Mpc live - any users? How's it going?

Thought this was off the radar but considering it again for a few reasons.

-Portable sampler for collecting stuff from YouTube on phone. How’s the file management aspect? Drag/drop to desktop? Responsive and quick for trimming samples? Naming and organising I guess is fast/solid?

-quick hands on Drum machine. How does it fair here? Seems bare bones… No parameter locks if I understand correct? No trig conditions? No fills? Not dealbreakers for me maybe though. People finding there’s enough onboard to feel inspired/creative?

-making instruments from samples. How’s the flexibility on this? Like can you use one sample as an instrument and timestrech it so all notes same length as the original sample? If so, what quality is the timestrech? And also wanna make multisampled instruments, how fast is the workflow for this? How’s the integration with desktop using mpc software as a vst, in a Kontakt type way?

General Q’s - responsive screen? Any Lag? Solid build? How’s the desktop Vst integration in general? Onboard fx quality? Does general workflow ‘feel’ like fluid hardware or quite clunky iPad + controller? Can it be used as an audio and midi i/o for ipad? If so does it need to be mains powered for that? Internal Modulation options?

Any other cool tricks/lame stuff spring to mind?

Thanks!

The MPC Live was my first foray into using hardware and my experience with it has been great. Granted I only really use it as a sketchpad along with my OP-1. I’ve been able to make and even mix down a few beats on it. But to answer your questions:

1- File management/naming/organizing could be quicker and easier in my opinion but it’s ok for the way it’s set up. Chopping samples on this thing is a dream, might just be the best I’ve ever seen.
2- Pretty responsive pads so it’s an awesome drum machine. Never had any personal use for PLocks or TrigCo but I’ve been hearing about these features possibly being added in future updates
3- Never made my own instruments on it (that’s what I use my OP-1 for but I’ve definitely seen some threads in the MPC forums (there should be a youtube video by TubeDigga out there as well) that may have the answers you’re looking for.
4- The GUI is basic but perfect in my opinion. The onboard FXs gets the job done, maybe would want a visual EQ but that’s about it. Workflow feels amazing if you want to just dive into the beatmaking aspect of it.

I obviously done have all of the answers because I use for pretty basic reasons lol. But it’s great having a way to focus solely on music while on-the-go which is the reason I bought it. But yeah definitely check some forums and look at a few videos before you decide. Hopefully this helped a little.

I’ll chime in here just briefly to say… I owned one for a week before deciding to return it.

In short, I just couldn’t get comfortable committing to the workflow of the MPC. I’ve heard people say in the past - you either know it (and love the workflow) or you find it too clunky. I aligned myself with the latter. I think my mindset is too based in a linear workflow of a traditional DAW. Although you can use it as a standalone unit, to truly unlock its potential in song creation, you do need to tether it back to a computer. If Maschine ever attempted what Akai has done here, I think I would be VERY interested. I love he logical nature of Native Instruments software and harware.

I’ve since redirected that money into an iPad Pro and I couldn’t be happier with the decision.

That said, it is such a beautiful piece of hardware. Its specs and general aspirations are second to none. The screen is responsive, the pads are fantastic and the battery life is actually really decent.

I will give my 2 cents for what is worth…

What I found with MPC Live is you need to go in knowing what you want to lay down. Personally I felt MPC Live to be more of a DAW type production tool as opposed to the OP-1 or Digitakt, which I can turn on having no idea what type of track I plan on making and find inspiration.

Having said that I love my mpc live, it is a beautiful piece of hardware and for the sampling capabilities alone it has become an expendable member of my live/portable setup.

I love mine. Got plenty of stuff up here:

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/ringofthenibblefunk/?hl=en