Using MPC as midi controller in ableton live

Oh, I see you have previous.

I remember reading that when it happened.

MPC-Tutor wrote:

PillsInfinity wrote:I'm going to be completely honest, **** that.
btw I figured out how to map it last night without his goddamn book. i'm thinking right now kind of even getting annoyed with the fact that guy was pretty much like "I could help you easily with some basic info but you have to pay me"

Wow. That is not what I said at all. I said I can't help you unless you give a step-by-step explanation of what you are currently doing including settings etc. You never did that. Don't then get abusive with me when you couldn't be bothered to explain exactly what you had done so far. How can I work out where you went wrong if I can't see what your settings and configs are?

As for the book, I told you all the info was already in there, so that was an option. I left it at that, I wasn't holding the knowledge to ransom, I was just pointing out that a resource exists that will help you, tried and tested - other people recommended my book, probably because they know a) it works, and b) the sales pay for the running of this forum

I mean, come on, I wrote just about the most niche book on the planet, "using an MPC with Ableton Live", is it really that strange that people would actually recommend it to you, being that you are, er, someone using an MPC with Live.

Anyway in the spirit of helping the MPC community, seeing as you worked it out yourself last night, why not share exactly how you did it? That way your post can help others in the future.

PillsInfinity wrote:i respect that you made books, i respect that a lot, trust me i really do

Yes I can tell.

lol I do respect it, we just hit a new level of frustration yesterday. I kind of contradicted myself earlier because I got in my feels a little because the solution was relatively easy. i wont share until i map the pads completely correctly which i will do in a bit when i make a new beat.

its a niche subject and yeah theres a lot of respect there for you writing a book on that, but like ****** felt like they were being borderline extorted even though there would obv be a lot more helpful information in the book, idk i couldnt help it. I might buy it in the future, most likely will but idk rent in the city crazy rn and everything was getting to me.

MPC-Tutor wrote:Oh, I see you have previous.

Lampdog wrote:I remember reading that when it happened.

Yeah n1gga, I'm a legend.

MPC-Tutor wrote:[Don't then get abusive with me

Don't worry I love you, I'd kiss you on the mouth right now if I could.

It could've been worse though, I passively threatened to commit suicide on gearslutz and logged every step closer i was to going over the edge in separate posts until someone responded.

Metatron72 wrote:This is pasted from a post I made here years ago. If all you need is to have the pads play the drum rack sample cells, this might help.

(If you want to have the MPC+Live properly connected where the MPC could start/stop Ableton's sequencer, MPC sequencing things in Live, Or vice versa...check the Akai site. They have a real quick walk through to set that up right.) http://www.akaipro.com/syncableton

And Tutor's book on Ableton+MPC usage is certainly worth getting if you want to easily see all the possibilities of these two working in tandem.

But for just making the pad presses trigger the drum rack -

Select "MIDI From" as either "All Ins" (default) or choose the MIDI port/interface the MPC is connected to specifically (to make the MIDI you send to that channel exclusive and not trigger other instruments on other channels). Press the Rec Monitor button at the bottom of the MIDI channel that the Drum Rack is on.

Drum Racks start with MIDI note # 60 on the first pad, but to the left of the 16 pad grid there is a box that allows you select a group of 16 notes over 7 octaves. A MIDI controller will control whatever box of 16 are highlighted if it's pads are programmed like this

Pad 1- Note # 60
Pad 2 - Note # 62
Pad 3 - Note # 64
Pad 4 - Note # 65
Pad 5 - Note # 67
Pad 6 - Note # 69
Pad 7 - Note # 71
Pad 8 - Note # 72
Pad 9 - Note # 60 (On MIDI Channel 2A)
Pad 10 - Note # 62 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 11 - Note # 64 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 12 - Note # 65 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 13 - Note # 67 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 14 - Note # 69 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 15 - Note # 71 (On MIDI 2A)
Pad 16 - Note # 72 (On MIDI 2A)

The square highlight box on the right side of the drum rack with the 128 squares can also be used to target what pads will be triggered. I believe the pads can just be in chromatic order from Note #36 and up and it will trigger the pads, if you don't want to manually make the MIDI Note # assignments listed above.



