Maschine+ OR Mpc One / Live II? (Comparison) 

I bought the MPC One back in January and I personally love it. Next to my electric guitar, MPC One is the best piece of gear I've ever bought.

This is absolutely awesome. Having a sample and beatmaking connoisseur explaining me the difference between these machines. Much appreciated. Thank you.

All true. The time spent focusing on the specs of gear means less time using the gear. Pick one you like and marry it.

The MPC Live has been a dream over the last 4 years! So much inside, all my 20gb of Splice sample packs and it is truly standalone!

I agree about the muscle memory thing. I can fly through maschine and could never get into the MPC workflow. I have a Maschine+ on the way and I’m really excited to get into it. I’ve owned a Maschine Mikro, MK2, and a Studio and I loved them all

I’ve had both and for me it’s been the maschine+ hands down not just because of it’s a standalone and direct download of the expansion packs to the device via Wi-Fi but because it’s so much fun and enjoyable to create and make music on. For me it’s really the workflow that I like better!

A Superb, Fair overview and Accurate! I can only say that my MPC One has been a great productive addition for me. i've never tried a Maschine+ but neither i'm looking over my shoulder with envy at one either.. pretty happy with what i have here. looking forward to a sp404 vs video!

They are both great. I like the arranging on Maschine and the sampling on the Mpc. I recently picked up the mc 707... not a good sampler... but a fantastic tool to build tracks with what is in the box with 8 out tracking over usb. For me I had tried to use these as daw replacements... honestly that doesn’t work for me... now i use them as song generator and I finish in the daw. Being able to switch between these helps keep the inspiration going...

always great. love your content. I've been thinking about getting a machine +. I've been an MPC user for 10_ years and I love my MPC live, I started out with an MPC2000XL and I miss it because I knew that thing inside and out. But the newer MPC line is hard to beat. much love my G!

wow - that was a no-bullsit / no-biased / no-fanboy comparison.... Refreshing. Like your content man!

I love watching unbiased reviews/comparisons. I think this is a fair look at the options an appreciate the insight. I started with MPC studio and for me the workflow of Maschine just clicked. I have always been more of a tactile knob twister, pad hitter type of person so the maschine giving you more of that always worked best for me. I have talked to people who think im crazy for saying the NI workflow is better too haha. It's all about personal opinion.... I will say that I get very frustrated with what feels like very little updates from NI outside of stability and compatibility. Auto sampler is something MPC has had for some time, and the most recent update (which you talked about) of automatically providing bpm and scale of samples, along with the serato sampler style of synced time stretch etc.. NI needs to step up to the plate there. They have the technology to do it.

I've just pulled the trigger on the mpc one retro can't wait to get hold of it, thanks for all the great vids on the one.

Great viewpoint! I have the MPC One retro that I grabbed last October due to my MPC touch just not working with new operating systems on Mac. I have had my NI Mk3 for years. Love them both. i just don’t see a need for me to have two standalone units

Hey Accurate! I got a question hooking up my Maschine MK3 with the Roland SP 404 MK2 which is about to arrive in a couple of days. I understand that it would be very easy to set it up with Maschine+ just by using an USB -C to A cable out of the SP 404 MK2 into the USB hub of the Maschine +. Then select the SP' s audio interface in Maschine+ settings. So, you can Sample/resample between the both devices. But how would I do this to sample resample between the Maschine MK3 and the SP404 MK2? I do not use Maschine MK3' s bulit-in interface. I use my Focusrite Clarett+ 8pre with Maschine. THX 🙏!

Good comparison review. Hope we see some good updates or competition this year.

Maschine won me from Akai with the Plus. I still love my 2500 but I hated the Live, that said I find the Maschine infuriating in how close to perfect they got it and how I’ve lost ~£500 off it’s new value in a very short space of time, but if they can just fix the remaining bugs then I’d run in a burning building for it. Great review.

MPC user here(currently Live 2) and very happy with it but the Maschine + looks like a great tool as well. I've had to fight the gear lust in getting one because I still after years and years haven't learned everything MPCs offer and it would be counterproductive for me personally.

