Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
By Lau Thu Nov 27, 2014 10:56 am
Sorry nothin to listen ... i passed two years making various things on various machines, finally almost everything stay on the machines because lack of mixing and coherent developement with electribes, rs7k and this kind of thing... I just record few sessions month agos... but it s pure shit... when I discovered mpc sequencer... I told myself maybe there is a chance i can produce something organised with this ... now have got also a lot of direct outputs, it will change a bit
ok here is short extract of live impros with various things https://soundcloud.com/lorend (the 3 first one are the same session , I maybe record 7 sessions among ....150 ?looool )
have got banger on the electribe never released , anyway :)
It's old :) I didn't produce any music for a year, i was afraid of working with machines i could possibly abandonned because of flaws in their structure .... passed 9 months to read manuals :) :mrgreen: , mpc is the most boring machine for me , but I see I could produce something "straight" around it, thanks to its architecture, direct outs, and to tweak it all the time it will be harder, cc ok , sysex loool .......
I must link everything in the studio ... it's so hard ... looool :popcorn:
By Lau Thu Nov 27, 2014 7:24 pm
Errr,

I don't hook up everything yet because I can guess new issues will appear... everything will be constantly record on the tracks , not depending of what the track is supposed to be , everything constantly sending/receiving informations... what a puzzle... :smoker: :hmmm: ... too confused...
By Lau Thu Nov 27, 2014 11:17 pm
Maybe I will sell this one.. and grab a 2500 (or 5000) I don't know... I want to make music sound exploration again... , it's horrible have tons of news poetry music stuffs constantly coming in my head and can't start laying them down because of this brainstorming config :shock:

Yeah really if someone has ever deal with this kind of setup it will be a breath to take a new decision... basically the mpc is just the main brain , i don't care about the Z8 in it because for example I see on add today I could grab a Z8 for 200 euros in my city , and for sampler /synth / workstation have looking for a K2500, Triton Studio or A5000 for few months... and replace electribe sequencer by seqv4 or octatrack ...but mpc main brain, compulsory, only way to organize the things staying hardware...

I don't see a proper way to work , If i can avoid to change hardware again, it will be cool, just because it takes time to sell/ buy again because I don't have funds to buy before selling...

Help / experience needed.... and really appreciated ...

I think this discuss is near from my way but it deals with a mpc2500
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... -midi.html

Now what will be suitable is to filter midi in for each track... but filter option are general and by channel... I'm really disapointed ... and don't see a way this mpc could listen / rec only certains informations on certains tracks...

Thanks for your help.. (and sorry for flooding ...)
By Lau Mon Dec 01, 2014 1:46 pm
Hi again !

After thinking I will sell the 4K ... "I" "found " ("remember" as you said lampdog:) ) the work around (channel : any , then "separate channel" ) but realize for my workflow combining xox music exploration and traditionnal song ... it's not this at all ...

Question maybe, I should maybe put elsewhere :

Is MPC 5K multitimbre equal to Mpc1K/25K JJOS2XL ? I read the manual, but until you don't have the machine, it's quite hard to know exactly, farthermore if mpc5K bug a lot on this task ...

The deal for me now is MPC 5K, MPC 1K / MPC25K... I ve owned 1K was cool, just sell it to have extra outputs and the 4K opportunity comme, at the beginning was going for a 2500...

Thanks for your feedback
By Lau Mon Dec 01, 2014 4:55 pm
Yes of course ... but the rest of sentence was "equal to 5k , JJO2XL etc"

coz it's not the same "multitimbre " abilty between the 4K and 1K JJOS2XL, 5K I don't know ... Akai and JJ implement a feature called "multitimbre" (it's not the common usage to design this possibility but they called like this ) in their midi option to design the ability to redirect 1 channel to one track without the need to be on a particular track...

In the 4k the work around able me to record all channel in one or more track but it's always all channels... there is no correspondance between the channel sended and the track which receive... if don't want to be lock "on the track receive channel " way..... that's a big deal for me cause I 'm constantly dealing with switching channels on a keyboard and multiple channels sending from external sequencers...
With the 4k, the workaround is to set any channel as output, but because nothing can be set in midi input... everything is record in any channel ... at the end of the day it's impossible to deal (possible of course but waste of time in regard other mpc can do this in a natural way)

In the mpc 1K JJOS, when you set multitimbre, it seems channel one will automatically feed track 1 on mpc , channel 2 track 2 and so on... and channel one will not feed channel 2 etc ... this feature is perfect for the way I work .