BTW-
To make a pad press trigger the whole sample, highlight the pad and press the third circular icon on the far left of the Drum Rack. Now you have a waveform view and controls for each sample/pad. Set the release on the ADSR envelope controls to maximum.

I changed the notes and im still not getting mapped to the proper pads, i switched to midi 2A to program pads 9-16 if thats what you meant, i get feedback and i can play notes but like pad 1 plays C#1 instead of C1. Maybe its because my ableton is 9.5 so they changed around some things idk, the box highlighted is on the left side now instead the right so idk if its a possibility incase i'm not just being a total f*ck up.

thanks btw, i love you, kiss the wife for me and keep contributing to this forum to help lost souls like me, you will inherit the earth.

Alright I f*cking got it.

To map your MPC 2500 in Ableton Live you have to :

1.Plug your MIDI cable in to the MIDI out on your MPC; being A, B, C etc but lets just say we're using A for now.

2.Plug the other side of your MIDI cable into the "MIDI in" on your interface (if you're like me you're using the Roland um-one, so plug that into your computer my love, and make sure you have all the drivers from the website for the appropriate operating system downloaded and installed, this goes for Midisport uno users too. any other midi to usb interface you have is just a piece of garbage if its not one of those, throw it out.)

3. Turn on your MPC, press mode, pad 9, midi/sync.

4. Make sure on F1 "Active track receive channel" is set to "All".
"Soft thru" setting set to "OFF".
"Sequence change by program change" set to "OFF".
"Pad to internal sound" set to "OFF".

5. Press the "F2" button. You should be in the Sync tab now.

Make sure your "Sync in" is set to "OFF" then use your cursor to highlight the "Sync Out" box or whatever the ****.

These are settings to get a basic midi feed into your computer:

"Mode:" set to MIDI CLOCK
"Send MMC:" set to "ON"

(I'm going to let you in on a little secret now to control your transport in Ableton Live from your MPC but for that you need settings that are a little different.)

"Mode:" set to MIDI TIME CODE
"Frame rate:" set to "30"
"Send MMC:" set to "ON"

6. Open your Ableton Live and create a midi track with an empty drum rack.
You'll see notes in the drum rack labled C1 C#1 etc or something and take a good look at them.


7. Press mode on your MPC and pad 7 now you'll be in the "Program" mode.
Go to the "NOTE" tab by pressing the "F5" button.
You see those notes in the drum rack i made you look at? Now make sure the notes in your 16 pads correspond with each pad on your mpc by using your data wheel to select the note after pressing the pad you want to select the note for.
(you can further map these notes in different banks to higher and lower octaves in ableton but lets just make these 16 work)

8. Press MAIN and set the "Midi:" setting in the right corner of your MPC screen to "1A".


9. After that is done save the program as the name "AUTOEROTIC" in order to save the note settings you just created and load it and instead of having to map out your pads again the next time you turn on your MPC.

10. Go on your computer and open the Ableton Live preferences.
Click the "MIDI sync".
Click the "Track", "Sync, and "Remote" buttons on your midi devices input to turn them on.
Press the record button your drum rack with loaded drums or something and you should hear them when you press your pads.
If not with loaded with drums youll just see some flashing yellow shit that shows youre getting feedback

If you want to control your transport also:
Click the "MIDI sync". in Ableton Preferences
Click the "Track", "Sync, and "Remote" buttons on your midi devices input to turn them on
Press the little triangle drop down tab shit set Sync type to "MIDI Timecode"
Change MTC frame rate setting to "30 fps" or keep it as all, **** it just keep it as all.
Press EXT in the left corner in Ableton Live and it activates the trasport control, press play on your mpc, it plays simultaneously with the shit or whatever

10. If this doesn't work its because i didnt **** up somewhere and you have an extra chrom-.. chrome smith and wesson revolver taking up space in your home you need to spend some time with while contemplating ending your.. citiy's zombie apocalypse if there were to ever be one and how you'd do it. You MPC boom bap guys are in to things like Zombie Apocalypses right?

11. Don't be an angry 30- 40 year old man that just makes boom bap beats in his spare time that listens to illmatic and 36 chambers 20 times every week and shakes his wrinkly callused worthless fist at everything that isn't 90's rap because he's stuck in a box full of soul records with samples every producer has used hasn't learned to understand the appeal of all musical aesthetic whether or not if they like it and you may not live a fruitless life.


