The all things MPC Thread (Part 4)

[brut_zero]

My 3 favorite were Jura, Iona, and Delay pro.

[jones79]

The price seems to wash away any short comings or critique

At the same time - £320 is fair for a one track loop machine

If they ever implemented multi stem over usb - great…But for now - i dont see the point.

[rg01a]

Jura is probably still my favorite synth. Fabric is a rompler, yes, but if you can get it for a cheap price, it’s excellent. I think my favorite plugin is the multiband filterbank.

[brut_zero]

Hello everyone,
I’m once again thinking of getting an MPC Live III. I had one at launch, sold it for the XL, XL was too big lol. Cycle of gas, blah blah.
I do have a question. For those using with Ableton Live, have you figured out the best way to record via usb and get audio to record right on the grid with no latency?
When I record my modular via my es-9 interface, I’m basically dead on the grid, when I recorded the L3 or XL, it was slightly behind, both using midi sync and Ableton Link.

Any other ways you like to use the MPC’s and then finish work in Ableton Live? How is Ableton export working for y’all?

[oldjunior]

For USB I just nudge it right after I record it. It’s so easy on the computer and I got tired of chasing perfect sync

[SirAdrianFish]

@DanHell

they sent a 30% discount via email, and it’s a never-ending discount. If you search a bit, you might find it sooner or later.

Well, well, there has been quite some trouble with the published non expiring code. Quite a number survey participants had to open a ticket with AKAI because they did not get the code, others had to open a ticket, because their code did not work or had allready expired. All codes which have been posted by users don’t work.

I am getting to old to spend my pressious time with this kind of nonsens. Might as well spend this money on HW Synths which work…

[notehorn]

Really depends on the music you make and how you make it.

They’re all pretty great tbh - but if you want to make lofi jazz hip-hop then Jura probably won’t tickle your biscuit and if you want to make crystal clean Synthwave jams then Flavour Pro won’t be very useful.

[KingMidas]

@oldjunior

L3 might be my favorite “synth” right now and I don’t mind paying a little to add some extra flavor.

This is a very valid perspective .

[captain8]

it was the same issue described here, doesn’t happen with the live 2 retro, only the Live version one with no speaker…

Ableton Push 2 is a gummy, sticky TPE mess

This topic is gold. Having the same problem with my Push 2. I’ve had some success using Goo Gone on the front side of my unit but I’m really worried about doing it on the back where the ports are. It has all the writing on there that describe the ports and the logo, etc. Will this stuff wipe that all away too? Anyone got any experience with that? Cheers!

[DanHell]

Oh, so the codes don’t work? I was waiting for the ten-day trial of the plugins to decide whether to buy them, but… I want to get the MPC XL, I think this €120 will be useful.

[SirAdrianFish]

@DanHell

Oh, so the codes don’t work?

I have tried the I found so far and non of them worked.

@DanHell

I was waiting for the ten-day trial of the plugins to decide whether to buy them, but…

The ten-day trial is downloadable on the AKAI MPC LIVE 3 but I could not motivate myself yet.

[Robleighton22]

Dont know why MPCe pads were not updated to enable MPE on these new instruments. I feel like MPCe is pretty wasted idea atm.

I do love my Live 3, think its the best Iteration of the modern MPCs and tbh i love the workflow. Maybe coming from older MPCs and also modern OGs, i genuinely find Live 3 can do everything thats needed to create in a box. USB c audio to logic with all my mixing vsts presetup, its a lush setup. Cant see why anyone would complain. Ppl are just wired to only be excited about the next thing.

[echo_opera]

The ZoomL6 max i just picked up is working out with the setup. I am enjoying the Stereo Sub Out on it for sampling.

A little live ambient jam on a gloomy wet Saturday:

And one more capturing sounds floating in the atmosphere:

[PentalagusMusic]

@BassesAndPads

If press loop it does loop the entire clip but I want to do smaller loops inside it.

I was messing with this last night and it took me a while to figure it myself! But it’s easy, no worries.

In sample mode when you are on the start/end editing screen, hold SHIFT and you’ll see the upper left prompt under button B1 change to LOOP LOCK.

Toggling off loop lock lets you place a point for the sample to loop different from the start point as you describe. For some reason I couldn’t find it for a while either.

[BassesAndPads]

Yes. Thank you! That was driving me mad. And it’s such a great feature too.

[soundofmai]

@rg01a

Jura is probably still my favorite synth.

