AKAI Professional MPC Live II

A bit disappointed

MPC is great sequencer but not that great sound module. I bought it primarily to use it as sound expander, but got disappointed. AKAI stage piano samples (including Yamaha C7 and Steinway for 200EUR) sound very poor in comparison to my Roland or Yamaha keyboards. Even cheep Roland students keyboards piano sounds much better. Product returned

This can be your studio centerpiece

The MPC Live 2 is a fantastic piece of studio gear! As an absolute beginner, I so appreciate its options, handling and build quality. The Live 2 being my very first foray into music creation and production was an excellent decision for me, and one which took awhile to make. For me; one of the biggest pros of the MPC Live 2 is the overall ease of use. Its a groove box, so obviously sounds can be performed immediately. There is a learning curve, simply because of the many options the Live 2 offers. However, even being brand new to all of this; I felt that with little practice and a few errors, understanding how to make music becomes much easier in a short amount of time. MPC Live 2 comes with a great library of sounds, and although not all of them are To my liking; the feeling of what you can do with these sounds with a little work and patience, is very rewarding. I am also looking forward to the release of the new advanced sample chopping technique, coming in March or April. Having the option to operate the MPC Live 2 with batteries, and having a built in speaker really do make this a portable standalone groove box. Although I have not yet used the MPC with batteries, I do find that the built in speaker is excellent for casual playback monitoring. I appreciate that the headphone socket is located in the back of the MPC Live 2, as apposed to the front socket location of the MPC One. The pads are very playable, although I prefer to use full level every time, as half level playing pads leave me with a feeling of inconsistent sound. Overall, a fantastic piece of equipment, and a very capable groove box!

Great for sounds bank, Bad for non-stop live preformance.

Plus there is bug with channels. Basically, you can only play long notes on one midi channel at the time. Akai is aware of the bug since 2016. But the sounds banks and effects are easy to use. perfect gear to create a song from your sofa. without the need of a computer. Not good at all if you want to plug in midi controller.

Portable powerhouse

There's something really enjoyable about a self contained production unit that works fully standalone and untethered, and this is a very powerful piece of gear. It's also a quite big and heavy piece of gear, but the spacious interface and big pads makes it a joy to use.

It can be a portable sketch pad for beats/stems, the brain of a hardware setup or studio, a controller for your DAW... It's a very short list trying to find anything that matches this in terms of connectivity and versatility.

I would say this has a relatively friendly learning curve, and it's a very complete package. It has some quirks, but overall it's a fantastic machine.

If you are just looking to get into production, or primarily want a studio workhorse, you might prefer the smaller footprint and button layout of the MPC One+ instead.

Absolutely love my Live II

I use my Live almost exclusively in standalone mode and it's an amazing little machine. Once you get used to the non linear arranging you can really get things done fast and efficiently.

MPC Live II

O man, best music making gear i ever try.

All-in-one portable wonder

I acquired the MPC Live II over a year and a half ago to be my all-in-one music box for studio, rehearsal and live use (In an alternative rock setting).

I previously used a Virus TI, OP1, OP-Z and iPad... it was a lot of weight to carry around and long setting up time!

Now the MPC replaces all this and with the built-in battery, it only takes a minute to plug the audio cable and controller keyboard and voila!

Here are my favorites features:

-Probably the best sampler on the market, with ease of sample editing, auto chop and a wonderful auto-sampler which allows use to easily capture any synth or sound modules as a multisample key group.

-An amazing array of plugin ranging from Drum synth, polyphonic VA, macro synth, E-piano, and some beautiful recreation of Odyssey, Mellotron and Solina. In addition to those free plugins, you have the option to acquire paid deep FM synth, Piano/Organ/Strings plugins, great sounding rompler and now a Mini D recreation (an MPC is the perfect GAS killer).

-A HUGE selection of effects that cover all your needs and be applied at any level of your sounds chain.

-Superb sequencer, and easy access to your favorites projects/setlists

-A wide array of connections, including a SATA port to have your samples library and project everywhere.

-And all this is in a sturdy box with quality speaker and 6h battery, allowing you to play everywhere with ease.

All this made the MPC the centerpiece of my studio and the perfect travel companion for composition abroad.

My workflow is to create songs ideas and structure on the MPC then transfer the project to the MPC software and Audio/Midi in Ableton.

However, with the plethora of effects and plugins, one could create mix and master a song totally in the box.

Then, I can bring our songs to live environment with the same instruments, launch recorded drums track if needed, easy access to live parameters with the Q-links and song transition with the XY-Fx.

You will need to invest some time to get into the MPC workflow and the few quirk and limitation. However it is more than worth it and I cannot imagine my music life without it.

Also, the new MPC keys 61, the MPC X and MPC one share the same processor as the MPC live 2 thus we can expect long support from AKAI (there have been multiples useful updates in the last year).

My favorite instrument purchase ever

I’ve had my Live II since mid-August, my very first experience with Akai Pro & the MPC world. I’m over 50, and over the years, I’ve owned electronic hardware & software products/instruments by Roland, Korg, Yamaha, Native Instruments. There’s been good & bad in all that… no complaints about those companies & products, you take the good with the bad, BUT…

I just turned on the Live II, and it let me know that version 2.11.5 firmware update was ready for download (Wi-Fi), then it did so, flawlessly, followed by other new instruments, 5 minutes, DONE, ! The ease of installation is awesome and the sounds ROCK.Yeah, it’s not a Fantom or Kronos, but it sure does the job intended, and the auto sampling, including VST auto sampling takes care of that. I’d never sampled before, and it’s easy as pie, even for an idiot like me.

I’m no pro, neither as a musician nor as a producer, although musically, I know what I’m doing, and I can honestly say, in terms of ease of use, intuitive interface, company responsiveness to user requests, but most importantly: just plain FUN with creating music, NOTHING I’ve owned (including Korg Kronos, Roland Fantom, Yamaha Motif, NI Maschine & Komplete), NOTHING beats the last two months of pure musical joy messing around with the MPC.

So there’s that 😂😂😂😎🎶☮️🎶☮️❤️

all round usefull machine

a massive amount of esefull applications with this box encluding sampling recording many onboard intruments and effects plus huge sequencing power make this a fantastic workstation , even usable on the move with its ssuprisingly efficient little speakers which provide great clarity at low volumes

Great for composing

This is my first MPC. After a few months of use, I have to say I really like the Live II. It's not as intuitive as I first imagined, but I enjoy how it makes me think about sounds and compositions. I've made more tracks on it in a few months than using my regular setup over the past 3 years.

The downside is that the MPC Live II isn't any good in a live setting. I found myself going back to my SP404 for that.

Overall, it's a cozy groovebox to jam on while relaxing on the couch. Even though this image could seem pedestrian, the music that you come up with often sounds like you wouldn't have been able to create it any other way.