I have an MPK MK3 and just the Machine the MPC live II has caught my eye so that may be next . I have purchased the MPC DAW and use both the MPC beats as well. I am trying Komplete start with my MPK mini MK3 but I'm running into some user issues at the moment.

Just picked up the One SE Gold version (beautifully pimped out look imo). Feel like I’m swimming in the dark right now. Any good suggestions for tutorials? Thanks!

Hey mate ! Great video and interesting point of view. I would like to ask you something. What about the Elektron Octatrack MKii ? I saw you don't have a video of it, but maybe you can give me a guidance about what could be best if a Machine Plus/MPC live or Electron Octatrack Mkii bearing in mind sounds, workflow and live performance ! Cheers.

I use an mpcx that I got given at the worlds beat battle in toronto 2019. I can happily say I really love the mpcx and machine when its not crashing but then I copped an iPad pro and that thing has taken over both stand alone machines lol its a fricken ipad!!! The ipad is so powerful with the amount of proffessional plugins and daws. Its just mind blowing when paired with a bluetooth keyboard or any midi controller and sound card. My 2cents

great video! I would love your opinion on any of the beat making software on iPads.

Hey Accurate! Are there any sonically differences between Akai and Maschine to your taste? I have the Maschine Plus too and there are MPC 60 and SP 1200 emulations (I guess they are MPC 60 and SP 1200). So do the Akai still have the iconic sound of their earlier MPC's? I guess there might be some emulations too. What do you think?

Not mentioned is the tagging system in the Maschine+. The sounds in the Maschine+ are better, the effects are better, the tagging system is better (it is VERY easy to find samples based on genre or instrument type). The Maschine+ however is missing that touch screen, which I find to be easier to work with. Both units require learning shortcuts. Over all, I find the process / workflow easier on the MPC, the sounds are better on the Maschine+, just keep in mind, you will have to remove FX to keep the CPU use down.

Yo Accurate, thanks for coming through earlier to the live stream. I had actually watched your channel in the past, and when you came into Ave's Live Stream, I was like....that name sounds familiar. And then I looked at your channel and I was like, Oooh yeah I know this dude! Lol, good to meet you man. Cya around the community

Cool comparison video. This helped me make a decision.

Are the Mk3 pads every bit as good/sensitive as the + pads? If so, as a total noob not bothered about about portability at this stage, I’m thinking of trying out both the MPC One and a Mk3 as I can, and deciding from there … ?!

Good comparison and I am trying to decide which of these to buy as a groove box and DAWless experience. I have an Octatrack and SP 404 MK2 that are really fun samplers but not really a DAW in a box like these tools.

Perfectly executed in comparison as everything comes down to individual preference and workflow. Now that for me is the clear winner! Well done accurate for your totally unbiased opinion and input,,great video!!!

BEST COMPARISON VIDEO!!!!!! Thank you so much for ur work 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

When I first started making beats 5 years ago I was a big Maschine head but once I tried out the MPC it was a wrap. Making beats on the MPC felt way more comfortable to me then both Maschine and any other DAWS out there. To me the MPC Live 2 is the best choice out 3 here.

I love my MPC One but since acquiring a Maschine Plus and upgrading from the MK2, I've really enjoyed the standalone Maschine Plus. I haven't had any problems with CPU overload because I always delete all of the unused pads in the groups. Haven't had any probs with the system crashing or anything. It's a rock solid machine that could be better but I enjoy it for what it is.

I bought the MPC One mainly due to cost reasons, where the Maschine+ was nearly twice the price. I hesitated because it looked like the MPC community was mostly hip hop producers, and I do electronic music (trance, techno, ambient, retrowave, etc). In the end, the MPC One is the best hardware music production purchase I've ever made. It's truly amazing. And I've gone through many machines over the years, the MC-101, Digitakt, Digitone, Pocket operators, and many synths. The MPC also handles external synths beautifully and its sequencer has things my DAW doesn't even have, such as polyphonic aftertouch (Reason lacks it).

Hey Accurate, Question, do you know if the MPC Touch works with 2.10? Is anybody you know rocking MPC-Beat and a Touch?

