I don’t very often use time stretch, and mostly when I do it is for the artefacts/effect.
I think I had perhaps unfairly dismissed the OT time stretch algorithm very early on in development (probably around 2012) as being interesting for obvious TS artefacts and not too much else, this coupled with me rarely needing it because slices are normally what I would use to change a loop sample tempo.
Anyway, today I was playing with clip mode on my MPC One, and had some drum and 303 loops all the same (120bpm) tempo, I noticed with warp on, any deviation from the loops tempo would introduce very noticeable smearing on some transients, I was pretty surprised, tried changing some settings, but not much if any improvement even with only a few bpm deviation.
So out of curiosity and seeming to remember the OT was not that bad, I tried the loops on the OT and indeed it fared much better than the MPC just with default settings. Next I tried a few different setting of the OT TS and some more extreme tempo changes.
I noticed on the OT that different TS settings worked better on some tempos, but also that all of them had less obvious artefacts than the MPC, I used the high quality TS algo on the MPC, but also tried the standard which unsurprisingly was even worse.
I was quite surprised at the big difference, given the age difference and given that the MPC uses a much more powerful processor.
I don’t use time stretch on the mpc that much, unless I’m going in and warping individual slices for sample mangling but…
there are several useful options to try out on different material…
try out the patch phrase feature,… try the offline time stretch feature (much better quality than the realtime),… and try out software realtime stretch feature via the hardware as its the better quality of the software but you don’t have to give up the feel of the hardware since you’re using the mp.
that standard realtime mpc time stretch is awful, the other choices are better, I’ve mostly used the offline and had good results and it’s quick
Yeah I only noticed it because I was using clip mode on the MPC, so it was just the loops playing straight on both the OT and MPC, usually I’d slice them because obviously more flexibility WRT remixing loops etc. I just found it surprising that the OT handled this method of TS better than the MPC did.
time stretch on the MPC one is imo god awful, except for drums for some reason. it deals with drums very well for me so far. I use BM3 on ipad for time stretching, much better
yeah you’d think the standard quality setting would be better than that but the mpc culture is kind of a weird thing, most users I know don’t use the plugins, or the sample library, or clip mode… and I guess the development culture and user culture feed into each other but the results can be unusual sometimes… like I heard that when Akai finally consolidates the Os’s that one of their plans is to improve the clip mode stretching… but it’s gotta be weird when they know that most people would have bought the mpc for the same price even if it didn’t even have a clip mode so I’m sure this kind issue is something they bump their heads up against a lot…
there are so many parts of the mpc that the core user base doesn’t even care about, but they still want to make it competitive in those areas … lol how would you feel if you knew that great feature you’re working on wasn’t gonna get touched.
Yeah that seems like a reasonable assessment, MPC is synonymous with quick chops and simpler and more direct sample flipping (nothing wrong with that at all, it is what it is) it kind of makes me laugh to see some of the user created MPC tutorials where a very basic thing is demonstrated like it is something out of this world or hidden knowledge, when it just looks like a basic feature to me I don’t mean to sound snobbish by that, but it seems that a lot (but of course by no means all) MPC target audience just want to sample up some vinyl and make some boom bap, which is cool, but they would probably be better off with a 2000xl or as you say a machine without all the extra stuff. Again I’m not ragging that scene at all, I like a lot of that stuff myself.
I think I will probably experiment more with clips mode, I could see it being handy for jamming loops, but I’ll probably just use no warp and have the loops at the right tempo.
hands on sampling is where it’s had for me as well, I think it’s just a case of the core workflow being something that a company got right decades ago and that hasn’t been improved upon elsewhere for that particular use case… it’s kind of the same feeling for me on my Elektron boxes when it comes to trig conditions that’s really what I’m here for.
I guarantee if they make a new mpc and take out clip mode, all the ableton stuff with the exception of export/import, take out splice, take out the sample library, take out the touch screen, take out all the plugins, and they can charge more for it and it will sell more!
Is it because the Algo is more suited for Drums (Beat Algo)? Because if you look at Ableton Live TS Algos, you have plenty of them that are more suited for different kind of Sounds or Loops (I’m thinking about Complex Pro).
That’s super surprising! I only ever hear people say bad things about the OT timestretch especially in comparison to newer algorithms.
One thing that came to mind is (might be worth a comparison), if I’m not mistaken I believe these newer MPCs use a different/worse timestretch algorithm in standalone mode. The timestretch in controller mode is supposed to be significantly better.
youre not wrong, if they made an MPC1000/4000 with modern load times/FX i’d be using that without a doubt. but thats more or less the one/X. saving and loading is an absolute ballache on the old ones. dont get me started on typing file names in
I don’t mean to sound snobbish by that, but it seems that a lot (but of course by no means all) MPC target audience just want to sample up some vinyl and make some boom bap, which is cool, but they would probably be better off with a 2000xl or as you say a machine without all the extra stuff. Again I’m not ragging that scene at all, I like a lot of that stuff myself.