The 5K mention this "multitimbre" also ... but don't find how it is implemented (if it gives you the ability to feed/record multiple channel in multiple track at same time for example and also if the whole system is exposed to crash when I will do this way..

On the 4K we can have the equivalent of what akai called "multitimbre" but the difference is what I mentionned above... all channel goes in every track... the workaround is to erase or apply " separate " for what has been record ... it's not very handfull and worst if I change midi track because information will go everywhere , I can guess the system will overload quickly ... maybe 10 channel receive / route at the same time, notes, control change, sysex ... , one track, 2, 3 depending if I move on some track and record again on it and so on , ok it's extrem situation but it's the way i plan to work , so I m just looking for a way to be as organized as possible etc ... because when I just see what happen with the Z8 under my hand after some weeks... I know it's going too far and I don't even try to cc so much yet ... and it's just a Z8 not a K2500 or I don't know what :mrgreen: that's why I really really prefer to have a system which automatically receive a channel to a track, it will be something less to focus on ...

Sorry to extend ... but i'm deeply passionate by those stuff .

Thanks :)
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By Lampdog Mon Dec 01, 2014 6:58 pm
Lau wrote:In the mpc 1K JJOS, when you set multitimbre, it seems channel one will automatically feed track 1 on mpc , channel 2 track 2 and so on... and channel one will not feed channel 2 etc ... this feature is perfect for the way I work .

I use 4k and Triton Extreme. I record 16 chnls midi from triton into 4k, on midi type 4k tracks. On Triton Extreme, I assign each patch a midi channel (1-16).
Triton midi ch1 records directly into 4k midi type ch1, etc. Is this not the same?
By Lau Mon Dec 01, 2014 8:36 pm
Maybe yes, maybe not...

yes I can do this , but imagine or test but it's quite annoying to do this..
because it seems there is a subtle difference for what i m after... if not , i made a mistake and sure i keep the 4K.

to illustrate clearly ... just an example ..

if you use the tritonsequencer (not the mpc sequencer) on 1 track towards the mpc in . first channel on triton sequencer going to mpc track 1 channel 1 (or pgm to avoid a loop due to sequencer re routing, i don't know) ... it will play correctly ...

but.. when I move to an other track (two for example) on the mpc, the track 1 channel 1 on the triton sequencer wil play other program or channel or nothing if nothing is assigned on the current track of the mpc.. and the track one on mpc is not played anymore (except if it has been record in mpc sequencer beforce changing the current track viewed on the mpc ) ...

The workaround I found was to use "any channel " on mpc but as I explained it will be quickly the mess for my workflow...

Maybe I forget something but i'm quite sure no...

That's why I really want to know if i could possibily rely on mpc 5K to do such a task ...


If i m wrong .. sorry ... but i will be happy i can do this with the 4k ...

Thanks again !

See ya
User avatar
By Lampdog Mon Dec 01, 2014 9:03 pm
Yes, I've used 4k as slave / Triton Extreme as master also.
Would you like me to document my 4k and Triton Extreme midi routing when using
Triton Extreme as master/sequencer? (I can do it sometime this week after work).

I also sometimes use 4k as master, turbophatt and triton extreme as slaves. I record
midi chnls from triton and turbophatt into 4k, on midi type 4k tracks. On Triton and
turbophatt I assign each patch a midi channel .

Triton midi ch1-16 records directly into 4k midi type tracks ch1-16.
Turbophatt midi ch1-16 records directly into 4k midi type ch1-16

What exact synth are you using? Is the synth mutlitimbral?
By Lau Tue Dec 02, 2014 12:34 am
Hey ,

in fact it's not relative to master or slave if you wanna test the thing I try to achieve... it's relative to the channels only, and the notes , cc and other message relatives to this channel , no need to sync ... I never touched a triton so I can't give you the way to configure it ... and my god, I even give a look to the Triton doc one day but.. ouch my head...
It can be a bit brainstormin for not so much ...


First test you can do easily which let me think the mpc can't do a thing I want :
Select a channel on your midi keyboard (aka Triton in this case ok apologies is not a midi keyboard, anyway, u know ... ), try to record it on track one on Mpc for example... stop the record.

Now change the channel by hand on the Triton keyboard (I don't know how to do this on this synth ) and put n° 2;record again in the same track of mpc.

If you check in the seq edit windows of the mpc you'l see the both channel have been recorded. (left bottom right of the frame on seq edit to change the viewed channel)

That's an issue for my usage......


