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

Sharris wrote:It had nothing to do with you Charles, in no way do I want to belittle you. Out of the kindness of your heart you spread knowledge on this forum on a daily basis. We're lucky to have you here.

Like I said. For me it has nothing to do with finding the already perfect sound made ready to go. It's about turning something ugly into something I find beautiful or altering it completely into something different & making it mine. SOUND DESIGN. Personally I get A LOT of skill & knowledge from that. But yes, I also get knowledge in knowing what to listen for or knowing where to find it.

I thought others would find that interesting as I don't hear a lot of people mention that. Purposely sampling something they don't like and turning it into something they love. Purposely using a sound they don't like & turning it into a sound they love. It's pretty magical.

Ooh it was not you, it was making a reference to the person, who tried to call me out. Yes, from a sound design perspective, that skill of turning anything into some useful is a very good skill t have. Especially for Foley Artist.

The Beatminerz have that kind of philosophy when it comes to be creating. They look for sounds off the beating path and make them usable. Turn ugly into beauty. It is a very transformative experience.

Cockdiesel wrote:I just sequence in chords, and little melodies change things that don’t sound right in the step sequencer.

Thanks man, I have a feeling they were referring to controller mode with respects to latency. & I'm not that skilled of a keyboard player either My main concern was sampling live playing without midi, for example guitar or bass. If while sampling there is latency, it would possibility throw me off. & I could've sworn I've watched videos of people recording guitar & what not into the Live, but can't remember if the sequence was playing at the same time.

I think I'm just going to buy it. I love the MPC workflow & the Live has the ability to possibly help me reduce my set up (trying to downsize a bit). Plus I have some future goals where I would have to have a COMPLETELY portable set up & I'm hoping the Live would do me well (the 2500 or 1000 would not & I would prefer a little more function over the 500).

There’s videos of people tracking out vocals into the x... I’m sure you’ll be fine and actually love the thing.

There’s a lot of haters out there who never used one, and very few who have sold it that I have seen. Honestly, Charles might be the only person I recall off the top of my head. He needed differnt features that it offers.

There are some legit criticism I have seen but those people all seem to all be live users to this day.

Who knows I could be wrong and you hate it lol.

I hope not.

Cockdiesel wrote:I’d give it a try. The worse that happens is returning it. I really like the live personally, in fact just the other day I brought it with me to test out some gear this guy sold me. Just brought 2 cords, the live and some headphones. Worked great. It was just some junk rackmount gear for live set ups but I did get a piece that was worth checking out: presonus 8 channel compressor and gate. Got 9 rack mount pieces of equipment for 100 bucks already posted 2 that I won’t need for 300 bucks on reverb. Haven’t had a chance to set up the compressor yet and see if I can use it but it’s whatever.

Yea, I did notice some small latency while using controller mode with the software doing midi out from my soundcard to a keyboard and back in. But it wasn’t anything I couldn’t deal with and I really didn’t play with any buffer settings at all. So I might have been able to dial it in better. IT WAS WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY PLAYING THE KEYS NOT WHEN THE SEQUENCE PLAYED BACK.

Seen others complain about latency but never remembered to ask if it was standalone or sw. I could see it irritating more professional keyboard players, but not me. I just sequence in chords, and little melodies change things that don’t sound right in the step sequencer.

In the preference of your 2.0 Software, on AUDIO tab what is selected in the

Audio Device Type:

and

Device:

CharlesRandolph wrote:Ooh it was not you, it was making a reference to the person, who tried to call me out. Yes, from a sound design perspective, that skill of turning anything into some useful is a very good skill to have. Especially for Foley Artist.

I assumed you would feel that way to be honest, so I apologize for being passive aggressive with my response, it was mostly surprise, as I thought you would agree with what I said in a sense. But you have been getting grief in this thread, so I took it as I just came in to the discussion at the wrong time

I do mean it when I say you have a ton of knowledge man & we're lucky to have you here. When I first started, what I didn't learn from manuals or experience I learned from forums. I know a lot needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but if I read anything I found helpful, I would try it out myself. Would also learn who I could "trust". So I originally joined to try & give back to beginners, but ended up getting just as much out of interacting with the people as I did reading threads. Maybe even more.
I like to debate & discuss things I'm passionate about, but since a lot of use are extremely passionate it can easily get out of hand. All tho that's another thing I get out of posting on forums, learning to not take everything to heart Still workin on that tho. It's hard.

