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

Necroing this one again, as the MPC live is still relevant and going strong IMO. Maybe yall already seen this? Anyways, just a lil something while we await 2.3 to drop (still a few months away according to rumours)…

Was just randomizing in youtube and found this brilliant tut vid from tubedigga, demonstration on how to pull off the OT ”transition trick” with the MPC!

Just tested this, and its working flawlessly :heart_eyes:

If we ever get HDD audio track streaming, this will be quite nasty indeed :wink:

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Enjoyed having the Live a year or so ago. HDD audio streaming would def be a huge deal.

Heaven help me if they ever make a Live 2 and put the Miniak engine in it like they did with the 5000. I’d be all over that!

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I have been using my MPC X a lot more since my Digitone has been in RMA over a month(hurry up elektron). I have been learning quite a bit and actually starting to enjoy the workflow. My last few tracks have been elektron free using the MPC X and Virus TI while the Rytm goes unused.

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I am using my live more than ever these days. Its become the central hub of my home rig, sequencing all my elektrons (except the OT, which actually sequences the MPC when needed). Now with this synced resampling, I’ll get even more mileage out of it, having connected the submix out from my mixer to the MPC inputs, so I can send any channel from the mixer for resampling back to live.

I know it might sound like blasphemy around here to have elektron boxes and not use their internal sequencers (no plocks, I know!), but lately I’ve felt like I want to break free of the step seq paradigms… And the MPC seq is brilliant for just that :nyan:

Final missing piece will be the upgrade to a digital mixer with full recall. Then I’ll finally fulfill my longtime fantasy of using 100% OTB gear while still enjoying the biggest benefits of ITB (full recall of projects, proper parametric eqs and compressors for every channel)

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I did the same think with the subs. I have my sub out 1 and 2 going to my tc electronics fireworx and then to the inputs of the MPC. It’s a ton of fun to resample this way.

Can you still use trig less trigs in the step sequencer while sequencing the elektron boxes from the mpc?
That would be super cool!

Yeah i have the 5000 atm and been diggin in the synth.At first you think ok maybe not the best synth ect but the more you dig in the more its uniqueness stands out.Really enjoing it with the sequencer effects ect.Its the same engine as the fusion synth according to Dan.Actually digging the whole sampler tbh.Just doing a shoot out with the MPC software as we speak.

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I don’t believe so. When you trigger a sound, you’re triggering it from its default state- it’s a shame, really.

The analogs don’t allow external internal alteration of trigs. If you send external midi to it, it’s internal trigs stop working.

Perhaps with things like the DT/DN/OT- you can work around by using conditionals to alternate trigger-source. And the OT, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t trigger FX locks from a neighbor track

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Not sure but ryan seems to think it wouldn’t work. Haven’t tried it myself though.

I am coming to the conclusion that for the type of simplistic music that I like to make (as in, non IDM/braindance) , being able to automate everything on every step is not a must-have feature. Far more refreshing to be able to record and playback, unquantized, long freeform doodlings ATM.

I can still do plockery type of sequencing with the OT, should I feel the need… then just recording the OT MIDI output into the MPC seq. Its not ideal as then the seqs become ”static”, but anyways…

It is a testament to elektron’s engineering and design skills that their boxes seem to work very nicely even without their internal sequencers, thanks to the comprehensive MIDI implementation. It is up to the user how to use the boxes, even if the UIs and paradigms favour certain approaches.

PS: If anyone happens to have a secondhand MPC touch for sale, pls PM! :wink:

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If you sequence your elektron boxes from your MPC Live how do you manage the one-bar-latency of the elektron boxes when you switch patterns on your MPC? This is a real dealbreaker for me.

Erm, what one bar latency? I am sending only MIDI notes and CC from the MPC, the int sequences of the elektrons only contain one trigless lock or so I can save the kits and whatnot settings into memory locations…

And if I really needed to control elektron pattn changes with the MPC, that can be done. You just need to build the entire song first, convert that song to a new sequence and then manually nudge the pgm change commands with the list editor. You do not need to nudge the pgm changes much for them to change pattns on time according to olle et al

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Excuse me for my goofiness. How do you switch elektron ptn with the list editor in MPC Live? Is this a 2.2.2.1-feature? I´m still on 2.2.1. because of the mentioned booting problems.

yep. same here… but i still use the AR sequencer, cause i simply love it.
the mpc is great for live jamming around fast builded sequences… i then put the recorded file in cubase and edit it to a song.

recall mixer. what about the aira mixer? seems this could be your workhorse for full recall

That seems like a wasted opportunity.
Could you however sequence say a pad on track 1 of the analog 4 from the mpc, and then sequence the other tracks from the internal sequencer?

Neither do I, that was a big reason for me to get rid of the octatrack, it just didn’t do what I needed it to do easily. Like sequence pads with notes starting and stoping naturally.
Or polyphonic sampling.
But I am curious about using the mpc alongside an analog 4 that seems cool!

You sure could. You’d just set the A4 to listen to different MIDI channels for every track, and then you’d leave the tracks empty that you wanted to externally sequence with the MPC.

I’m currently using my A4 as a 4-voice polysynth, sequenced by the MPC, but your idea certainly has merit.

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I only have a computer in my project studio, the home rig is 100% ”OTB”.

I’ve been thinking about the Allen&Heath digital mixers. The aira mixer seems nice for jamming but AFAIK does not have proper parametric eq + compressor on every channel…

Correct, it does not. There are selectable filter/EQ types that you can assign to each track’s “TONE/FILTER” knob, which can be useful but are not as helpful as proper hi/mid/lo EQ knobs. There’s no compressor at all, only a pseudo-sidechain effect.

First, you need to configure the elektron box to receive pgm chng commands. Then you need to set the required pgm changes into the MPC sequences you want to use. Now, at this stage, the patterns will still change ”late” on the elektrons when you change the sequences on the MPC… but!

Once you have settled on a ”song arrangement” (ie. a desirable playlist of sequence changes in the song mode of the MPC), you convert the song into a new long sequence. Now you will have one long sequence, and the elektron pattn changes still happen ”late”…

The final stage is going into list edit mode on the MPC and nudging all pgm chng events backwards by a suitable amount of time (1 beat should be enough, depending on your tempo).

Does this make sense? I know the process is a bit of a chore, but at least its workable…

Mpc2.2 is on sale with mpc expansions right now. 99EUR