The second problem concern the fact that mpc 4K cannot in my opinion, route definite channel on a definite track and playback them... when you play the right channel on your module it's because on the mpc track assignation you put for example "midi out A1 : channel 1 - Triton " or if you can sequence the notes and other stuff incoming from the tritton sequencer at same time you put midi "midi out A1 = any" and then you have configured the triton it self to respond only to this channel ... but the mpc in fact see everything ...

that's the issue for me ... it's not obvious because it's not a way to work for studio usage, or just sometimes...

I don't have a camera but it will be obvious if i could show you the thing.

If I don't make a mistake, it's not depending on the gear I use but I have for the moment a standard midi keyboard evolution mk361 , Emx korg (that is supposed mainly to feed my mpc with midi ), EF 303 (as another alternative sequencer and multipurpose box) bitstream 3x to remote control what I want, and synth are just the adorable Juno alpha 1 (polyphonic, monotimbral) , korg ms2000 (polyphonic, bi timbral) and an akai remix 16 as other soundmodule/sampler to mess with ... and I also do the test with Z8 include in the mpc which is polyphonic multitimbral .

It's hard to understand each other :) , I'm not dealing in a classic way ...

I read Mpc3000 and 2000 xl (and maybe 60) were able to do what I want because my way to work seemed to be regular in the past (!!! it was hard for me to walk when I 60 released lool ) , sure mpc 1K & 25k jjos2xl can also filter incoming midi data automaticaly before it reach the sequencer or sampler , 5K I don't know, it's not clear ...
Maybe there is a workaround to force mpc 4K to ignore some midi channel with a sysex message which could be include at the beginning of each track... but I don't find it the akai z4 z8 mpc midi implementation outdated guide, and still never learned sysex . And mpc 4K is big and don't have the TC control which reveals good to experiment weird stuff with the inner Z8 sampler... so I put on for the sale, maybe... mama my brain is dead...


i"m surprise nobody else replies ti this topic ... where is 313 ? he told me go on the 25k but .. nothing after...


PS. sorry for me english sometimes it will maybe not help to understand...
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By SimonInAustralia Fri Dec 05, 2014 4:19 am
Lau wrote:I read Mpc3000 and 2000 xl (and maybe 60) were able to do what I want because my way to work seemed to be regular in the past

You might want to confirm that other MPCs do exactly what you want, before selling the MPC4000.

The MPC3000/60 were not really designed to do what you want. They do have a mode that lets you record all 16 incoming MIDI channels, onto 16 different MPC Sequencer tracks, but you have to record all 16 MIDI channels at once, I think, and you can't select which tracks those channels go to. It was really designed to transfer 16 MIDI channels into the MPC from a different MIDI sequencer.

The MPC2000XL Multiple Track Recording Mode does let you choose which incoming MIDI channels are assigned to which MPC sequencer tracks, so might be more flexible for what you want to do.

Not sure how JJOS handles this on a 1000 or 2500.
By Lau Sun Dec 07, 2014 3:40 pm
Hi Simon,

Thanks for the information,

It seems 1K and 25k jjos2xl can act like a 60/3000 with the multitimbre setting, not sure but a workaround seem possible... have got a 2000 xl for few days in my room without asking it but like too much the grid and higher sequencer resolution...

Do you know how the Mpc 5k act in multitimbre, the user manual is not well documented on this point ? Or maybe just forget it because of the bugs and timing slopiness ?


Thanks
By Lau Thu Apr 23, 2015 9:49 pm
... For those interested by the info :

I grabed an mpc 5K,( like it but... ), so i reply to my question question about its behavior

with track receive channel "multi" instead of "as track" :

The Mpc 5k can receive/ route every track simultaneously according to the midi configuration of each track, and without garbage from others channels... for example track 10 from external will feed track set to A(orB of course) 10 ...

but ...

unfortunaly ... it will not act as a multitrack midi recorder ...


you record one track at once... you can trigger from external sequencer, pads, keyboard, midified ukulele or what you want all at once... but not record all at once in different track... i repeat to be clear because it can be confusing...
User avatar
By SimonInAustralia Thu Apr 23, 2015 11:33 pm
Lau wrote:unfortunaly ... it will not act as a multitrack midi recorder ...


you record one track at once... you can trigger from external sequencer, pads, keyboard, midified ukulele or what you want all at once... but not record all at once in different track... i repeat to be clear because it can be confusing...

That is a pity, and is confusing, as you say.

The manual shows how to set it up as a multi-timbral sound module, as you have done, and you would expect that to be recorded into the sequencer, another strange MPC5000 behavior that was never sorted in the OS I suppose.