Sharris wrote:

CharlesRandolph wrote:Ooh it was not you, it was making a reference to the person, who tried to call me out. Yes, from a sound design perspective, that skill of turning anything into some useful is a very good skill to have. Especially for Foley Artist.

I assumed you would feel that way to be honest, so I apologize for being passive aggressive with my response, it was mostly surprise, as I thought you would agree with what I said in a sense. But you have been getting grief in this thread, so I took it as I just came in to the discussion at the wrong time

I do mean it when I say you have a ton of knowledge man & we're lucky to have you here. When I first started, what I didn't learn from manuals or experience I learned from forums. I know a lot needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but if I read anything I found helpful, I would try it out myself. Would also learn who I could "trust". So I originally joined to try & give back to beginners, but ended up getting just as much out of interacting with the people as I did reading threads. Maybe even more.
I like to debate & discuss things I'm passionate about, but since a lot of use are extremely passionate it can easily get out of hand. All tho that's another thing I get out of posting on forums, learning to not take everything to heart Still workin on that tho. It's hard.

No issue here my man. What you added to the conversation was spot on in my book!

Charles, I had it set up right to my knowledge. Set the midi out to my soundcard and the audio in from the same sound card.

It didn’t bother me for my purpose, I didn’t even attempt to dial in the buffer settings better. But I did notice it and thought to myself “ that’s what people were complaining about”. It really confused me when quickstrike or a few others were bringing it up.

Danoc wrote:Dam I leave and the jump off happened LOL What the hell happened in here? Are dudes arguing if all MPCs sound different or the same?

It's like saying and SSL board, all the channel strips sound the same from the same board AND THEY DON'T! I don't see how all the MPCs sound the same, if so can some one explain to me and show me a shoot out? Or if one can here the difference between 16 bit and 24 bit.

Now are peeps arguing if they can tell this by ear? hmmm For instance the MPC 3000 does not sound like the MPC2000xl and I love both machines. the 3000 is punchier and warmer. Both those Machines don't sound like the MPC60 or 60II.

Dam Charles Aeolian and Dorain etc mixed when playing? Whew man that's hard LOL
That's some Liberace sh** Or Elton John.
Don't wanna get in a beef over this, I am more concern about the functions, cause we have software now to make the certain sounds our soul acquire.

I mentioned the sound of the MPc Live earlier in the thread and Charles piped up about his sound test that he did.
It is good that people still engage in the endless argument about the sound of the MPC though.

Cockdiesel wrote:Who knows I could be wrong and you hate it lol.

I love the MPC 500, so I'm sure I'll love the Live I KNOW I would not hate it, I've never hated a piece of gear, which has caused some issues (I'll play with anything), but it's a good "problem" to have.

WORST CASE I end up preferring the 2500 over the Live, but I would be surprised, it would have to have CRAZY bugs. Either way I know I will get something out of buying it & won't regret the purchase, even if I end up returning it or selling it.

Thanks again man!

Cockdiesel wrote:Charles, I had it set up right to my knowledge. Set the midi out to my soundcard and the audio in from the same sound card.

It didn’t bother me for my purpose, I didn’t even attempt to dial in the buffer settings better. But I did notice it and thought to myself “ that’s what people were complaining about”. It really confused me when quickstrike or a few others were bringing it up.

I know people had issue with midi latency in controller mode, using the mpc software because the Audio Device Type was not ASIO and they did not select the right Device. Seems like the same latency issue the touch and ren had.

Yea I had it setup asio, don’t notice it when using ableton. And worked fine using my soundcard standalone just as a mixer and midi splitter. I boiled it down to the software, which honestly worked great, just wasn’t as snappy. I really had to press keys to convince myself there was a delay.

Only other thing was the no midi clock going out when the sequence stopped but there an easy workaround I found. Just play the sequence and when you’re ready to record the keys just hit the overdub button and start recording. It would always take my synth a few bars to catch back up. Watched a dude explode on gear slutz about it, didn’t even think about any simple workarounds just spammed the board for week talking junk. Even dan offered to help him with the issue but never responded and just kept talking smack. He sold it but then like two weeks later bought it again. Glad I don’t see him on there much.

