Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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MPC Live vs. Octatrack MKII

Pros / Cons
Strength / Weakness
Likes / Dislikes
Music Style Use and Natural Inclination
Quality of sounds
Use with other gear
Outputs
Use with Mac/PC

Checking his list..checking it twice....

Comments

  • Does the new MPC upgrade allow ALL VST to be used with the MPC autonomous from a MACBOOK/PC or must it be hooked up?

  • Why we are here

    WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIGITAK and OKTOTRAK?

  • @RUST( i )K said:
    Does the new MPC upgrade allow ALL VST to be used with the MPC autonomous from a MACBOOK/PC or must it be hooked up?

    No. They launched 3 built in plugins which work in standalone mode. And they sound good.
    You have the AUtoSampler feature which you can use to auto sample external gear or VSTs. It's quite nice honestly.

  • @RUST( i )K said:
    Why we are here

    WHAT IS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DIGITAK and OKTOTRAK?

    Digitakt is like a limited drum machine compared to Octatrack. Octatrack has more sample mangling features and time stretch.

    Either way, BOTH don't allow you to play a sample in CHORDS. Only mono chromatic mode.

  • edited November 2018

    Classic, constructive digitakt vs octatrack comparison:

    To summarize the video’s points (I can’t confirm myself, beyond having noticed that lots of experienced users seem to agree): octatrack has a steeper learning curve (which it is notorious for, but the workflow is super fast and flexible once you master it). Learning curve aside, Digitakt has its own merits for coming up with rhythm tracks specifically. Octatrack can cover that territory too, but where it goes much further is as a self-contained environment for full tracks (rather than rhythm tracks specifically): both for performing full tracks live, and for putting together full tracks in the studio.

  • edited November 2018

    I think the Digitakt is so lovely, doesn't sound like but has that sp12/ 303 feel... If I was looking to get an sp-303/304 I would get a digitakt instead, there are just too many ways to mangle samples and too many ways to perform beats on a digi and it is extremely fun to use and sounds great.

    I will probably end up with an octa one of these days, but it won't be a replacement for the digitakt and the digitakt is a perfect companion for the mpc live being that they offer very different workflows that compliment and play off of each other well... you'll definitely be compelled to sample back and forth between the two, and it's a great way to lose some weight cause you'll forget all about eating.

    the mpc is not just a nostalgic brand name. these are some of the things it can do that no other beat machine can do.

    _explode tracks- takes a track and explodes all elements on that track to their own individual tracks.

    tempo automation
    time sig automation

    freeze ( yep, like track freeze in a daw, but on a per pad basis with fx etc.., what other beat machine can do that....... (no the deluge cannot)

    bounce sequences to audio super quick

    autosampler

    next sequence mode (where you can build your arrangement simply by playing/triggering the sequences how you want in realtime and it will record that arrangement

    of course it has a song mode where you can arrange the song offline quickly (not realtime) as well

    midi merge- take as many sequences as you want (up to the limit of course) and with a couple of clicks, merge them into one sequence... and you can do this all day long if you want over and over and over. I love this feature for working on a slew of tiny bits and then merging them all together.

    _

    anyways these are just a few of many but any two of these features would nullify the thought that the mpc is some hip hoppy, braggadocios, hype, nostalgic buy... It's the best hardware beat machine for controlling outboard gear as well and the i/o options are ridiculous as well... everything you see on the back can be used all simultaneously for connecting a midi controller, internal sad hard drive, external hard drive, SD card, thumb drive, turntable, 6 external audio outs, and moocho midi dins all at the same time

    but as a lover of beat machines I still want an octatrack, rytm, deluge, and toraiz16 too

  • @ohwell said:
    Classic, constructive digitakt vs octatrack comparison:

    To summarize the video’s points (I can’t confirm myself, beyond having noticed that lots of experienced users seem to agree): octatrack has a steeper learning curve (which it is notorious for, but the workflow is super fast and flexible once you master it). Learning curve aside, Digitakt has its own merits for coming up with rhythm tracks specifically. Octatrack can cover that territory too, but where it goes much further is as a self-contained environment for full tracks (rather than rhythm tracks specifically): both for performing full tracks live, and for putting together full tracks in the studio.

