I wouldn’t recommend getting an XL if you didn’t like Live 3 pads. It’s true my XL pads have better AT performance than my Live 3 but I think that it’s just because my Live 3 has a hw issue. Even with the issue which only impacted melodic expression, I very much like the mpce pads in general.
For me, they’re just a step below my maschine mk3 for general use but when you really learn how to map xyz they’re up there with Keith McMillan Quneo
Turns out I’ve been a bit (a lot) too dismissive of MPC 3 desktop and XL.
This was actually well put together & great way of using the clip & the arranger to get something going simple & fast:
I don’t trust his Akai sponsored videos as he’s isn’t honest even when called out on it but these basic tutorials are great.
I watched this and as someone who is just starting to get into the arranger I learned at least 3 things. He has a pretty clear way of explaining things.
Any good reviews of the new plug ins yet?
Not sure if it’s been posted already.
Host it as an AUv3 plugin in AUM or your DAW
STEM separation
Expanded time signatures
Notepad (capture the idea before it disappears)
New sound editor
They will preview more new features over the next days. 
Check the videos by AIR. Their pretty informative & they get right to the point.
New Badu and Alchemist album goes nuts. Relevant because of course Al made all the beats on his trusty old MPC. Bro on his 5th career as a music producer. Love to see it.
Is he still on the 2500?
They’ll have to pry that thing from his dead fingers. Same drums and basic formula. Proof that genius is usually simple. In fact, genius is defined by the ability to make complicated things simple.
It’s easy to spot ALC on his ASR-10 tracks. On the MPC - not so much.
I think I’m experiencing a new arrangement mode bug. I’m on whatever the latest OS is, I think 3.9.1
Copy clips to the arrangement. Go into the arrangement clip for one of those patterns. Copy, paste, move stuff around. If I go to another track and try to move the play head inside the arrangement clip for that track, the play head is not moving. The top indicator of what bar I am on resets at four bars, the popout indicator on the side to show Q link behavior doesn’t update at all.
My loop brace is set for 128 bars, the punch in is at 1 and the punch out is at 128. The fact that it worked on one track and it’s not working on others makes me think this is a bug and not some kind of user error, but I’m open to being wrong and hope I’m just missing something.
Does that also happen after disabling Auto Record?
And after saving and reloading the Project?
The Arranger has so many bugs…
I restarted the device completely, that fixed it so I assume reloading the project would also fix it but can’t confirm.
I’m not sure what you mean about auto record? This is a setting I either turned off when I first got it or have never even seen.
Auto Record is what Akai calls the section where you select to record at Punch-In or at Loop-Start. (It’s not the Auto Sampler).
It’s in the middle of Main Mode (after clicking ‘Arrangement’) or when you double-tap the Time Counter in the toolbar (the Bar:Beat:Tick counter).
I’m on the Force - I recall an update last year or so broke Auto Record/Punch-In, and it still seems to be broken.
So many bugs…but it’s still an amzing piece of gear.
Wait what’s wrong with punch in on MPCs? I use that often.
I don’t think mine is punch-in related. I was just relaying all possibly relevant details I knew about. I’ll get a bug report submitted in the next day or two
Just tested on Force 3.9.1. Record at Punch-In & Loop-Start. It’s hit or miss (rarely records as expected). But that’s on an old project. Stopped using it (and recording my guitar) last year when an update broke it.
m0ld’s experience could be a long-standing memory issue. Had the same behavior often in the Arranger when copy & pasting or tweaking automation a lot. Change tracks, then boom. Values stop updating, micro freezes, etc.
Save & reload often. Or reboot. Nowadays I save new versions of a Project - append w/ A, B, C… And corrupt Projects are no fun.
Edit: Should have read my own advice - reloaded the old project again and punch-in recording works fine now. Tested all track types, including audio tracks - it all works. Wow!
I don’t watch his stuff.
I love Marlow Diggs & don’t know why I get them mixed up, but when I see his name I want to click… but I force myself to do a double take.
