I've been using MPCs since 1996 when I spent 6 months saving up for my first mpc2000. 32 seconds of sampling, no fx, just bare bones. It changed my life for the better to say the least. I loved it. By 2004 I was 100% in the box and I'd sold all my hardware. It took another 10 years to reach the point that hardware had finally gotten good enough to be preferable to being in-the-box (imo, at least). Since 2004 I've been waiting for someone to put everything I've ever wanted from both a software AND hardware sampler into one device. This looks like the one I'd design for myself, so I'm really excited by this. I'm blown away so far by everything I've seen and heard--the time strecthing sounds really good! Finally! The octatrack had the only hardware time stretching I could tolerate before this, but this sounds better. I've been producing electronic music for just over 21 years now and this is the first sampler I've seen that gives me that warm feeling I got the first time I saw an MPC2000.
You should have strayed from akai 21years ago. Ensoniq had some of the best onboarding effects and filters in the eps16+ and asr10s. Theres nothing warm about the dead sonic space that I've herd out of these new systems. U want warm plug into a tube amp. Or pitch down from speed up samples for the aliasing.This crap all sux! Dont even act like the emulations of the old machines sound anything at all like the real deal... I'll go head to head with any producer with my setup and we can watch your simulators and live remix digital disasters melt as soon as my break drops.. that goes for ur laptops aswell. Haha
I like the time stretch on the older machines too. The emu e4ks are maybe alittle better as far as not changing the pitch, but I also like ensoniqs too.
There are also MIDI to CV converters on eBay. I don't know what the Venn diagram of usable and affordable looks like, but it might be worth having a look around.
I remember the touch review and Nick kept saying "yeah but this has to be hooked to a computer " In this review, he's like " well fuck yeah" haha I'm buying this thing. It's exactly what I want. I wanted a portable workstation, battery powered. I wanted no tiny screens and no endless stupid scrolling. I used a Korg kaossilator pro a while back for quick ideas and wished they would make a 16 track version but this is way beyond that. I have been looking for a good battery powered drum machine to go with my battery powered synths. I have a setup waiting for this so I can sit down with no mouse, no computer, and make music again like I did when I was 20. I am going to be so productive. I'll be sitting on the couch editing my tracks. Damn. I was going to save up and get an iPad Pro. Now I'm going to sell my boss rc 505, and save for this. Great time to be a musician, we are so spoiled.
As somebody running an MPC1k on JJOS, this looks pretty brilliant. If they manage to keep the things I like about my old box, and give me back some of the functionality I lost when I ditched my laptop, this thing could do very well.
Hey Nathan, thanks. No I don't think I'll be getting this. I have to see it first hand though. I don't like to dis stuff, but touch interface instruments don't appeal to me that much... :-/ Also I still haven't got a feel for how quirky and nerdy you can go with the sequencer, as an interesting performance instrument. I didn't feel the fun factor to be honest. But I don't come with an MPC background though, so perhaps it's great if you're coming from that. It seems like a pretty powerful package though.
I hear that i might just stick to connecting my analogkeys, nord lead 4 elektron rytm and korg electribes all up for live jams with my mates. We have a spare room with mood lights bean bags and a whole lot off synths and drum machines and we all jam together! its a lot more fun i feel. Cheers mate cant wait for more off your videos....P.S whats your one favorite piece off musical equipment you have?
Nathan he he. Perfect imaginary sight! Favourite music tool... Currently the Octatrack.. I guess. Oddly, it's the one piece I can bring, and still play a great live gig.
So glad MPC is going to release standalone devices again. Many people struggled with the PC slave of their current devices. What's amazing is that MPC tried to release a identical model to this with Windows OS built in to it. So glad they didn't. Google MPC with Windows built in to see the unit I speak of.
I think they did a good job of addressing what customers have been wanting as well as adding some nice features. It's pretty pricey though, at least in CDN dollars.
As an outsider to the whole MPC/sampling/loop world I have to say this looks like a very clever and well thought out product at a pretty good price point. If the whole mpc-computer synchronization works as advertised, that is quite a unique selling point. I wonder though whether there'll be a monthly patch day for the mpc live now that it is running windows inside 😉
Are the outputs DC Coupled? Would be great to be able to use the extra outputs for CV/Gate purposes since the Live doesn´t feature the dedicated CV outputs
Only 8 audio tracks? But clips as well? I'm a bit confused about the difference. If you want touch you potentially might as well use Bitwig touch on a 13 - 15 inch 2-in-1 laptop (which I intend to). Just thought i'd see what the fuss was about. Seems like it blows octatrack away though.
I think it would be interesting to see the midi sequencer capabilities in action i.e. would it be possible to create templates for external midi devices? Are there some possibilites for ARP, LFO, Retrigger ? How would it work in a live context i.e. sponanous mute /unmute of midi tracks, configurable mute (after 1 bar, 2 bar etc.) Could there be scenes be build where several tracks are layerd, and we can switch the scenes? Would there be an option for MIDI `FX?= I.e. midi FX manipulating several midi CC at the same time with the XY pad.
Nice video, and this thing is looking seriously awesome! If there's no big dumb deal breaker, this could be the (re-)start of some interesting musical innovations and events.
I've been waiting for my entire life, for this one machine alone, and when I get one, oh man, look out. You will be hearing about me then, right now I am practicing everyday and making beats on a Roland jd xi and Electribe 2, and I'm thankful for these, and they have taught me alot about synthesis, velocities, mixing and a bunch of other techniques, but it's time to get a professional machine like this though, to put out music that I can really stand behind and what I have been waiting for since I was 10 years old. I stand behind my music now, it's just I don't have all the tools I need to do everything that I want to do, and the live has that. I cannot wait. Until then...
