Learning MPC Live 2 coming from MPC 2500/1000 JJOSXL/3

Hi,

Got an MPC Live 2 recently to have portability and speaker for the most part.
Compared to the 2500 I find the button layering not really well thought out.
And I find the OS even waaaay worse. There's no continuity from previous MPCs, menus are spread out to different pads, dedicated pads for colors or midi mapping (who gives a f to have that on a pad), and just the overall ergonomy being absolutely not intuitive. So much more to say but it would be too long and boring to write and to read…

So is it just me trippin and if not, how did you overcome that learning curve coming from legacy MPCs?

Thanks.

I had the same problem going from a 2500 to the One. Now the Live 2 is different offcourse, but the OS is the same so perhaps my experience with the whole transition is useful for you.

The whole button lay out takes some getting used to really. Same with the OS. But I just started out using it like I used the 2500 to figure out the basics and then I started delving into the new features. Now after a couple of months there are some features/buttons that I miss (mostly the cursor), but I wouldn't want to go back.

Mpc Bible is useful, so is YouTube. There is a guy called Malo Beats who has a clip in there called making a beat on a mpc one or something to that effect, that one really helped me out.

Christov wrote:I had the same problem going from a 2500 to the One. Now the Live 2 is different offcourse, but the OS is the same so perhaps my experience with the whole transition is useful for you.

The whole button lay out takes some getting used to really. Same with the OS. But I just started out using it like I used the 2500 to figure out the basics and then I started delving into the new features. Now after a couple of months there are some features/buttons that I miss (mostly the cursor), but I wouldn't want to go back.

Mpc Bible is useful, so is YouTube. There is a guy called Malo Beats who has a clip in there called making a beat on a mpc one or something to that effect, that one really helped me out.

This is a bit scary because I wouldn't want to give up on the 2500 but that's another comment among many I see saying they wouldn't go back to the 2500.
And yea oddly enough I have the feeling I'd be faster with a cursor than the touch screen, got that muscle memory printed with the number of button presses for the 2500's OSXL/3 and now touching the screen feels almost wrong somehow.
I guess even if the UI isn't intuitive you end up knowing it anyway at some point.

I'll check Malo Beats, exactly the sort of thing I'd be looking for.
If I end up really liking the Live 2, I'll check the MPC bible too.

Thanks for the answer!

HanHuman wrote:This is a bit scary because I wouldn't want to give up on the 2500 but that's another comment among many I see saying they wouldn't go back to the 2500.
And yea oddly enough I have the feeling I'd be faster with a cursor than the touch screen, got that muscle memory printed with the number of button presses for the 2500's OSXL/3 and now touching the screen feels almost wrong somehow.
I guess even if the UI isn't intuitive you end up knowing it anyway at some point.

I'll check Malo Beats, exactly the sort of thing I'd be looking for.
If I end up really liking the Live 2, I'll check the MPC bible too.

Thanks for the answer!

No thanx! And I know exactly what you mean. I don't care much for a touchscreen, rather have some more dedicated buttons amd a cursor, but you really can't knock a touch screen for chopping samples and that kinda redeems it for me.

Good luck finding your way around the live 2.

In my opinion...There's a couple Generation gaps between the 2500 and the Live 2.

There's the 5000, Renaissance, and then the Studio. During that time...Akai changed a Couple hands of Ownership.

I own a X and a Live2 and I still love JJOS/2500 workflow over any machine. It was just lacking in some areas the new Mpc's were not. But overall I still debating going back because I could make 99 tracks so god damn fast. With these new Mpc's the workflow is clunkier. When I'm chopping I'm usually on the X but I chopped on the Live2 the other day and it was pretty damn quick. Its just JJOS spoiled ya with amazing workflow. Its just so good. Probably will buy a 2500 in the future for myself again just to keep and use on the side but I am currently on the hunt for other gear and to finish school so... Unless Sequential Re-releases the OB-X or an OB-XA...