Jura is so good, ever since I got it I have no need for any other plugin synth on the MPC. I usually combine it with Hype. Jura is usually my first goto and then Hype gives me enough other timbres that I don’t get from Jura. Together they are a perfect and complete combo for me. I also supplement them occasionally with a synth sample library or samples of one of my hardware synths.

[Poetic-Noise]

@olafmol

For all we know the Jura, Mini-D and Iona could possibly also use the same “Fabric engine” and filters behind the hood?

Why speculate when you can investigate?.. All this info is easy found by testing the actual plugins if you have them.
I don’t have Iona, but I made 3 tracks: Fabric, Jura & Mini-D. I picked a saw wave for all of them using an init patch.

I use P1 Saw for Fabric. Then match the levels: on Fabric set layer to 11dB & cutoff & resonance to 0% on the main page. Use the filter page settings & pick LP24dB, cutoff 100 & resonance to 0 for now.

Jura: vol 35%, Cut set to max & 0 resonance, Sat & Drive.

Mini-D
vol 100 & 30% gain. Classic Filter fully open & 0 resonance.

Now, all 3 should sound the same. Mess with the cutoff & resonance of each & even change the filter type for Fabric & listen if they sound the same… they don’t.

Also, the Fabric engine isn’t some mystery. It’s right there in Fabric & the synth engines for the other are there as well & they’re not the same. Maybe we have different definitions of what synth engines mean.

Each 3 have unique features like Jura has its chorus fx, Voice section, its filter has saturation & drive. MidiD has it 3 oscillators, its vol section has some unique things. Fabric has many different FX & a percussion layer.

@olafmol

Only in the Mini-D they mention about the oscillators “With 8 authentically modeled oscillator shapes” and about the filter: “Mini D includes the “Classic” ladder style filter model with painstaking attention paid to the feedback section to create a truly remarkable emulation of the original.”

I don’t know how accurate it is the original, but it sound different then Fabric filters & that makes it more interesting & adds a unique flavor to pot. The new vintage plugs only has the samples not the other features that made those synth unique & they all share the same engine & filters. Not cool.

@olafmol

The built-in MPC sample playback engine already has some “vintage modelled” filters:

Model1
This is an analog style 4-pole filter, modeled after a famous vintage semi-modular synthesizer. This filter will clip (distort) when fed a loud input level.
Model2
This is another analog style filter with a mellow resonance, and slight fattening distortion in the lower frequencies.
Model3
This filter is a crazy analog modeling filter capable of howling, piercing resonance and jaw-rattling sub frequencies. Watch your
speakers!

These can’t be used inside the plugin engine. You would have to sample them & put them in a drum/keygroup track. You also use insert the insert FX filters but that’s not the same as having the filter sound of the synth the emulation is based on.

[Poetic-Noise]

@jcavell

must be in Akai’s interests to sell plugins that work across as many of their products as possible. Maybe even the Sample. Maybe there will be some premium plugins that only work on gen 3 MPCs, but they will continue to make less CPU intensive plugins for a long while yet.

I wasn’t asking for more CPU intensive plugs. Jura & Mini-D aren’t power hogs, but they’re still better emulations than the new vintage plugins. They offer unique sound shaping features & filters. 8 tracks of either takes up less than 20% CPU.

@DanHell

Ok, I agree with everything, they wasted an opportunity to create something more solid, maybe when all the new MPCs around will be second generation they will develop more interesting stuff… and yes, after Matrix there is nothing left

That created more interesting stuff on gen1, so I’m sure they’ll takes things to another level, but that wasn’t what I was asking for. I wanted the same level as Jura, Mini-D & Odyssey. Each one of these have their character. The new 3 are so similar they could’ve put them all in plugin & just change pic based on the preset.

Hopefully these are being used to test the market & based on which one sells the best, it’d get made as an pro version on that’s more true to the original. That would be dope & anyone who got these gets a 50% discount would be double dope!

[LaVernWinston]

I don’t get the sentiment that plugins have to be held back for the prior gen, and I’m not saying that in a “screw them!” way. Having the software work with extra functionality to utilize the improvements of the latest generation doesn’t mean you have to break the software for the prior generation. A vst that supports MPE doesn’t require you to have a MPE capable controller. Come on, like we’re in a time where cyberpunk runs on a damn Nintendo switch, across 7 consoles (spanning two gens btw), this shouldn’t be that crazy of a thing to provide.

[Phillip]

Erm, you guys are aware that the easiest way to tell whether a synth is sample based or not is by looking at the file size, right? no need to compare waveforms and shit lol