So I just ordered an Octatrack MKII (backordered). I already have an A4 MKII and a bunch of other synths, however I am wondering if there are any opinions of what I should potentially get rid of now that I will have an Octatrack.
The gear I’m specifically wondering about now is my MPC 5000 and my Squarp Pyramid. I normally wouldn’t have so many sequencers but the Pyramid came up for a great price locally so I grabbed it.
I am working on noise/drone/ambient at the moment.
I’m not really needing the finger drumming aspect of the MPC as those days are long gone although the song arrangement and midi capabilities are powerful. The Pyramid has some great features; should that be he sequencing heart of all these machines?
Anyone care to chime in on what might be redundant and what I should look at selling?
I have a Sub37, Roland SH2, Nord Lead and a DSI Rev 2. Also an H9 for FX and various other pedals.
I’m putting together a bit of a live rig as well so thinking sequencer, SH2, A4 and a sampler. But maybe keeping the MPC for drum duties isn’t a bad idea…
I have used the pyramid to sequence ot2 but you lose the sample locks so I use them hand in hand. ie use pyramid to change patterns on ot2 an a4.I have nord lead to and pyramid is a far better sequencer for this.only thing missing is conditional trigs
Get rid of the MPC. If you want to go back the mpc 2.0 software gives you classic 96ppqn and 960ppqn with realtime swing. Grab some drum pads and you got yourself a stew. Pyramid is something else so keep that.
I’d sell the MPC5000 and use the money to get an MPC2000 or 2000xl (or maybe even a 3000 but those are pretty expensive these days) to have a classic MPC style workflow to complement the Octatrack, but I may be a it biased because the MPC2kxl was my studio hub and primary sampler for 8 or 9 years before I got the OT.
I haven’t used them together yet but I don’t feel like the OT replaced the MPC at all, it filled in a lot of the gaps in terms of limitations in the MPC that I didn’t like (plus opening up what seems like an infinite number o other possibilities that are completely alien to the classic MPC workflow), but the MPC also does a lot of things that the OT doesn’t (you’re not going to be programming SYSEX on the Octatrack any time soon). I can’t speak for the newer MPCs but the 2000xl and earlier are just fantastic, lean instruments that do what they do well and are amazingly fast to work on - still far more efficient than the OT for producing finished tracks, IMHO - and they are so different from the OT that neither one of them could replace the other for me. I think a lot of the bells and whistles in the 5000 would be made kind of redundant by the OT but the core MPC workflow is pretty unbeatable for some things, especially if you want something with a live feel, and it’s not something you could really replicate on the OT (and vice versa), so they seem like a natural pair to me, and I’m definitely going to do a project that’s based around just those two pieces at some point in the coming year.
Yeah, the size is the one big issue with the older MPCs but it’s also part of what makes them so great to work with.
Although I just had a vision of making some custom rack ears that would let me mount the OT to the rackmount brackets I have for the MPC, like the filter bank is mounted here:
It wouldn’t be very portable but the ergonomics and look would be great.
Keep the mpc.
IMO mpc and octatrack are the best groovebox combo going!
And you can use the inputs on the octatrack to add effects and modulation to the mpc sounds.
I planned to do exactly this, mines all black and matches my OT perfectly. I thought about doing one for the OT+iPad Pro, they’re roughly the same width
Alright, so you don’t have it anymore? Not sure what went wrong. But a compact flash bricked while saving once. I have a new one now that seems to work so far. But upon reading on mpc-forums it seems Akai OS can possibly create file corruption. Im just interested in knowing how many have had problems with it. Thats why Im asking
Wrong tense ? I still have it, but I wanted to try Analog Drive and a guitar fx. I have no real setup for the moment. OT is always the experimental brain / master.
