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Separate Looper and Step Sequencer windows offer additional ways to play and tweak sounds. A Program Edit window, meanwhile, allows up to four samples to be layered on each pad, and offers filter and amp envelopes for each. A Sample Edit window allows sounds to be trimmed, looped, re-pitched and sliced across the 16 pads. Sampled instruments can be loaded with sounds from the built-in memory, an external USB/SD, or recorded directly from the MPC Live’s inputs. Using the screen for deep sequence edits can occasionally feel fiddly, but generally the combination of the touch interface, main rotary and Q Link controls make for a decent experience, on a par with what you’d expect from a modern DAW. Everything can also be manually inputted and edited via a piano roll/sequencer grid on the touchscreen. Patterns can be recorded via the 16 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads.

Overall, the balance of I/O flexibility and portability feels pretty solid though.

The one thing that would have been a nice addition is a front panel instrument input, allowing a guitar or bass to be recorded without the need for some kind of external amplification. We’d argue that it’s a nice touch and - although some extra jacks or XLRs might have been more useful in many modern studios - if the inclusion of that phono connection encourages a few younger generation producers to pick up a cheap turntable and experiment with the ‘crate digging’ approach to sampling, that can only be a good thing. While this might not seem like the optimum choice of input to some users - particularly given the fairly modest overall range of input options - it certainly remains faithful to the MPC’s heritage as a beat-maker beloved by the vinyl-chopping producers of early hip-hop, jungle and breakbeat. The latter of these is obviously aimed specifically at sampling directly from a vinyl turntable. In terms of recording inputs, the Live features a stereo pair of 1/4" jacks and a stereo RCA input, switchable between line and phono, complete with ground peg.