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

First, your post is nothing like provocative :thumbsup:

Midi Synch does not mean to keep each note or event in an exact mechanical devision of a bar like 1/8 or 1/16. I often play out sequences live, record them with a linear sequencer, and want to play it back later, to have my hands free for other instruments. There is much non-mechanically groove in those sequences. If now the timing is not tight enough, the groove is destroyed and the feeling of the piece of music as well.

And if we perform pure Techno-style music, exact timing is important too.

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I’m curious about what is this midi gear that records but doesn’t get the timing correct and ends up killing the groove.
Simplest setup of course:
sequencer->midi cable->synth->audio cable->mixer. (to not add interface and soft synth latencies and what not)
Examples?

I had some weird experiences using software sequencers driving hardware synts, like Machine and sometimes Ableton too. Machine 2.x tended to send out random events, missed note-offs causing notes trailing, and finally got stuck every now and then. After some research I had to acknowledge that I wasn’t the only one experiencing issues like this. Ableton tracks were sometimes not as tight as supposed to be. One day it worked just fine, the other day one of many tracks seemed to be out of timing.

Since I have had no problems with the OT or my MPC 5k, I use those for sequencing my live performances. It seems to be more reliable and I feel much better.

In the studio I can live with gear, which might generate “offsests” at times: Computer sequencer --> hardware instrument --> audio/midi-interface --> computer recording to tracks. Ableton tends to shift midi-events or recorded audio due to latencies. But those issues can be mended with little effort ITB.

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I actually use Abletons groove feature with all the parameters turned down, except for ‘Random’ at about 10-20% for humanisation. Humans don’t play drums with quartz clock precision so my view is that electronic music shouldn’t either. It sounds more natural with randomised timing. Which is why any millisecond discrepancies wouldn’t bother me.

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Yeah - and besides, something like the 808 with its legendary sequencer has around 2ms of jitter, which is actually notable by modern standards. The 909: 4.5ms;

http://www.innerclocksystems.com/new%20ics%20litmus.html

THIS ^^

The OT years later is still unrivalled… the problem with jack of all trade boxes ala new MPCs etc, is there is too much excess fat - you can easily lose focus. Its like filling your CF card with a billion samples… fire up a blank canvas, where do you even start? Do you need them all?

Perversly and as we’ve seen before, the OT’s limitations are what make the little black box so damn rewarding… away from the P-locks and general Elektron workflow, think about how pioneering and inspiring things like the little crossfader actually are.

Steep learning curve sure but once you know your way around… sky is the limit. For me, this was Elektrons finest hour…

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is there a limitation to the number of Bars per track?

How you feel about the MPC is how I feel about the OT. To each their own! :diddly:

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Fair play :pray: Fwiw I love the MPC 1000 and owned a 5000 too for a few years. I was referring to the new everything in a box concept.

Plot Twist. Its Missile Production Center

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i’m not sure. But the Toriaz only allows 4 bars. Which is crippling!!

I don’t think the OT crossfader functionality is quite pioneering. The Yamaha EX5R (circa 1998) featured scene morphing.

Scene and/or patch morphing should be staple synth/sampler features. That and an onboard 'Boards Of Canada’esque/lofi cassette effect switch. I’d be happy.

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the ‘warp timestretch’ functionality on the Live has been confirmed to work across an entire audio track that can exceed 10min

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True the Yamaha could morph between scenes through the modwheel on the keyboard version (not sure how it worked on the rack)… But believe one can use the OT fader far more extensively/creatively with the sequencer (mainly due to how awesome the OT sequencer is I suppose)…

Man an 2017 mpc 1000 with a proper scale feature and better screen is all I really want. Barring that I will get a live and only use 60% of what it can do.
Then again I never use the looper features in my octatrack either for example.

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I mostly just want one of these babies to return to a “studio-in-a-box” workstyle(Talking Boss BR-1200 style but with a kick in the workflow/possibilities) and I also want to take my Elektrons to time signatures outside of 4/4 and extended bars from 4. Also, the notion of hands-on arranging of songs sounds AWESOME!

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999 bars per Sequence(pattern)

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You can download the MPC software from here: http://www.akaipro.com/microsites/mpcsoftware/
and give it a demo spin…It’s not the software Version 2.0 that MPC X & Live will ship but gives you a close approx. of how it will work…I really like the concept of having a dedicated DAW in your laptop and as soon as you plug it to the MPC bam! you take it from where you left…Really excited about MPC Live as it’s the most portable one (loving my couch what can i say)…Now waiting for the first reviews about sound/FX quality and OS performance.

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Yeah, the MPC live looks awesome. You wouldn’t need to keep your turn table next to your sampler for one, you can take it where ever the sound source is. That’s exciting.

I think I’m steering more towards the X. I want to incorporate more acoustic instruments, and I want to use the computer for as little as possible in the creation process. The X with its girth seems more laid out for a complete production ease. The Live seems more for sampling/sketching ease with the capabilities of full production.

Or maybe I’m just rationalizing the big beautiful glory that is the shiny new thing, and I tend to steer towards wanting ALL OF THE THINGS

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