    Thanks!

  • @kobamoto said:
    I think the Digitakt is so lovely, doesn't sound like but has that sp12/ 303 feel... If I was looking to get an sp-303/304 I would get a digitakt instead, there are just too many ways to mangle samples and too many ways to perform beats on a digi and it is extremely fun to use and sounds great.

    I will probably end up with an octa one of these days, but it won't be a replacement for the digitakt and the digitakt is a perfect companion for the mpc live being that they offer very different workflows that compliment and play off of each other well... you'll definitely be compelled to sample back and forth between the two, and it's a great way to lose some weight cause you'll forget all about eating.

    the mpc is not just a nostalgic brand name. these are some of the things it can do that no other beat machine can do.

    _explode tracks- takes a track and explodes all elements on that track to their own individual tracks.

    tempo automation
    time sig automation

    freeze ( yep, like track freeze in a daw, but on a per pad basis with fx etc.., what other beat machine can do that....... (no the deluge cannot)

    bounce sequences to audio super quick

    autosampler

    next sequence mode (where you can build your arrangement simply by playing/triggering the sequences how you want in realtime and it will record that arrangement

    of course it has a song mode where you can arrange the song offline quickly (not realtime) as well

    midi merge- take as many sequences as you want (up to the limit of course) and with a couple of clicks, merge them into one sequence... and you can do this all day long if you want over and over and over. I love this feature for working on a slew of tiny bits and then merging them all together.

    _

    anyways these are just a few of many but any two of these features would nullify the thought that the mpc is some hip hoppy, braggadocios, hype, nostalgic buy... It's the best hardware beat machine for controlling outboard gear as well and the i/o options are ridiculous as well... everything you see on the back can be used all simultaneously for connecting a midi controller, internal sad hard drive, external hard drive, SD card, thumb drive, turntable, 6 external audio outs, and moocho midi dins all at the same time

    but as a lover of beat machines I still want an octatrack, rytm, deluge, and toraiz16 too

    MPC .....another option only adds more wants

  • gonna be lots of folks exploiting the mpcs autosampler feature, turning their iPad synths into mpc instruments

  • edited November 2018

    @kobamoto said:

    ...midi merge- take as many sequences as you want (up to the limit of course) and with a couple of clicks, merge them into one sequence... and you can do this all day long if you want over and over and over. I love this feature for working on a slew of tiny bits and then merging them all together.

    That does sound tasty!

  • can't live without those features now, .... pad freeze?... C'mon.

    I didn't even mention that the mpc live actually has warping in the vein of Ableton. the time stretch can be applied to individual slices within a sample so you might have lets say 4 slices and you can time stretch the 3rd slice if you want to give it a new vibe, timing, rhythm etc.. within that said loop.

  • Mpc live/x pros:
    Better pad triggers, decent size responsive touch screen, capacitive knobs, easier workflow, lots of storage options(sshd, sd, usb), around 600mg of sample ram, lots of effects and flexible routing, comes with about 1200.00 in software plugs etc, many sounds onboard out the box, autosampler, humanize, classic mpc emulation modes, multiple ways to do all functions, realtime pitch and time...although better when tethered, xy effects, 3 built in synths, its not a device for checking social media, pad performance mode (key, scale, chords, and progressions), stereo crossfade, the engine can do many tricks like psuedo granular, start point automation, arpeggiator with 4 modes, randomize, multiile formats in.

    Cons:
    no multitimbral midi in, no streaming from
    Ssd yet, no guitarish effects, lack of better timestretch in standalone, no sidechain yet, no tuner effect no formant control built into timestretch, no auto root note, and no automation on master channel...i am sure alot of these will be addressed in coming updates

    Its a beast, even with the few things it lacks its the king of boxes at the moment! Paired with an ipad you can do most of what it lacks!

