MPC Thread : MPC Live - MPC X - MPC One (Part 1)

[enryo]

My main interest (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this): sample managment.not having to think ahead all that much in terms of creating sample chains, loading samples in flex or static, having limited slots - I think this might be a huge time saver… I asume (for what I’ve seen so far) MPC Live won’t have this limitation.

Yep you can import samples and build programs on the fly. Or build programs in advance. It’s pretty flexible.

Recording samples: although I’ve got used to it, I still make mistakes often on the OT when recording/resampling, wich can be quite frustrating… I feel like the MPC might be more intuitive in this respect - I don’t know if it would be more/less flexible though, ore similar in terms of possibilities.

Much easier and more intuitive than OT - but not quite as flexible e.g. you can’t set up sampling chains or tracks and process live etc AFAIK.

Audio Tracks/One Shot Samples: for what I’ve read, it seems like you can have 8 “loops” playing (audio tracks) while also have lots of one shots sequenced… now, this is truly amazing, but a few things are still unclear to me: how can you play 8 audiotracks if the pad grid is 4x4? can you move easily between clips and sequenced layers (from the sonicstate video, it seems like it’s possible)? can I mute either clips or sequences easily too (thinking about live performance, compared to octatrack: muting, volumes, etc…)?

MPC uses programs a bit like OT banks and each program has 8 banks (I think) within each program too… You can load in a tonne at once. There are now different types of programs. There are clip launcher programs on top of standard sample programs and keygroup (mulitsampled) programs. The 8 audio tracks are on top of all of these.

Patterns: I don’t understand how patterns work in MPCs, so I’m not sure if I can work in a similar fashion as in the OT (hopefully, with even more freedom) - what I mean is, can I move through different patterns? like, sections of a “song”, even if it’s one-shot sequences?

Patterns are sequences and within each you have tracks. You can have a different program per each track. You can change and arrange sequences to build a song or live set.

Can I play one-shots samples chromatically? I don’t particularly like OT’s time-stretching, so I wonder how “good”/different is on MPC Live

Yes. The timestretching sounds pretty good from what we’ve seen in the videos.

[VDB]

My main interest (and I’m sure I’m not alone in this): sample managment.not having to think ahead all that much in terms of creating sample chains, loading samples in flex or static, having limited slots - I think this might be a huge time saver… I asume (for what I’ve seen so far) MPC Live won’t have this limitation.

I have an MPC 1000 an octatrack and honestly the browser might be quite different on the software but, from my experience it is both easier and a little harder. I have all my samples organized by folders but then it is slow browsing through them on the 1000. But yeah, a lot less limitations as to where and how you can load your sounds!

Recording samples: although I’ve got used to it, I still make mistakes often on the OT when recording/resampling, wich can be quite frustrating… I feel like the MPC might be more intuitive in this respect - I don’t know if it would be more/less flexible though, ore similar in terms of possibilities.

Recording is dead easy because you go into a sampling mode and then sample your sounds, then save them. Then in program mode is where you assign the sample. But it isn’t as fast to get live samples, maybe it will be different with the mpc software idk that side.

Audio Tracks/One Shot Samples: for what I’ve read, it seems like you can have 8 “loops” playing (audio tracks) while also have lots of one shots sequenced… now, this is truly amazing, but a few things are still unclear to me: how can you play 8 audiotracks if the pad grid is 4x4? can you move easily between clips and sequenced layers (from the sonicstate video, it seems like it’s possible)? can I mute either clips or sequences easily too (thinking about live performance, compared to octatrack: muting, volumes, etc…)?

Ok, seems lots of people are being confused by this and I can’t figure out why, 8 audio tracks are 8 linear tracks that you can record into like in a daw, it’s not that complicated ffs! They are unrelated to the pads, they play linearly.
Then there is a track mute mode where you hit pads that equate to the sequencer tracks and that mutes and in mutes them, fast for coming up with arrangement ideas or jamming out. Not sure how the audio tracks will be implemented in this.

Patterns: I don’t understand how patterns work in MPCs, so I’m not sure if I can work in a similar fashion as in the OT (hopefully, with even more freedom) - what I mean is, can I move through different patterns? like, sections of a “song”, even if it’s one-shot sequences?

Patterns are called sequences. There is a next sequence mode too, like track mute, when you hit a pad the equivalent sequence will play. Also good for coming up with arrangements. Then there is song mode which imo on the MPC 1000 is much easier than the octatrack.

I shouldn’t have left this for the end but: cross-compatibility (is this the right term?). I have to admit I’m a very impulsive person - I love creating something new, but I’m quite bad at finishing an idea: producing it, let’s say - recording parts individually, creating a structure, getting into the details - I’m currently trying to get better at it, as I had like 4 full sets inside the OT that I never recorded/developed properly. no machine is going to do that for me, but if it helps transitioning from hardware to computer, it would surely help a lot…

Same here, I still will mix and finish tracks itb, so I hope I can easily export the ideas from the new MPCs to the software and bounce them as audio into ableton live to finish mixing there!

