It’s a trend lately, look at black keystep 37’s and black Behringer MS-1’s for example, usually a colour tax…
love how the Mpc is evolving into the old porta studio these days 
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That’s another example of how flexible the new MPCs are, I hardly use audio tracks, but this jam is a great example.
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To follow up on this - is it possible to setup the midi bidirectionally? So if I tweak a parameter on the synth it gets recorded into the midi clip and updates the corresponding q-link?
Yes, but there’s a massive downside. When you assign a new track the default Midi out setting is all inputs, which includes all devices that have ‘track’ selected in the Midi options. So unless you manually remember to switch this to the specific inputs on every single Midi track, it’s really easy to tweak a knob on say the Peak whilst on a Digitone track and send the CC data to it. It can be absolutely devastating.
As a result I rarely use the synth inputs, but it’s phenomenal to use, you can get some insanely good loops from it. I really hope they change it so that the default is OFF as it should be, it’s a very short sighted decision. We already have the ‘master’ setting for devices we want available on every track.
The MPC One was the most sold “synth” at Thomann in 2021. I’m not surprised, it has to offer the most bang for the buck in any synth device ever.
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The sku for American musical and zsounds for the retro is live2xl, it has always been that. The price on the other hand is new… not sure if it is a misprint or the retro models are going up a hundred… that would make sense because the retro one is $100 more I believe.
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Does anyone have any experience with a Live II and a Korg MS-20?
I am thinking of how the CV outs on the Live II might possibly interface with the modular aspect of the MS-20. Could one send a CV pulse out to the MS-20 clock to sync the two devices in terms of tempo, things like that.
Similar to what is going on here between an Analog Four and an MS-20:
Thanks.
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Ok I really like my mpc live 2…
but the main thing I don’t like is how midi files are handled,
It should load into the selected track not be a whole new sequence every time you want to load a midi file…
Even when converted into mpc patterns it doesn’t load into the selected track and there is no acknowledgement when you hit load on where it is going…. more options are needed!
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This is something I would like to try out but haven’t got round to. So say I save a MIDI file containing a long series of chords for making sample chains, would I not just be able to assign that MIDI file to a MIDI Track?
You can do it, but you have to load the midi to a new sequence the copy a paste it back into the track you originally want it in… it’s difficult to get in the track you want basically
it’s just not as simple as it should be, and even after saving it as mpc pattern it has strange behaviour…
a few more options and extra dialogue would make it much easier, so hopefully it’s something that gets improved in an update because it almost seems like it’s missing
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Have you tried it in MPC Software with the MPC in controller mode?
Wondering if you’d get the same behaviour that way?
I just read you can drag and drop mpc patterns into the track you want and it should work,’but stand alone when you load a pattern it doesn’t load to the selected track it just creates a new track
Loading midi files act the same in the software it creates a new sequence or overwrites your current sequence… not ideal…
Hopefully it’s something that gets improved as midi files are a pretty standard thing
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I just went back to read the DT vs mpc live “buyers survey” thread which was fun.
I got a DT this week and it seems fun so far, going to combo it with my mpc one.
The slicing work around reminds me of what i did on my mpc2000xl, where you can link velocity to sample start point, then turn on 16 levels for velocity to “slice” the sample. Blows my mind it had that feature back in 2000
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Can anyone recommend a screen protector?
Was considering one of these: https://www.squarescustom.com/product-page/screen-protector-for-akai-mpc-live-live-ii-one-force
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I use these guys, excellent quality protectors…
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I’m going to go out on a limb and say no regarding playing the MS-20 mini in tune from an MPC.
I haven’t tried it at home, though I have both. (perhaps I’ll try tonight…) The MS-20 mini’s tuning is Hz/Volt rather than the typical Volt/Octave in most other CV implementations. As you see in the A4 video, he’s able to select Hz/V as the tuning for his CV. I don’t know of a way to do that on the MPCs - at least not on my One, and they all share the same OS. Assuming the MPCs only send out V/Octave, which became somewhat, the “standard” for sending pitch via CV, the pitches you send to the MS-20 would be horribly out of tune.
As far as the sending “clock”, I would assume you could by sending out a gate on every quarter note, etc. You may want to play with the timing - half note, quarter note, whole note, etc. but provided you send enough CV voltage out, (some CV inputs are picky on how much actual voltage needs to come in to consider it a gate or trigger) it should work. You could then do the example in the self sequencing by self-patching the MS-20 mini and getting noise/random pitch being clocked to your MPC.
I’ve only taken the CV capabilities of my One for a short spin with my regular modular setup and it worked fine. I just don’t think (nor remember it being capable of doing) it can do the Hz/V
Thanks for your reply!
Let me know if you end up trying it!
I’ve got an original MS-20 and it’s a no-go with the MPC for proper sequencing. The MS-20 expects S-triggers rather than V-triggers to fire the envelopes, and the incoming V/oct for pitch just isn’t going to give you a proper scale. That isn’t to say that it will be totally useless. You might be able to get some interesting interactions going and it’s entirely possible that you’ll be happy with any workarounds to make it all work.
The rather basic CV functionality of the MPC is the one let down for me. However, it’s decent for v/oct stuff. I’ve got my old ARP 2600 hooked up to my Live 2 even now.
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I’m confused as to why the MPC One doesn’t show up as a MIDI device in Ableton when not in controller mode. Or is this just user error? Have it connected via USB and it’s not appearing in Ableton so I have to use an old fashioned DIN cable.
Weird choice on Akai’s part unless I am missing something obvious.