  • @kobamoto One issue people bring up is how daw-like the sequencing workflow is on the mpc live, and how reliant on the touch screen it is. Do you find that to be the case?

    I’m bringing this up because a lot of the octatrack praise seems to come from how good a job it does at implementing a “hardware” (buttons, knobs, cross fader) focused workflow, and that completely breaks from the daw/ableton/maschine lineage - once users get past the steep learning curve - and that relies minimally on the screen. AFAIK this workflow is a big part of why octatrack also has the limited capabilities it has. Eg things like only having 8 (audio) + 8 (midi) tracks have a lot of workflow upside - to keep all options accessible within a minimal amount of switch pressing, and to allow navigation to rely on the screen as little as possible. Same with not even trying to enable the kind of polyphonic midi sequencing that is really best done with a piano roll editor..

    (I just don’t know the mpc live well at all, but from looking at its layout it seems like it’s going for a self-contained (no computer/tablet needed) version of the kind of screen centered workflow we can get while ditching the mouse and keyboard in favor of a tightly integrated pads/switches/knobs/touchscreen combination. (Specifically, mpc live seems to be in the same broad lineage as maschine (on Mac/pc), and BM3 on iOS.) I don’t mean that as a bad thing at all. There’s a huge demand for this kind kind of workflow.)

  • no I don't feel that way at all, I've heard some people say that but it's weird to me because I'm familiar with all of the mpcs and the core workflow of the new models is still that same old tried, tested workflow.... there are some new things added of course but if anything I feel like there are not enough new workflows added like I want it to have parameter locks exactly how elektron does them and at least at this time akai is not going to go there............ but it's still got very good automation, and you can fake p.locks... I just like elektrons style better than everybody elses.

    this workflow is far older than the current daw popularity going on these days... the mpc doesn't feel like a daw to me, it feels like a groove box.... the thing is that a lot of people comparing it to daws don't really have the concept of groove boxes that have features like the ones I've listed above.... so for those people It might feel like a daw. They usually think well if native instruments maschine can't even do these things then surely we are in daw territory but that's not the case, most of the mpc features are old as hell, decades...
    like that midi merge, tempo/and time sig feature for example, even an mpc 500 can do that stuff. There are so many instruments out these days like the maschine, deluge, toraiz, many software apps and such that people have forgotten all of the things that groove boxes could do probably before they were born... the mpc is def a groove box workflow.

  • edited November 2018

    @kobamoto That’s super helpful. I did realize that eg maschine owes more to the much older MPC groovebox workflow than to ableton and daws, and that the mpc live falls in that much older mpc lineage. So your point about how distinct from daws it is makes a lot of sense. I also didn’t realize that the touchscreen is such a nice fit for that groovebox workflow. (I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised because BM3?)

    Is it fair to say that what I was describing about octatrack’s workflow also breaks from that groovebox lineage, though?

  • Been checking out what's available too and the Pioneer DJS 1000 is like a SP 404 on steroids and the Toraiz is more capable (song mode) like an Electribe on steroids.
    But neither are cheap. Oh well ... there is no perfect sampler machine yet. They all got different strengths and weaknesses. Fun doing the research but I'm not ready to pull the trigger on any yet.

  • it all comes down to what you want to do with samples:

    Really mangle without many limits: apple alchemy

    Really mangle in hardware: roland vsynth

    Perform and bend samples alot in hardware: OT

    Slice perform and synthesize samples: mpclive-x or ableton live

    Turn samples to midi or eliminate elements within: rx7, melodyne4 editor, iris2

  • @ohwell
    the octa kind of reminds me of the Roland mc-909 in vibe, I def feel like the octa is more in the groovebox category that daw... it's got it's own flavor and can feel as closed or open as you want it to. I love that about grooveboxes, and also this is why I feel that you can never have enough of them or go wrong with any of them because their great advantage Is that they can be made to feel so personable which is such a boon for creativity...

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