I just got the Maschine Plus second hand. I was a hardcore day one MK1 user but moved to the MPC about 3-4 years ago. Both are good devices. I would say Maschine has an edge in terms of samples but luckily my MPC has an SSD and I can just drop all those sounds right on the drive and use them on the MPC. I can say that on the plus it’s concerning to see 30-40% cpu usage with jus a few groups loaded. I can fill up a whole drum group with many of the pads having effects and the MPC barely breaks a sweat. I also found it concerning that the plus did a hard reset two minutes after first booting it up for my first project.

I had an MPC Live 2, the internal audio device constantly failed, crashing the device. It also then wouldn't power back on for an hour or two. Sadly had to return it and I've been afraid to take a shot at another one. The device seemed awesome but my experience was the worst I've had in a while with any device.

Yep ,very mature points of view ,i don't think i couldn't explain this machines better than you did.

hello, thank you for your video, I see that you use Maschine and MPC but do you use them both together in your creative process? because I have been using Maschine mk3 for 3 years inside Ableton and recently I bought an MPC ONE+ except I am working on improving my musical creation or production process and until now I have not yet found the good workflow. so can you help me with some little advice please?

Uhhh, it‘s so difficult to decide!!! I have a Kontrol S4 Mk3 controller (with F1) and thinking about incorporating a Maschine Mk3 into the already existing Kontrol DJing/remixing on the spot workflow. Then again, I don’t wanna sit even more in front of the PC all day and I loooove the showcasing of the Live 2 in yours and Ricky Tinez‘ videos. My DAW is Reason, which would go great with creating samples for further manipulation and sequencing on the MPC.

Haven't used them, but by the looks, the Maschine's workflow seems to click with me just in concept alone. I'll be trying that first.

This has been pretty much the best comparison, honestly. I’ve been really interested in getting one. I’m just curious about proyect management for live performance. Let’s say I’ve produced about 10 tracks and I want to go dawless… which one would be the right one to load independent projects if needed? I’ve used a Maschine Mikro for years and i love the workflow but I’ve never seen someone talk about this 🤔 maybe the sp404 could be the right one for loading whole tracks and adding Fx and stuff live?

Look forward to working with you 🔥

Thanks for this, appreciate the useful feedback!

I bought a MPC Live II 2 years ago and I just cant get comfortable with the workflow at all... ( Maybe I'm not oldschool enough ) I see the potential and the technical aspect but its just not for me somehow. It is sitting here, collecting dust since last year. I'm using Ableton with push2 now and its a whole different experience. It just makes more sense for me. Glad people can enjoy different stuff. Keep it up Accurate!

Thanks for,the video. I quickly reviewed the manual for the Machine+, so I may have missed this, but it does not appear that it has a multitrack recorder function like the MPC. I play actual instruments and would like to record multiple tracks without having a second piece of gear. Did I miss something; does the Machine+ have a multitrack recording function? Than you.

I just bought an Maschine MK3 and for me it was a far better choice than any hardware groove box out there. It's a hardware groove box in every way except that I can't take it anywhere away from the laptop which sits near it. I don't actually use the laptop screen much except for naming things and saving things. It's also great to have my favorite VSTs and a far more powerful CPU than the atom in the MASCHINE+. If a Maschine+ edition with a built in battery existed and if it had a decent AMD APU instead of the Atom in it in a future iteration of the hardware, I would totally consider maschine +.

Awesome video accurate, just a minor correction on the IO, maschine can only do 4 stereo in and 8 stereo out whilst MPC is 32 mono/ 16 stereo in and out. That’s the limit with the external sound card.

I love the MPC one because the workflow is fast and the Price is good.

I have the Maschine, Ableton Push, and have owned many MPCs over the years (I actually used to work at Akai). The problem I'm having nowadays is that I work more in the DAW than standalone and the integration of these devices into DAWs never feels quite right. I understand the technical limitations of using the corresponding VST, and I'm not quite sure how to solve the problem.

I love my MPC Live II and my Maschine Mk3. One for standalone and one for going crazy with plugins and effects.

i bought a used Live MK1 (no need for speakers now) and then with an entry level USB midi-keyboard you have a nice setup to begin and to try out.

im new too mpc ....Can i record my yamaha keyboard directly into ither , with out recording my music as a sample ...i am looking for direct recording my instrument as a track or loop

Wow how you like the maschine mk3 compare to MPC one ?? Can they work together

where can i buy your beats? r u not on beatstars? or airbit?