Droe33 wrote:I own a X and a Live2 and I still love JJOS/2500 workflow over any machine. It was just lacking in some areas the new Mpc's were not. But overall I still debating going back because I could make 99 tracks so god damn fast. With these new Mpc's the workflow is clunkier. When I'm chopping I'm usually on the X but I chopped on the Live2 the other day and it was pretty damn quick. Its just JJOS spoiled ya with amazing workflow. Its just so good. Probably will buy a 2500 in the future for myself again just to keep and use on the side but I am currently on the hunt for other gear and to finish school so... Unless Sequential Re-releases the OB-X or an OB-XA...

Agree with you, JJOS is a smooth gem to operate. Especially when you learned every shortcuts and menus. Chopping and laying out music almost becomes a meditative experience, and I can't see that to be the case with modern MPCs in a million years.
But being battery powered + speakers and a few other things still convinced me to take a Live 2. Though the learning / adapting curve clearly isn't gonna be a joy. Whatever happens I'll never get rid of the 2500, thing is all pimped out with fat pads and a smooth jog wheel, it is not going anywhere.

I'm not sure how much of a JJOS Project transferred over to the new mpc's but you can figure out what you can import into it, you can possibly start your project in the mpc2500, then just take the project into the new mpc and finish it there. It apparently can read old mpc files and I heard it at one point read a certain portion of JJOS. I could be wrong but look into that. I was debating that workflow at one point. I ended up acquiring a free mpc live in my when the gold one came out. I hated gold so I sold that guy to fund my X. When the Retro Live2 came out... I was like.... ugh... why not.... but I really dont need both, its a little ridiculous and still do miss JJOS. If I dont get my hand on a couple other items in the near future I will possibly go for the 2500 again, but I've been spoiled with ALS export for the last while. Weirdly enough I've been nudging back to tracking out more so that where I see an older mpc in my future. Damn I love these machines.

Droe33 wrote:I'm not sure how much of a JJOS Project transferred over to the new mpc's but you can figure out what you can import into it, you can possibly start your project in the mpc2500, then just take the project into the new mpc and finish it there. It apparently can read old mpc files and I heard it at one point read a certain portion of JJOS. I could be wrong but look into that. I was debating that workflow at one point. I ended up acquiring a free mpc live in my when the gold one came out. I hated gold so I sold that guy to fund my X. When the Retro Live2 came out... I was like.... ugh... why not.... but I really dont need both, its a little ridiculous and still do miss JJOS. If I dont get my hand on a couple other items in the near future I will possibly go for the 2500 again, but I've been spoiled with ALS export for the last while. Weirdly enough I've been nudging back to tracking out more so that where I see an older mpc in my future. Damn I love these machines.

100%, and the retro edition caught me too by weakness. They don't have the best user interface and user experience team but they definitely got the marketing team right on that one.

yeah dude... them bastards lol

HanHuman wrote:100%, and the retro edition caught me too by weakness. They don't have the best user interface and user experience team but they definitely got the marketing team right on that one.

Word, once the retro editions came out, that pulled the trigger for me. It looks so good with my s950 behind it.

Christov wrote:Word, once the retro editions came out, that pulled the trigger for me. It looks so good with my s950 behind it.

Yup, that must be a sweet looking combo indeed.

i am too coming from the 2500 and didnt find it that hard to start on the new MPC One.
Structure is basicaly the same with sequence, track and program.
I mostly ignored the new stuff and try that out from time to time.
I had some crashes importing my old drumkits, I loaded them in the MPC software and saved them as .pgx,
i agree the Cursor Buttons are missing and grid edit was way better on JJOS2.

HanHuman wrote:Yup, that must be a sweet looking combo indeed.

Yeah it is:

i'm thinking about buying back an mpc 2500 with jj me too, im very happy with my live mk1 but there are some things that i miss very much. the cursor of course but also the ability to record notes while the sequencer is stopped (i put a feature request about it). i was super quick with that method: hit overdub but not play, hit pads, insert pauses with the cursor etc... especially for fast stuff like jungle\idm\breakcore it was my goto method for chopped breaks and generally for fast beats. that and the crazy good sustain loop tools in jjosxl is what i miss the most. also, i miss the ninja aura of the older machines. but yeah, touchscreen, mixer, all the plugins and effects...i can't see me loosing them, so i think if i'll had cash and opportunity i will add a 2500 with jj and keep em both.