Share your knowledge on these two classic MPCs
By DustParticle Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:46 pm
Happy new year y'all!

Looking for pointers on how to set up a home studio that's centered around my MPC 60/3000 with 3 main goals:
1. Be able to make my MPC 60/3000 the center of my studio for sequencing, MIDI, drums (8-outs), samples, clocks, etc.
2. Be able to have as many of my equipment (samplers, synths, efx,, etc.) hooked up to my Mackie 1604 VLZ3 as possible to minimize constant audio I/O rerouting.
3. Be able to jam/compose without turning my laptop on. I only work in-the-box for tracking, mixing and mastering so I'd prefer to turn my laptop and audio I/F off when not needed.

See attached image for my initial plan:
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From the Mackie's perspective:
- Channel 1-8 reserved for MPC60/3000's 8-outs. Optional: 909 if I need to double up the drums (or just sample the 909)
- Ch 9-10 reserved for Octatrack/MPC1 000 for longer sample playbacks. Really wish the 1604 has more channel so I can take advantage of their individual outs and Octatrack's inputs for looping/mangling. Ideas?
- Ch 11-13 reserved for the mini and micro. Mono out for the Minimoog, stereo out for the microKorg.
- Ch 14 reserved for SM58 mic input then output the mic signal thru Ch 14 insert to microKorg for its vocoder.
- Ch 15-16 reserved for laptop playback only thru K-Mix.
- Direct Outs and Sub-Outs: 4 of the 8 Direct Outs and all 4 Sub-Outs are connected to K-Mix audio I/F for multitrack recording to my laptop. The idea here is to reserve 4 Direct Outs (from Ch 1-4) for drums and internally route other mixer channels to the 4 Sub-Outs.
- Channel Inserts: The two filter boxes are floaters. Will patch them as Insert efx when needed.
- Aux Sends and Returns: Aux Out 1-2 and Aux Return 1 (stereo) are reserved for RNC for parallel compression. Aux Out 3 and Aux Return 2 (stereo) are reserved for Timeline. Aux Out 4 and Aux Return 3 (mono) are reserved for RE-201.
- C-R Out to HS-8 for monitoring. Should I use the Main Outs instead?

Apologize in advance for the long-winded post. I know a patchbay will help in my situation but I really wanted to make the most out of what I have today for now. Also, I'm just trying to figure out the audio I/O's for now but I'll get to the MIDI part later.
I make trip-hop/lo-fi instrumentals nowadays so I know someone here can point me to the right path. Feel free to comment and thx in advance!

Cheers,

Kai
User avatar
By richie Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:25 am
It's a shame that no one has responded to this thread and shared their setup configurations.

My setup is rather simple and uninteresting enough (in my opinion) to really provide you with the kind of response you seem to be looking for. Thank you for posting a chart of your configuration, it has motivated me somewhat to look into making a unified setup once and for all. I often find myself not utilizing all my gear because I don't have the kind of ease workflow I have when working in a DAW.
By Spod Sun Mar 25, 2018 11:18 pm
When I get some time i'll be happy to dig into this, as i'm in the same boat. Got my studio functioning through patch bays, a mackie mixer and my 3000 with about 18 synths & drum machines and i'm looking for better ways to do things.
By DustParticle Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:05 am
Cockdiesel wrote:Couldn’t you put the octatrack on the sends and return you have open. Make better use of the inputs there. Not sure if the cr out is any differnt than the main outs. Just a thought

Will give that a try but I’ve got other ideas for those sends and returns. CR outs have been working well for me so far.

Spod wrote:When I get some time i'll be happy to dig into this, as i'm in the same boat. Got my studio functioning through patch bays, a mackie mixer and my 3000 with about 18 synths & drum machines and i'm looking for better ways to do things.

Please do! I’m curious to see how you use your patch bay with your mackie. I understand a patch bay will make things easier down the road but right now I’m just barely making it fit with mackie alone.