Ableton Forum

To all MPC2000(xl) owners: How would you rate the MPC's versatility and/or usefulness on stage? I'm in need of a good drum machine/sampler that would primarily be used live. I've had my eye on an MPC2000XL but I haven't really heard much about it's live performance capabilities. If you could suggest anything else with similar capabilities and live manipulation that would be awesome.

NI Maschine?

I've looked at the maschine and I'm not sure what to think of it, I'm sort of leaning towards something with at least an ability to be used by itself, without a computer always hooked up to it. If you own one, would you recommend it over a more analog unit of similar price?

what is it that you want to get out of it specifically, I know you said live use but these days that could mean anything, just trying to get a better idea of where you're coming from and what you want to do with it.

I used an mpc2000 for live gigs for years.I basically had loads of pre-programmed beats and samples. I'd use the mute/solo pad thing and perform that way. I like performing with it and it always sounds good but It's a bit of a pain because I use an external zip drive thats a bit flaky plus carrying it to gigs was a bit of a nuisance. they're not that light. Worth mentioning is syncing the mpc to ableton was always a pain. you could get it eventually but sometimes it would drift out and you'd have to adjust it manually.

I bought maschine a couple of months ago and I doubt i'll ever fire up the mpc again. Maschine does everything I could do on the MPC but much quicker plus it does much more and (almost) no syncing problems

martin808 wrote:I used an mpc2000 for live gigs for years.I basically had loads of pre-programmed beats and samples. I'd use the mute/solo pad thing and perform that way. I like performing with it and it always sounds good but It's a bit of a pain because I use an external zip drive thats a bit flaky plus carrying it to gigs was a bit of a nuisance. they're not that light. Worth mentioning is syncing the mpc to ableton was always a pain. you could get it eventually but sometimes it would drift out and you'd have to adjust it manually.

I bought maschine a couple of months ago and I doubt i'll ever fire up the mpc again. Maschine does everything I could do on the MPC but much quicker plus it does much more and (almost) no syncing problems

this, although the mpc has some good points and would be a good compliment with live...shame it dont synch well

i dunno, it's got a great sequencer, in a live situation using ableton as a soundmodule is one thing while still using the mpcs sequencer but I don't see the point in using abletons sequencer at the same time, but you could assign a gang of ableton clips to the mpc banks and go to town, making use of abletons much better effects blah blah... i prefer the mpc on it's own.

LivePA artist Verg (Lx7) has a nice video podcast that describes how you can, and how he uses the Akai MPC for LivePA with the track mode. The MPC in this video looks like it is the Akai MPC 4000, but the methods here can be applied to pretty much any MPC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH8Z1qfQ ... r_embedded

I used to use 2 of them (a 2000 & a 2000xl) for my live sets. They're fucking awesome! Then I got Live 3 and sold the MPC. I don't really see what use it would have alongside Live...

niksG wrote:LivePA artist Verg (Lx7) has a nice video podcast that describes how you can, and how he uses the Akai MPC for LivePA with the track mode. The MPC in this video looks like it is the Akai MPC 4000, but the methods here can be applied to pretty much any MPC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH8Z1qfQ ... r_embedded

there's a nother guy named anchorsong that's got some great clips up on the yube as well def worth checking out

i think that if you find a way to transition to one song to another (loading) without pain, an mpc it's way cooler. i once saw marini brothers, they perform with their laptop closed and everything in the set assigned to an akai controller (mpd something...) and it works really well for them, they told me that this help them concentrating in the music and listening rather than watching.
saw zombie nation, and he had an mpc 4000, no computer, awesome set. Funkdvoid once told me that his set where way funkier when he used to travel with the mpc and he was thinking to ditch live and try the mpc route again.

give it a try, if it works for you, do it!

I have an MPC1000 and I love it. It doesn't get too much use as I do most of my beat making inside of Live or Logic, but I use it as the last part of my workflow. After I'm done creating a beat, I export it as a clip and sample that. I'll also do one-shot samples on the pads to actually play with the sounds while the beat is going on. It's fun to have a machine that doesn't rely on the computer being there just in case a massive failure occurs.

i recall seeing a video of two uk producers doing the same, i should give it a try too

mpc 1k is my best buy in a long time

Maschine can be used with the laptop closed. It feels like using standalone hardware.

Some examples of Maschine in live use:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_iH5hGF210

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqUb3-tRs_A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1GY3wfZE3o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BVFMvC9-7s

Can some of you guys elaborate on how exactly you're integrating the MPC?

I was using one for a bit, but it seemed to be insanely time consuming! I realize that it might have much to do with the fact that I don't "write" using the MPC - so preparing for live sets involved much transferring one shots and resequencing much of what had been written using live. It felt quite redundant!!!!! - although it always breathes new life into seemingly done tracks!

This took much time, but might have been worth it since I love the idea of not using a computer for live - plus the sound quality through the MPC is great.

I'd love some insite as to how other Live users are using the MPC....