[tsutek]

Uhh, that’s a mouthful… let’s see:

• Sample management is handled by a generic file browser dialog, you can create dirs and rename delete stuff. A program can be saved along with all samples it contains, and this can easily be loaded on the fly to any project. AFAIK You are limited to 128 programs max, so number of slots are not infinite on the MPC either. But as you have 64 tracks (remember, any track can be any type) to load programs to, there is quite a lot of flexibility.

• I am unsure of the details on 2.0 etc for resampling, but it’s nowhere near as flexible as on the OT. OTOH it’s also less confusing.

• Audio tracks are not “loops”. They are like audio tracks in a DAW ie. you do not sequence these but cut, trim, fade etc instead. You might be confusing these with clip programs? You can have up to 64 of these AFAIK (polyphony permitting, of course).

• MPC is a linear sequencer. This means that your pattern can be as long and as complex as you want. You can make short sequences (MPC lingo for patterns) or long ones, and then you can chain these sequences together to form a song. In addition to chaining sequences, you can also trigger them with the pads, and they will switch when the previous seq ends. You can also convert a song into a new sequence, and on and on…

• You can indeed play oneshot samples chromatically. There are many ways to do this. You can either play a oneshot monophonically with the “16 levels” function (which temporarily turns the pads into 16 different values, for tapping in various velocities, tunings, etc), or you can assign a sample to a keygroup program which acts just like a sampler (definable polyphony, key ranges, splits and layers). What is a new on the 2.0 is that it’s now also possible to play chromatically while preserving the timing/tempo of a sample with the help of realtime timestretch/pitch shift!

[William_WiLD]

Haha when i see the long Post to reply i was discouraged well done guys for the reply !

[VDB]

I am super pissed that someon beat me to it while I was typing tho!

[William_WiLD]

Yeah 3 long and dedicated reply i hope you guys not contradicted each other with your informations or we will loose our status of the best thread on MPC Live / X ever on the WEB

[tsutek]

i lost too… we did our best

[Sternenlicht]

https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/audio-and-realtime-time-stretching-in-maschine.313443/

I think apart from the question standalone or not - NI Maschine seems to address its competion.

For the pricepoint - NI Maschine is a bit cheaper than the MPC line.

[tsutek]

excellent! IMO this shows that a lil competition can work out well for everybody.

[William_WiLD]

Hahaha nice guys to speak about dev ! perfect solution to other brand to stole informations and launch before Native Instruments i like that

[Ryan]

I remember NI were talking about releasing something that would blow Akai out of the water.

I was really disappointed that what they released turned out to be Maschine Jam…

[depuratumba]

thank you so much for the replies guys! that clarified a few things, although I still feel like I’ll understand the workflow a bit more if I lay my hands on one
I’ll keep watching the videos as they come up…

[William_WiLD]

Maschine Jam

Same… i said what a Maschine in a Traktor/Push/Launch form factor…
I prefer Maschine in its original form factor… i really didn’t like this Launch/Push button matrix with rows etc… i don’t know why but i dislike it

[Sternenlicht]

I currently try to figure out how to configure macro controls for external MIDI - its easy to do for VST´s - but for MIDI CC, i dont find how to do it. I.e. macros => like the Q link knobs on MPC. Its easy to draw an automation - but i would like to have macro /Q Link knobs for automation. If anybody knows how to do it … let me know.

I might still switch to MPC , but for now i can generate midi files in Maschine which i can reuse later on the MPC, if it imports MIDI files. (Which is announced, it works with Abelton live, so it shoud work with MPC aswell.)

[tsutek]

I’ve always loved the maschine form factor… IMO Maschine still nails it best as far as pad bank button sizes are concerned… But the high price of the mk II has kept me from buying one all these years. I’m dumb like that, I cannot justify costs of controllers above the “entry-level” pricepoint…

[tsutek]

Many MPC models import midi. Most also export sequences to MIDI if desired.

[depuratumba]

do you guys think that the usb ports will allow to connect a controller like the NanoKontrol to have a quick access to volumes and mutes? or maybe it’s just for Note input (keyboards)?

[William_WiLD]

Yes that i perfectly understand ! it’s a shame a controller at this price… and Maschine STudio (no soundcard) / Push is the highest step taken in this huge price - luxury controller

[tsutek]

Controllers should work ok. But no info yet on how we can remote control the MPC functions with MIDI.

[Sternenlicht]

I just found out that this Q Link feature for external MIDI CC will come in NI Maschine 2.6. - and i think thats a obvious ommission. (Currently the version is 2.5.6 – so it might be soon aswell. ) Also there will be an updated sequencer /song mode which has been requested for a long time from the users, which allows a similar approach to the MPC structure.

Some competition in this market is really really healthy.