Cockdiesel wrote:Yea I had it setup asio, don’t notice it when using ableton. And worked fine using my soundcard standalone just as a mixer and midi splitter. I boiled it down to the software, which honestly worked great, just wasn’t as snappy. I really had to press keys to convince myself there was a delay.

Only other thing was the no midi clock going out when the sequence stopped but there an easy workaround I found. Just play the sequence and when you’re ready to record the keys just hit the overdub button and start recording. It would always take my synth a few bars to catch back up. Watched a dude explode on gear slutz about it, didn’t even think about any simple workarounds just spammed the board for week talking junk. Even dan offered to help him with the issue but never responded and just kept talking smack. He sold it but then like two weeks later bought it again. Glad I don’t see him on there much.

Pushing MIDI has never been instant....It always needed 2 seconds for things to lock up. That is what was so appealing to VSTi in a Software DAW. No latency issues. However if Akai Pro ever decides to make a fully standalone MPC / Full Mulitrack recorder that could stop it.

The MPC 4000 and DPS 24 or the MPC 2000/2000XL and DPS 16 combined, was the closing thing they had all in one system. Then they stopped that and started putting 8 tracks and sounds pack in the MPC. It seems that's when everything started to change.

What up bro?

I use the Live in standalone and with SW but mostly in standalone. No latency on my end. Dam sequencer tight bro. I love it.

Dudes had what they thought was latency because their samples are not cut on the one. There is space between the live start and the sample real hit.

Converters are dope.

Sharris wrote:On the subject od the MPC Live vs the MPC 2500, I've been going back & forth about selling my 2500 & 500 for the Live. But then I recently heard on another forum the Live has latency when monitoring incoming audio while the sequencer plays. Is this true? Is there latency in stand alone mode? If so, how bad is it? I like to sample/play instruments & synths live while the sequencer plays, so if latency would make that difficult, I'll stick with the 2500.

I'm noticing the majority of people that praise the Live use it mainly with the software, like a controller. I hear praise in stand alone mode, but not as much, mostly complaints.

Anyone actually use their Live MOSTLY in stand alone mode & with hardware? Like sample instruments live, controlling hardware synths, ect. Does it do a good job or is it better as a controller or "light" duties while stand alone?

Sharris wrote:It had nothing to do with you Charles, in no way do I want to belittle you. Out of the kindness of your heart you spread knowledge on this forum on a daily basis. We're lucky to have you here.

Like I said. For me it has nothing to do with finding the already perfect sound made ready to go. It's about turning something ugly into something I find beautiful or altering it completely into something different & making it mine. SOUND DESIGN. Personally I get A LOT of skill & knowledge from that. But yes, I also get knowledge in knowing what to listen for or knowing where to find it.

I thought others would find that interesting as I don't hear a lot of people mention that. Purposely sampling something they don't like and turning it into something they love. Purposely using a sound they don't like & turning it into a sound they love. It's pretty magical.

Sorry if there is no value in my comment. Nothing educational. Nothing artistic. Nothing inspiring.

Danoc wrote:What up bro?

I use the Live in standalone and with SW but mostly in standalone. No latency on my end. Dam sequencer tight bro. I love it.

Dudes had what they thought was latency because their samples are not cut on the one. There is space between the live start and the sample real hit.

Converters are dope.

They forgot to trim the sample. Update on that Akai Fire for FL Studio and reports of freezing. I had no such issue at all. The program did crash 5 times, but then I realized that, WINDOW 10 decided to auto update and install at the same time I was installing the FL STUDIO.

So I uninstalled Fl Studio, completed all the Win 10 updates (Mind you the laptop was turned off for 5 months.) I then download and reinstalled FL Studio. Made a beat and let it run for 24 hours straight.

Not one crash, stop or hiccup. If you want to go that route, you have to get FL Studio Producer Edition, if you want to properly edit or trim your samples using FPC. Over all it's good to have a dedicated step sequencer.

I still think wave traveller is one of my favourite samplers of all time.