prices keep going up, you better hurry!
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Thatās cool. Maybe we can both report back and compare notes.
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Hey, thought Iād chime in.
When I had them paired I tried out different setups. I settled on the OT being master because I occasionally use Pickup machines and those just work better when the OT is master.
Obviously the MPC has a more flexible sequencer time- (length, division, note length) and polyphony-wise. The OTās step sequencer is more hands-on (to me) and the retrig, probabilities, p-locks etc are great performance tools.
Iām rediscovering my MPC Live these days as a sound source and a performance tool by limiting myself to a small set of functionality to use.
Track & pad mutes are really nice on the MPC Live, and the XY pad as well. You could run your OTās main or cue outs into the MPC Live and use its XY pad for performance related master effect shenaganians. Same goes for added FX as the MPC Live allows a significant degree of flexibility and FX stacking.
On the OT I dig everything, itās the perfect device for my needs, but obviously feature wise much more limited than the MPC.
What are you trying to achieve anyways? Are you more production or performance focused? Any other gear you have/want to integrate?
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For recording songs, I just use the computer but using the hardware is a whole separate thing. I would like for it to be more performance-based. For example, I donāt want to have to stop and adjust things; I just want to improv starting from nothing. Occasionally, I would like to add guitar and bass. Iāve owned all of these machines before (OT, MPC, OP-1) but have never owned them all at the same time. I would like to incorporate the OP-1 into the setup too. So, Iām thinking OT is master, MPC is synced to OT and OP-1 is just another source for sounds (not synced up). I like starting from nothing and just building from there. For me, itās about leaving the computers behind and just enjoying the process. No agenda except just to have fun and see what happens. Like jazz but with tomorrowās modern boxes.
Ok for performance based stuff the OT is king. Sampling on the fly and messing with those samples is its strong point in my book.
Do I understand you correctly that you would want to jam primarily with sampled loops that you produce on the fly? (ie guitar, bass, OP1 ā any other sound sources?) Or would you want to also midi sequence any instruments on the fly?
My tip would be to attribute a specific purpose to each box as you are already in the process of doing.
For example:
OT = sample recorder/looper & mangler
OP1 = Synth / Sound source
MPC = (what do you envision here? :))
The other tip is to preset your samplers (OT/MPC) with a set of sounds (a sound palette) that you then stick to and experiment with. Often the flexibility of something like the MPC can kill all spontaneity. You could for example set up a track for drums (and create a specific drum program on that track), one for synth-y sounds (and create a specific keygroup program on that track) and maybe one track with one shot samples of all sorts (vocals, textures, etc). And then you stick to those for a few weeks before you mess with the sound palette again.
Ok all that said, here is a suggestion on how to integrate the three devices:
I would probably run the guitar and bass straight into the OT (so you can loop them easily) and set up a Thru track to handle those two coming in (so you can add FX to them ā if you want to treat your guitar and bass separately, youād need two Thru tracks). Then Iād run the OP1 into the MPC Live and two outputs of the MPC Live into the OTās Inputs CD. Now you can loop anything you play on the OP1 or MPC right in the OT and keep the vibe going (or mangle the recordings into oblivion :)), while you can also sample the OP1 in the MPC in case you wanna perform any of its sounds via finger drumming.
You could set up the OTās track 8 as Master Track which would also give the possibility to affect all signals running through it (hence: your complete setup) with FX (reverb or some form of mangling).
If your OT sequences your MPC via midi, you could use the OTās LFOs on your MPCās sounds as well to add modulation / movement.
As you can probably see, the possibilities and choices to be made are many, but what I describe here is likely a good setup for live jamming if you want to start from scratch and build soundscapes in realtime (itās what I mainly do as well).
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Edit: Whoops, I continue to mistake the Force/MPC threads. Below if for the Force. I believe @shinobi owns a Force, or had one recently.
16, but those are global. Hundreds of performance-modulators are available in the Macros, but they do take time to configure. More pad/keygroup sample-edit modulators are coming soon, according to the rumors.
This is awesome, thanks for the detail!