12. I'll sell more copies than MPC TUTOR in my sleep while i have a dream that my teeth fell out and I'm missing all my fingers.

13. I LOVE THE KIDS.

I appreciate step 11.
Just today, I spread my wings and jacked drums off a Nickleback song.
Real talk.
Baby steps.

SILIS101 wrote:I appreciate step 11.
Just today, I spread my wings and jacked drums off a Nickleback song.
Real talk.
Baby steps.

Gotta spread those legs to really feel the drumsticks inside of you. keep up the good work son.

I followed every step correctly but it just doesn't seem to work. Searched every damn tutorial on google but can't find a solution.

chunkystee wrote:I followed every step correctly but it just doesn't seem to work. Searched every damn tutorial on google but can't find a solution.

what midi interface are you using?

PillsInfinity wrote:btw I figured out how to map it last night...

I'm in the exact same situation. I need to use my MPC2500 to trigger the drum rack in Ableton. I was told to get the Roland UM-ONE, but I'm not sure how to configure in it preferences to do the trick, or if I'm even using the USB or MIDI adapter. Are you willing to share how you made it happen? Did you use the Roland UM-ONE?

Thanks for your time in advance.

(I realized there was a page 2 to this thread after I posted. I'll be trying your method. Thanks for posting!)

MPC-Tutor wrote:

PillsInfinity wrote:I'm going to be completely honest, **** that.
btw I figured out how to map it last night without his goddamn book. i'm thinking right now kind of even getting annoyed with the fact that guy was pretty much like "I could help you easily with some basic info but you have to pay me"

Wow. That is not what I said at all. I said I can't help you unless you give a step-by-step explanation of what you are currently doing including settings etc. You never did that. Don't then get abusive with me when you couldn't be bothered to explain exactly what you had done so far. How can I work out where you went wrong if I can't see what your settings and configs are?

As for the book, I told you all the info was already in there, so that was an option. I left it at that, I wasn't holding the knowledge to ransom, I was just pointing out that a resource exists that will help you, tried and tested - other people recommended my book, probably because they know a) it works, and b) the sales pay for the running of this forum

I mean, come on, I wrote just about the most niche book on the planet, "using an MPC with Ableton Live", is it really that strange that people would actually recommend it to you, being that you are, er, someone using an MPC with Live.

Anyway in the spirit of helping the MPC community, seeing as you worked it out yourself last night, why not share exactly how you did it? That way your post can help others in the future.

PillsInfinity wrote:i respect that you made books, i respect that a lot, trust me i really do

Yes I can tell.

Pillsinfinity you should be greatful that anybody even takes the time to read your questions regarding your issues with MPC/ABLETON midi controls instead of crying around on this forum. Nobody has to take the time to fullfill your "entitlements". Theres plenty of videos out there regarding your questions. I recently purchased http://www.mpc-tutor.com/product/using- ... eton-live/ . I'm really glad i did because it helped me fill in the blanks on what i was missing in regards to using my 2500 with ableton live lite 9. Since going through the well explained book, I'm now on the verge of purchasing ableton live 9 standard because I now know all the stuff i was unsure of it was worth every penny. From the sounds of it you should probably do the same. If you are breaking the bank to spend $20 for alot of knowledge on equipment/software that im sure you paid a pretty penny for, then you picked the wrong hobby homie.

saltmcgault wrote:Pillsinfinity you should be greatful that anybody even takes the time to read your questions regarding your issues with MPC/ABLETON midi controls instead of crying around on this forum. Nobody has to take the time to fullfill your "entitlements". Theres plenty of videos out there regarding your questions. I recently purchased http://www.mpc-tutor.com/product/using- ... eton-live/ . I'm really glad i did because it helped me fill in the blanks on what i was missing in regards to using my 2500 with ableton live lite 9. Since going through the well explained book, I'm now on the verge of purchasing ableton live 9 standard because I now know all the stuff i was unsure of it was worth every penny. From the sounds of it you should probably do the same. If you are breaking the bank to spend $20 for alot of knowledge on equipment/software that im sure you paid a pretty penny for, then you picked the wrong hobby homie.

how about you pick up my d.ck and suck it. go make your boring ass generic boom bap sample beats. lol

I've been waiting for a response and forgot all about it. This is all you could come up with? lol