I haven’t actually tried this myself, but instead of sending program changes from MPC, why not clock the OT from it, and use that in arranger mode to send out the program change messages to the other Elektrons? Might be a bit messy in the editing stages but you can turn arranger off and just switch the pattern to suit. I think the arranger even responds to SPP, not sure if MPC sends that though.
I’m not even sure who this is directed at, I just saw a few posts regarding this and now I’m toying with the idea myself. You could say I’m talking to myself
Thanks, I just did a bit of a deep dive into the MPC software and was able to export everything that way , using controller mode. I think this is probably the better way to export the files.
I did mean use the MPC as master, driving the OT. I haven’t tried but I think I will later this week. Maybe you want to sequence everything from MPC, in which case this idea is irrelevant
Adding another hardware synth to my setup made me realise how much faster I Awww with Mpc alone or mpc and Microfreak.
So, how do you use synths and MpC together?
Midi tracks then recorded to audio tracks?
Midi tracks the sampled as loops and added to a kit?
Record and slice to a group?
Soo many options so I’d like to hear what you guys do…
Along side the MPC, I use other boxes with sequencers - like the SH01A or TR8S. I rarely use the MPC midi outs. But I image that’d be easier for managing your tracks from one box.
I don’t try to record takes from the other boxes into the MPC either. However, for producing, I record the MPC and the other boxes into my daw on separate stereo ins.
The SH01A and 8S are pretty performance oriented so it’s easy to jam with MPC mutes and fader and knob twists.
Yeah I have an 828ES Was disappointed to hear MOTU units don’t work with the new AKAI OS especially since my MOTU is rock solid and great sounding interface
I am really frustrated. I have an UltraLite mk5 and am torn about what to do, especially since it seems hot or miss with A LOT of the cards/interfaces out there!
Got the Minilogue XD now and as predicted, the workflow gets a bit messy the second you introduce an external piece of gear to the mix.
As I feared, the audio tracks on the MPC are really meant to be contained within their respective sequences, unlike the built-in plugin synths and one shot pads that can ring out and “spill over” into the next sequence in a song structure. The audio tracks end their playback abruptly when crossing over to the next sequence, which isn’t ideal for creamy, wet synth sounds.
I really prefer to keep songs in separate sequences because it makes it that much easier to modify and expand/collapse the song structure and create e.g. shorter edits of the song without tedious Event copying using a calculator to figure out which bars to copy where.
In an effort to learn about better workflows from others, here’s how I intend to manage it:
I use a simple soft plugin sound or an autosampled version of the sound I’m after from the hardware synth during the song creation process. This makes it straightforward to build out the arrangement and not get stuck in the process with audio recordings that I may want to tweak later on.
When getting ready to finalize the song, I record the audio of the real hardware synth into an audio track by simply changing the previous soft synth track to a midi track and arming an audio track.
I extend the length of the current sequence by a couple of bars temporarily to ensure that the full tail of the synth sound is saved in the recording. So, if the sequence was 16 bars, I set it to 18 before recording. That way I know that the sample will start right at the start of the sequence (unlike when using the Sampler feature, where it will start either at a certain audio threshold or when I manually hit Record) and I don’t need to mess with timing issues down the road.
I record my jam and tweak knobs live on the synth as I see fit for that sequence.
I then tap the recorded audio within the audio track and bounce that to a sample and assign it to a pad on a dedicated synth pad program, and I name the sample corresponding to the sequence it’s intended for.
I then create a simple one shot hit of the corresponding pad in that synth pad program at the first beat of each sequence. This ensures that the full sample is played (including the extra 2 bars of audio that rings out as the MPC moves on to the next sequence and plays that pad on top). Naturally I need to set the pad program to 2 notes polyphony so one sample doesn’t choke the other.
To keep things tidy, I save a preset of the sound I used for the song on the Korg Minilogue XD so I can go back easily and re-record sequences as necessary. I also keep the original midi notes of the (now muted) track to make sure all note data is retained if/when I need to re-record anything.
Hope this helps someone. Or, that someone can help me improve this workflow further.
I rarely use the audio tracks or the clip programs.
In many cases I use a couple of synths in parallel, enjoying the luxury to listen to the entire idea in total, as it evolves. In this phase I mostly record MIDI only on the MPC. After getting all the notes in the sequences right, I either record the complete mix on a multi-track recorder and import the tracks back to the MPC, or I record each single synth, loop by loop, directly on the MPC and go from there …
I get all of this except #6 which sounds interesting, but I am not quite clear on what you are doing. If I understand right your second pad starts on the extra bars you recorded. And then that pad is triggered at the start of the new sequence so the synth bleeds over into the next sequence?
I typically make about 12 sequences in a track and with synths, I play the idea into the MPC and sequence from the MPC. The trick for me is a lot of times I turn the effects off on the synth and record dry. This works great for stabs and shorter sounds. I do some modulation on the synth for the different sequences and then I do more modulation in post.
Sometimes I will make a pad sound on the synth and record 8 bars. And then Ill go into the MPC and find a section of that recording and just loop that section.
What I mean is that each sequence starts with the one shot hit of the sample/pad corresponding to that sequence. When the MPC switches to the next sequence, it will ring out the one shot of the previous sample while the new sample is playing, simultaneously. This ensures that there’s no abrupt end to the tail of the synth part of the previous sequence. I don’t play the tail as a separate pad hit, I merely let the sample (which is a bit longer than the length of the previous sequence) ring out and not choke when the next pad starts on the new sequence. Hope that makes sense!
Yes, for synth sounds that can be dry and lack a release tail, I could resort to audio track recordings instead since they will be fully contained within their respective sequence. The above workflow is for the synth recordings that spill over into the next sequence.
I also have a Korg Minilogue XD (love that synth, BTW!) and along with my Dreadbox Typhon, using this method is how I usually record my audio for these synths as well - on my MPC. Since both the XD and Typhon have just incredible effects that literally make their sound amazing, I don’t like losing the effects tail on them either.
On Force, this is not an issue, because on top of the disc-streaming (which means unlimited recording time!) it has the Arranger, so it’s very easy to record effects tails of external gear. But I digress - with MPC using the method above is literally the only way I could figure out how to do it as well…
