I recently sold my MPC X and bought a Digitakt & Digitone to go with my Octatrack.
I’d been round the houses with the current MPC format. Had a Live, One, Force, Live II, then the X.
I’d enjoyed using them all but felt stuck with the type of music i was making on the MPC’s so made the switch to an entire Elektron workflow. I’ve loved the random, spontaneous creations i’ve made but i couldn’t shake the feeling i’d let something equally special go. I’ve always been an all or nothing person, so i’ve felt the pressure to be down with one workflow or another. But something changed. it might simply be that i’m drinking Gin now & not Beer but i"m happy to go with the flow. Happy to move gear out of my workspace if it feels like a distraction. I’ve had a week away from my wife & son & spent more time jamming (getting drunk) & making music than i’ve been able to do in the years since my son was born. It’s been a blast. And this morning i got up at 5am & ordered an MPC One.
I woke up with a clarity of sorts. Surprising because of how smashed i was the previous evening, but i couldn’t deny how much i wanted back in to the MPC environment. I didn’t need another X or Live, i just wanted a simple connection to the incredible tools available. The funny thing is, because of lack of time & energy i felt a bit of a fraud having the X. I felt i wasn’t entitled or deserving of having it. Silly perhaps but that’s me.
And in anticipation i’m beginning to wonder if the One, DT & DN is the holy grail setup for me.
Everything covered. Is it possible that i’ll sell my 8th Octatrack?? We shall see…i’ll let you know.
In the meantime it’s Gin time. Tomorrow is a day of tidying in preparation for my Wife & Son’s return. Tonight is yet to reveal itself but i’m all in with plans, inspiration & music on my mind.
Anyway, happy to be back on the MPC threads and trying to decide what i’m having for my din dins.
the fact that you can simply sit down/stand and run instruments or turntables into a looper on an mpc dry or through Fx is nothing short of amazing for what an instrument like this was designed to do after recording/sampling audio, and if you use that easy AF workaround for putting each layer on a pad automagically, we are talking pure sample based wizardry here and that is just one feature…
the most incredible thing about the mpc imo is that it has many, many features but and this is key, … it is light years easier to use than an octatrack, and for those that think the octatrack is moderately easy to use I’m not trying to take that away from you, but no matter how easy an octatrack is , an mpc is Childs play In comparison imo.
I just loaded the MPC app on a separate Midi Channel, then routed all the Audio from the other channels to it, and added the Granulizer and Flavor Pro effects on them.
Does anyone know how many of my devices I can run Flavor Pro across if I buy it?
I currently have 2x MPC Live 2’s, an MPC X, a Force and MPC software on my Mac… that’s 5 places I’d ideally like to have it, and 5 places that are tied to my Akai/InMusic user account.
Is this doable?
Edit: I’ve cracked and began the trials for OP4X and Flavor Pro… I’ve got to say, I’m really impressed by the potential and sound of these two.
It seems like four tracks of OP4X and Flavor Pro will give a Digitone a serious run for it’s money.
Interesting…
I think that’s a problem Akai will face with their next generation - I was kind of tempted by the FM synth, but ultimately the MPC comes with enough tools to do whatever you want - Tubesynth might come across a bit basic, but combined with the FX slots and sampling engine, it covers a whole lot of ground - and you’ve got Hype and Odyssey etc. on top of that. If they want to fully embrace the online store approach in the next set of MPCs, they’re going to have to think about that. Combined with iPad connectivity, it’s a hard sell no matter how good the products might be - so a bare bones model with a subscription service wouldn’t come as a huge surprise, with higher-priced permanent purchases as a further option. I hope that doesn’t happen, but if it does then my MPC One will remain a great alternative for as long as the buttons still work.
It’s a bit tricky to get working. IIRC you have to go into Ethernet sharing settings and allow the MPC to share with the computer. There’s an article I found that explains this that I can try to dig up.
Is anyone else having trouble signing into the inmusic account through the Live 2 or MPC X (over wifi?)?
I scan the QR code with my phone from my MPC screen and nothing happens… (all wifi connections are fine).
