I just watched the Ezbot vid he did with Red Means Recording and holy shit i did not know what was going on lol. The OT is really deep.
I actually don’t have any goal or purpose to fill with buying the DT or OT. Just want something new and fun to play with.
He and Max Marco’s channels on youtube should give you a good view of what’s possible on an Octatrack. The key is not trying to do all of it the instant you get it, or you’ll likely get overwhelmed. But watching people that really know the machine use it opens a lot of eyeballs. I find myself re-visiting their videos often to get new ideas of how I can use it.
Please let’s keep this conversation for anything MPC related….
Personally I find it enriching to have conversations about other gear as it relates to the MPC. Which devices does it pair well with? How does is compare? Etc.
I’m not sure why there’s just one enormous thread about the MPC, but given that that’s the case, I’d vote for keeping topics fairly open/broad as long as it’s not completely off topic.
No problem, as long as it’s MPC related.
I did try 2 different cables in the past, the third one i tested does work. thx for your help.
So now I have a free midi port on my miditemp and do not have to wase 6 Midi Channels…
Can you go into detail into how you go about accomplishing this? I have a method, but I am always curious about how other people approach tasks.
Yep, pretty simple though. Just control say, a drum machine via MIDI from the MPC, then send the audio from the drum machine to the MPC, go to the Recorder page, choose the input/s to be recorded, set the recording level threshold, let the sequence play (to make sure all transients/effects etc are recording in the loop rather than capturing the first pass), then hit record! Voila, one perfect loop.
You can set it to record the entire output of the MPC if you want to capture effects tweaking, like say some beat repeats via the XYFX.
Edit: I meant ‘Looper’, not ‘Recorder’.
So you stop the recording manually? O wish there was a way to set the Sampler to record for a specific number of bars/beats.
There is - I used the wrong term, it’s the Looper I use. You choose the amount of bars to record. As per the below:
Speaking of which, I still have the issue of Exporting loops and saving them to my SSD. It always freezes, no matter how big or small the recording. What I have to do is record a loop with the Looper, then save as a sample (in the RAM), then assign that sample to a drum program, then go Main, hit the pencil icon on the drum program containing the sample, tap ‘save current sample’ and choose my SSD. Ridiculously convoluted way to overcome a glitch but there you go.
That is the technique I use.
I am sorry you are still having problems with export. Mine is working ok but I export to an SD card, not an SSD.
Sorry, just to point out a distinction here, the MPC can’t mangle samples really very much at all with any ease, it allows fairly comprehensive editing of samples on par, or even possibly exceeding the OT.
But mangling is realtime manipulation of samples, which the OT does with ease, the MPC does not, because access to multiple parameters at a time requires a midi controller to be mapped.
I like them both for different things, but comparing them is a bit like comparing a polysynth to a modular.
Same here when I try to save loops on my One to the SD card, it loads to infinity. But the same workaround (keeping to a pad, then saving) works well… I guess the faith I shall got in future Akai’s updates is kept alive this way.
Note I said with ease. I have both here, if I am looking for polyphony and lots of drums or synth patches I’d reach for the MPC because it handles that much better than the OT. If I want to take an incoming source and realtime mangle it then I’d reach for the OT, or if I want to quickly and easily scroll thru a loop why bother spending minutes trying to set up the MPC do it when the OT can be set up in seconds, and can with use of scenes on multiple parameters of multiple samples much more efficiently and better than the MPC.
The MPC handles samples in a more fixed way as it does not allow for realtime resampling and modification whilst the sequencer is running, there is no pre slice option, there is only ever 1 method of recording available at a time, the OT can if you want record 8 samples at a time, from different sources, using pre sliced buffers and modify them on the fly. The ease and speed with which you can jump into grid mode, scenes and record mode can’t be matched by the MPC.
Also with the MPC automation is rather more clunky and has less immediate overview to jump in and change something on the fly. It is a powerful beast no doubt, but it isn’t an Octatrack, and by the same token the Octatrack isn’t an MPC. They do share a little overlap in that they both sample and sequence, but MPC is more geared to production, OT more geared to performance.
Agree with this, but it’s oranges and lemons, they’re nothing like each other.
OT is primarily a loop sampler/mixer, way less useful as an ‘instrument’… whereas the MPC’s excel at that.
Running an MPC into an OT would give access to both worlds, and without that much overlap.
FWIW, I absolutely hated my OT experience and sold it… I found it to be the most frustrating device I’ve had. I absolutely love the MPC, and my Analog Rytm mk2 and A4 mk2.
I disagree with the MPC not being straightforward or quick to mangle samples with. First off, right from the Program Edit view (a button press away), you have access to a range of “Drum Fx”. Hit a pad, then twist a knob to apply bit crushing, ring modulation, filters, saturation, per pad. They’re all built into the Program Edit view and unrelated to the 4 additional insert fxs that you can apply on top of that, on a per pad AND per program basis. It’s all accessible from that same screen, and on the MPC One, it’s just a single button press away. Like how a pad turned out? You then have the option to flatten all that into a new sample - another one click operation. Or, since the MPC is so powerful, you can keep all settings and effects on the pad without flattening if you preset to keep options open down the road.
Automation is superb on the MPC in my opinion. You hit that Write button while a sequence is playing and you can twist just about any knob/parameter and it records live. Don’t like something you did? Just tap and hold on top of the q-link knob and it erases the automation.
The MPC also features 8 audio tracks, as well as many sample tracks, and if you want you can record on multiple audio tracks at the same time.
Kind of what I said, no?
This is editing, not mangling, in the sense that mangling is realtime tweaking of multiple parameters at a time. As I said I can do it on the MPC but it is easier, quicker and more flexible on OT, I’m familiar enough with both to know that.
Yes true, but it does not have the realtime sampling triggers, duration, and pre sliced buffers that the OT can have.
I think where we are getting mixed up is in the terminology, as I said the MPC has a lot of editing available, but not as much realtime performance or “dynamic” stuff as the OT - for example running a drum machine into the MPC and chopping it on the fly and rearranging the slices, changing multiple parameters from a single control, all while it is still running etc is what I’d call “mangling”. I guess it is possible to map a midi controller to multiple targets on the MPC and do some interesting things for sure, but I never do it because I have the OT which is purpose made to do that kind of thing better and easier.
Anyway, I guess we can agree to disagree, I’m not knocking the MPC though, but trying to point out that as an owner of both for some things the MPC is much better, and for other things the OT is much better.
Sort of… I thought you were talking about looping and sampling as being the same thing, how OT handles ‘samples’ is superior, etc, when I think what you mean is loops.
Again, this is looping/mixing stuff primarily.
Real real-time sample performance is WAY more powerful on the MPC… you can play it as an instrument… drums/synths/poly sampled acoustic instruments/vocals… the MPC obliterates the OT… but, it doesn’t have a crossfader to put it through some scenes.
In my mind, OT = mix performance sampler/looper… that’s it’s bag. (I might have kept it longer had I thought of it like this… I bought it as a stereo sampler and midi sequencer, those are the grounds that made it a fail for me.)