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The keygroup functionality is cool. But I found the lack of assignable Q links in keygroup patterns really worrisome. No assignable envelope parameters. Like really akai?
For real though! 
I went to try and assign a q-link to the filter cut off and was quickly disappointedā¦
Hopefully theyāll try to fix this in a future update
Workaround is using a filter effect on the master slot. But yeah, no adsr editing on the fly. No thanks. lol. I miss my mpc but after 2 years of really lame limitations I gave in and sold it. 
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Iāve got a couple of issues with the mpcs as well, but if I sold it for those what would I replace it with, as every other beat machine canāt do like at least 20 things I can do on the mpc, it would be like going from the skillet into the frying pan
Just saw this. Donāt know how I missed it. Thank you very much!
One question. If I set up bass and guitar as thru tracks, how would I sample them live? Donāt they need to be flex machines? Iām reading the manual as we speak. Itās been five years so Iām gonna have to relearn this thing. I just found 3 old CF cards full of my old OT projects so that is encouraging. My problem on the MK1 was getting it to sample live.But like I said, Iām RTFM right now. To answer your question, I was thinking along the same lines as you described, the MPC would be used for finger drumming because I really do enjoy the way it automatically loops after a set number of bars (the fact that Ableton doesnāt do this easily is a real shame and one of the main reasons I gravitated to the MPCs over the years). So yes, OT would send clock just to keep everything in sync but I would still create drum loops on MPC, use the op-1 for sounds, and run instruments into the OT to jam along with or sample/mangle. However, for the next couple of days, Iām just going to get to know the OT again on itās own. I think itās for the best. Thanks for your input.
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Each track as an independent recorder.
You can record Thru tracks with any recorder, selecting that Thru track as source with SRC3=T1-T8ā¦
Flex can play recordings, you donāt need one to record, but to play a recording.
2 Thru tracks and 2 Flex tracks to play their recordings? Better solutions imho.
Pickups can be used, they have a monitoring option. Some caveatsā¦
Use DIR as monitoring, use a Recorder + Flex to play the recording. You can arm recording with one shot rec trigs, or with QREC.
You can also use a Recorder + Flex track as a Thru, simply matching rec trig with play trigs.
Change pattern when youāre done > next pattern plays the recording, no rec trigs.
Sum up : Nothing simple to setup! Better to try several options to find out which suits you the bestā¦Do you use a midi foot controller for Guitar/Bass recordings?
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Yes! Reviewed the SRC3 info last night. No pedal but I can set the recording quantization to 16 and it will play through an entire bar before it starts recording. I do remember that. Also, the transition trick may be helpful here. Thanks for all your help.
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These days what I like to do is use a Thru machine for monitoring and multiple Pickup machines set to record from the Thru trackās output for multitrack live looping.
So I just figured out QREC only works for manual sampling, NOT when you place a one shot recorder trig. This is what messed with my mind last time I owned an OT. Now that I know this, things will be much easier. Correct me if Iām wrong but Recording trigs are better for when you have other equipment synced up (midi, etc.) and you press play and recording starts. My approach is I want to sample guitar into the OT while itās playing and have the sampled guitar automatically start playing the next time around. Iām almost there. So close. Encouraging
Depends. Rec trigs an be used on any step, and played directly by Flexs, mangled, as live fx.
One shot rec trigs are usefull to start a long recording just after play, or to start several recordings (Arm All).
Pickups are ready to record/play, add QREC.
Or a Flex with an assigned recording buffer slot. QREC, start recording with Track + Rec123
Right. But what Iām saying is QREC doesnāt work with recorder trigs on a flex track if I want to say, start playing the guitar and recording it on the first beat while everything is already playing. I will look into pickup machines but the manual says that QREC is only for manual sampling; I canāt play the guitar and manually sample but I can manually sample with QREC set to 16 and hit record midway through that first bar then start playing/recording. If youāre saying p/up machines would make this easier, Iām all for it. Otherwise, explain a better way to set this up. Please.
I donāt understand what you are trying to do here, but I think what you want to do is possible.
Yeah, I think if you are going to sample while using an instrument like a guitar, you should maybe get a midi footswitch.