Can't wait 'till release date / looks perfect and I'm one of those people ( Es 2 lovers )- will admit the sampler part is strange but the drums, midi, and fx are pro
if you start a project on the Live/X, then add 3rd party Vst effects and instruments on the computer, how will you open those projects back on the Live/X in stand alone mode?
This looks fantastic. The midi sequencer, can you have tracks of different length? And can you set the pads up to trigger single midi tracks (kind of like one-shot midi patterns)? These are my two major gripes with the MPC1000.
This looks great. My only issue is the knobs being on the right side. For pad scratching where I use my right hand to tap the pads and left to adjust a pitch slider or knob, it would be awkward reaching over. Still, could be done though. This would be a perfect replacement for my MPC500.
i just hope its not buggy like their past units, i have an mpc 2500 and whenever i chop really detailed up to 100 pieces it sometimes crashes and restarts, the 5000 was a nightmare and cheaply built. hope this fulfills its promise.
When Andy says 8 track capabilities in standalone, he's talking about only being able to clip launch 8 audio tracks at a time? Or that we can only time stretch 8 audio tracks in a project at a time on the mpcLive stand alone? the answer to this is a hit or miss for me.
Akai, please make the touchpad more useful and have other neat master effects like looper, reverse, reverse looper, pitch shift.. Just like on a kaoss pad kp3.
How many midi tracks? and do midi tracks occupy sound tracks? And does it work without the battery in it, can you take out the battery if it gets bad at some point?
Yes... It has midi sequencing.. I import whole Cubase midi tracks to it, and all my CC automation and program changes is preserved and send to my synths vi midi.
Wow. Does it take photos? It really looks good. The question I have - does the sequencer do various time signatures? Because some drum machines lately only do 4x4.
Great stuff, Nick and Akai. I do have a question. Will there be any features on the Live that won't be on the X? Is the X all inclusive to what we see happening in this video.
Mine is being delivered tomorrow!!......my last bit of sequencing or drum machine was bought 30 years ago.....little korg sequencer and a Boss Dr rhythm.....might sample the Roland hand clap!.......I'm a pianist and drummer.... but feel it's time to embrace a loop way of making music, well I do live 15miles from Ed Sheeran!
Thanks for the preview. I'm spoiled, but I wish that the Live would have support for some sort of CV/Gate breakout box. But then, NAMM hasn't happened yet!
sct11s45 nah man, I'm using MacBook Pros, which are infamous for slowing down due to kernel task throttling when overheating. I live in the tropics and it gets pretty hot out, not gonna ever rely on my MacBook when it even slows down in my air conditioned studio.
adamwan922 I use Macs Fan Control and I never have this problem. Apple sets the fan speeds for typical Facebook users, not power users. You need an app that starts the fans sooner and keeps your CPUs below 70 degrees Celsius.
How many clips? Just 4x4 or more? Also can different patterns be assigned to each pad (verse on one pad, chorus on another etc) so that u can create new arrangements on the fly? Cheers
Heard a lot of comments comparing it to Machine and making that standalone, but what if Ableton went standalone? Imagine a standalone quad core Push Pro. He saying that the MPC live runs "the same v2 software" - although it might be feature complete, i seriously doubt its the exact same codebase, if it was then, it would basically be a normal computer, and if it was a normal computer, then it should be able to run plugins like the desktop version. - it shouldn't be a matter of it being "either a controller OR dedicated hardware" - it should be possible to use it as dedicated hardware, but still run plugins on a laptop at the same time. Or even run plugins within the dedicated hardware. The reason thats probably not possible is because this is not running MacOS or windows. Its probably also not as powerful chipset wise as a pro laptop. Thats the next step imo, Having dedicated hardware that just runs 3rd party plugins. Even if u are a laptop producer, it would be pretty great to have all ur CPU intensive plugins running on a dedicated box. Probably not easy to get plugin makers to support the FX box, mac and windows.
My gripe with the Live is that it’s not really stand alone. You are still looking at a small computer screen and you can’t do anything without touching the screen alllll the time so it’s basically an ipad. And you don’t have any vst instruments on the go, so you basically need an ipad on top of that to record into Live because all other instruments are too big to take with you and it’s like owning 2 ipads. Something weird about Live and X.
Nice small MPC from AKAI! Finaly, end of renaissance shit-laptop setups :) Nice presentation to! I just waiting for the new, full size big brother MPC.
watch it my friend read up over at the Akai forums on how they abandoned the mpx16 that won't sync to midi and now they put this out, I would only get one if it had a warranty
First thoughts: wowww!!I would like to see more about midi for triggering external gear.The screen doesn't excites me. The zoom tool, reminds me a 2011 budget lg mobile I had...
I am on the verge of purchasing , and I am a complete newbie to this . So many questions , I guess my first would be : Will there be a tutorial coming with this ? I am singer song writer who wants to use this as a companion to my live presentation . How many songs can it hold ? .... will it be easy to trigger / start each new song live? My songs are 3.5 minutes long can I store 25 songs in this unit? I would like to add that the information I load into this will be very minimal > some strings / piano & sound pads . thank you sir
Wow I'd be so pissed if I had just bought a touch. Props to Akai on this though , they did indeed push the boat out. I wish it had provision for a condenser given it's portable , but you can't have everything at this price point I guess.
