of stuff chatted.Im just a human who tries my best to find out about the machines and put them through there paces.I dont wear a labcoat tho.They are fricken different bro.Thats all.

That vid is not mine btw.BUT forget the lo this and not right that.Listen to the music,the sound.Its the 5000.The friggin 5000.That what it sounds like.That guy knows his machine very well.

Cockdiesel wrote:For a sample. That doesn’t take into account the summing as you mentioned. That’s when the differences get multiplied.

It prolly not the biggest difference but it’s noticeable to some degree.

Been playing around with drum processing with the live and when tracking stuff out it sounds way different than everything all in the machine. But that also takes into account everything in each signal chain even if stuff is bypassed.

You know this is something that ive spent years trying to figure out. its very rare that when you track a beat out to a pc that you can capture the exact sound that you were after when you originally make the beat.