Am I able to keep my expansion packs for machine on an external hard drive? If so, I think the MK3 may be a better option, for me.

Great comparison video. Liked and sub’d.

Which has bigger pads? MPC ONE or the Maschine MK3?

Fantastic video, Accurate. Blessings!

A plus for the MPC range that no-one mentions in these reviews is the quality of the analogue output. It sounds great.

I have not been able to get my maschine mk2 system to work as a controller in FL studio. Do i need to get the newer maschine controllers? the software uses way more AI machine learning compared to the mk2 system

It seems the disk drive could be the culprit in many of my crashes. Is there an sd you’ve found works best for Maschine+

Does the MPC feel as CPU bound as the Maschine? Are you hitting the top end of what the MPC can do as quickly as the Maschine does?

Some people doesn't even have studio monitors. They should go for the MPC LIVE 2. I have it and I love it.

My bro .. great clip ,, I agree with most of what you’ve said but ..er. THE MOC LIVE 2 is the only 1 of the 3 that would work on that is And you mentioned ..”I’m just saying fam ..it’s love lol!!”

and what you think of the force these days ?

love this guy. he’s the best at what he does on youtube fs.

Which one is better? Both. Have the mk3 and the Live 2. Mk3 for the desk and Live 2 for it’s portability, io and touch screen.

I absolutely love my mpc one, but mine does crash on me fairly frequently and it is completely updated. (disclaimer: I have never used any maschine products)

Thanks bro. Very well explained

Dude I d love to have a course about finger drumming you re excellent at it 👌

Cool video. I’ve been considering switching from my maschine to a Mpc. I’m getting tired of the crashing and constantly having to run updates and running all of these vsts to get a vintage sound. My heart keeps calling for a MPC

What do you think about akai force, is it better when mpc or maschine?

I have both and found Maschine's workflow so much easier to learn as many of the functions are logical and the MPC One not so logical. The MPC ONE has a huge learning curve and it took me months to learn just the basics on the MPC One compared to Maschine. I find also the touch screen on the MPC ONE clunky and slow especially when selecting, erasing or making precise changes, whereas its so much more precise and faster on Maschine using the knobs and buttons. I would definitely choose Maschine if you are just starting out as it's way easier to learn than the MPC.

I bought a used MPC One for monetary reasons. My only gripe with it are the stiff pads and double triggers, otherwise it's pretty amazing what you get. I wish it had a favorite system for effects, it's a bit tedious to browse every time. 1st world problem though. I do believe the sounds and synths of the Maschine are better and more up my alley though and I believe I like the Maschine workflow better, but for now I will just stick with what I have.

Can you do a video on the sp404 mk2 vs mpc

THX a lot!

Which has better sounding swing? Mpc or maschine?

Had both, but let the Akai go because I could not get my head around the workflow. Just my two cents.

I have the MPC One and love it just saying lol

After owning a MPC Live 2 and a Maschine MK3 i gotta say that I agree. I think both product lines are excellent and are very capable of producing full polished songs. It really does come down to workflow preference. Here's the truth: Regardless of which one you buy you are really only limited by your own creativity ✨️ 👌 😉 💯

Im on maschine mk2 and still satisfied, waiting for mk4 but honestly I could stay on mk2 for life it does everything I want.

Great content

For me, After about less than an hour of use and a few quick RU-vid videos, I was able to make full compositions using the MPC live 2. I was not a former MPC user. Maschine products to me are just way more difficult to learn and work around.

Interesting to see that the mpc one has grown on you so much. Years ago you recommended Maschine mk3 over mpc live. I understand that. But standalone the mpc one is great value for money.

One can easily use a battery pack with Maschine+ (or a Ripcord from MyVolts) The Maschine+ can also be used as a controller for Maschine on the PC (you just need a sound card). So no need for a Mk3 except, of course, price.... If you want clip launch, you can use a Maschine Jam.

After using M+ for 2 weeks, im disappointed as I feel its not that different than the MK3 from what Is Saw aside from being standalone. Im considering changing to Alia again as i started with akai S950 in ‘94. Maschine updates have lagging and they havent come out with anew Masch since hmm 4 years. They seem more interested in in dev the Pay series and Kontakt rather than keeping the Masch up to date. Sad but reality. Maybe its time for a change. Wha5 would you suggest? I know you video is a year old but maybe today, you have more insight

Really workflow is the biggest difference. The 80's workflow that's been grandfather by the MPC line can be a little difficult for modern producers to understand (Sequence, Track, Program). But the MPC offers more at that price point in terms of hardware specs and stuff like Stem Seperation.

That about sums it up for the MPCs and Maschine+. The SP-404 is a fantastic sampler but why don't we ever hear you talk about Elektron hardware? I was a Maschine user until I discovered the Digitakt, the Digitone and others. As time went by, I used my Maschine MK3 less and less and had a hell of a time with the Digis. Maybe you don't know much about Elektron's gear but if you do, a vid would be appreciated by many... 😃 Keep on the good work.

As always the case, what is “best” ultimately depends on who “you” are, what you’re making, and how you work. There is no best but what works best for you.

Here I am looking for a screenless & dawless groovebox/daw and thus will try the Verselab MV-1 which has the best vocal processing as well. (And I get to rest my eyes from looking at screens all day)

Good comparison, answers all my questions except feel.. are you German Irish? Your accent caught my ear

I love my MPC One. I do agree the UI is a little strange. Like trying to find the menu where to create a new project took me way to long to discover.

Everyone talks about the differing workflows between the MPCs and Maschine ... without actually explaining the differences in detail 😊. I'm still none the wiser. Any clues or good links?

I owned Maschine MK3 (not Maschine+) and I have something to say about it. The "Step" sequencer on Maschine MK3 is not working the way it should - it jumps over the first beat (it is not playing it), when that first beat is drawed with the pencil inside the Maschine software next to the left locator (inside the loop zone) in Cubase Pro 11. The problem was first reported on the Native Instruments forums in 2015/2016. In 2021 the problem was still there. The NI forum admins deleted my post reporting the bug. The NI support team was not helpful at all - after contacting them I was told that they will come back with an email to me - now is one year later and I still did not received an answer. I had to send the unit back and asked for the money back. Maschine MK3 is a very nice piece of gear and a very good system to work in, and I would chose it over the Akai MPC. Unfortunately that bug (somewhere in its firmware or in the Maschine software - it seems to me that it has something to do with the way the Maschine software interacts with the DAW) made it useless for me. And it seems the problem is so deep that they cannot fix it without a big investment - an investment which they do not want to make. I know that this video is more about the Maschine+, which is a standalone unit and it probably does not have that problem. But I just wanted to talk about my experience with the NI Maschine system. I know nothing about the Akai MPC.

Just got an email from AIR (the company that made all the instruments &Synths for MPC) they are releasing them all as VSTs for any DAW!! Hype Synth, Bassline, Vacuum, Mellotron, …. Ca $79 each.

I had both, but sold them. MPC Workflow is really special and not what i expected. For me it was very hard to get familiar with it. Maschine+ is really a dream when it comes to Workflow and intuitive Usability, but it has so big stability Problems, that's not acceptable for this Price class. The CPU is always at the Limit and it doesn't run simultaneously with other devices. I tried many Devices, and kept a MC 707, for me the perfect Device. Hope the SP 404 comes soon...

Accurate and Cooking Soul = Best hiphop beatmaking channels

Love it. ❤️

To call the Maschine Plus standalone is misseling from native instruments in my opinon. The price tag on the thing is ludacris too. Live 2 is at the moment the only real standalone groovebox on the market.

Posting this a year later I have the maschine mk3 and just got the live 2.. portability hands down live 2 but maschine mk3 or maschine+ Has better sounds and expansions and instruments. I'm struggling to get any great sounds for my live so I'm gonna start convert maschine expansions thanks to ave macree tutorial for on the go but in the studio mk3 with komplete is my go to One nice thing I just fig out is I can open maschine 2 software in mpc software and use both maschine mk3 and mpc live 2 together