MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By dmacto Tue May 08, 2018 10:20 am
Hey People

I'm aiming to make full tracks in standalone, with programmed beats/finger drumming, recorded vocals, some bass, guitar, Keys and some samples here and there. Mixing I will do with a Pro on the Computer. Vocals will be on every track.

I've been convinced that the Pre-amps on the Mpc X are good enough for me to do this. But people are saying different things regarding the limited audio tracks and overall memory.

Some people seem to be able to do it, others are saying they cant record a single track. I know that the Akai team are currently working on disk streaming, but I'm talking about the new Mpc's as they are.

I am prepared to optimise, compromise, use workarounds and simply get creative (like my 90's forefathers). Who is making full tracks in standalone? What are your opinions? Workarounds? Compromises? Techniques?

Lay your MPC wisdom upon me.
By dmacto Tue May 08, 2018 1:39 pm
Yorgos Arabatzis wrote:I got away with 14-16 tracks in a project..
It depends from the length of your samples..Also a nice tip that helps even more is to mono any sample that you’re goin to use it this way and leave stereo only samples that will spread across the spectrum..Cheers!


That's promising. Thanks man, Those are just the sort of tips that I am looking for. When you finished a project, do you move it onto the computer to save memory ?

Anyone else got a view?
By Yorgos Arabatzis Tue May 08, 2018 2:34 pm
Do yourself a favor and install an SSD drive..I’ve got me a Samsung EVO Pro 512GB installed from day 1
Maybe I’ll fill it in 50 years ;-P
dmacto wrote:
Yorgos Arabatzis wrote:I got away with 14-16 tracks in a project..
It depends from the length of your samples..Also a nice tip that helps even more is to mono any sample that you’re goin to use it this way and leave stereo only samples that will spread across the spectrum..Cheers!


That's promising. Thanks man, Those are just the sort of tips that I am looking for. When you finished a project, do you move it onto the computer to save memory ?

Anyone else got a view?
By dmacto Wed May 09, 2018 9:31 am
[quote="Yorgos Arabatzis"]Do yourself a favor and install an SSD drive..I’ve got me a Samsung EVO Pro 512GB installed from day 1
Maybe I’ll fill it in 50 years ;-P

I will do man, though that's not going to give me more room for Audio tracks unfortunately.

Surely more people on here are recording sounds into it?
User avatar
By Danoc Wed May 09, 2018 11:37 pm
Ill-Green wrote:I really don't know what others are doing but an audio track is a recording of whats coming out the Main Outs. In other words, a really long sample. For someone who can't make one track set is mind boggling.

:lol: :lol: lol
By plugged.in Thu May 10, 2018 5:02 am
I'm still learning the machine but as I understand it, for your set up the possibilities are as follows:

programmed beats/finger drumming: midi/sample program tracks (unlimited tracks)
recorded vocals -> 2-4 of your 8 audio tracks
some bass -> 1 of your 8 audio tracks
guitar ->2-4 of your 8 audio tracks
Keys: midi tracks (unlimited)
some samples here and there. -> midi/sample program tracks (unlimited tracks)

overall it should be do-able. I use MPC to make demos or quick jams to share with friends. I'm using up to 6 audio tracks for bass, guitar, Vox, and numerous midi tracks (triggering my 2 synths)// tracks with samples from the included MPC programs. MPC and synths are plugged into my interface so when I do a final "bounce" for a demo the audio tracks in logic are recording:
- MPC audio (stereo)
- Synth 1 audio stereo
- Synth 2 audio stereo

The only reason I do it that way is because my synths are neatly plugged into my main rig at home instead of the MPC. If I were trying to do it completely without the computer, I'd get a small mixer for the synths/guitar/bass/vox; plug its main outs into the MPC and individually record the audio tracks. For me it likely be recording 2 audio tracks for synth, 2 guitar, 1 bass, 2 Vox, 1 extra for whatever I'm feeling' :smoker: :hmmm:

remember: Can't overdub any audio tracks, only record new take but you can change the start point of that take to fix certain bars instead of redoing the whole track.


I hope that helps at least a little
By dmacto Thu May 17, 2018 10:49 am
plugged.in wrote:I'm still learning the machine but as I understand it, for your set up the possibilities are as follows:

programmed beats/finger drumming: midi/sample program tracks (unlimited tracks)
recorded vocals -> 2-4 of your 8 audio tracks
some bass -> 1 of your 8 audio tracks
guitar ->2-4 of your 8 audio tracks
Keys: midi tracks (unlimited)
some samples here and there. -> midi/sample program tracks (unlimited tracks)

overall it should be do-able. I use MPC to make demos or quick jams to share with friends. I'm using up to 6 audio tracks for bass, guitar, Vox, and numerous midi tracks (triggering my 2 synths)// tracks with samples from the included MPC programs. MPC and synths are plugged into my interface so when I do a final "bounce" for a demo the audio tracks in logic are recording:
- MPC audio (stereo)
- Synth 1 audio stereo
- Synth 2 audio stereo

The only reason I do it that way is because my synths are neatly plugged into my main rig at home instead of the MPC. If I were trying to do it completely without the computer, I'd get a small mixer for the synths/guitar/bass/vox; plug its main outs into the MPC and individually record the audio tracks. For me it likely be recording 2 audio tracks for synth, 2 guitar, 1 bass, 2 Vox, 1 extra for whatever I'm feeling' :smoker: :hmmm:

remember: Can't overdub any audio tracks, only record new take but you can change the start point of that take to fix certain bars instead of redoing the whole track.


Thanks man - Very promising, I can definitely work with this.
By Guilleonline Fri May 18, 2018 1:27 am
Here's another tip for unlimited vocals or audio tracks.
I bought the X because of the direct recording of Audio track into the machine but no one mentioned the audio limitations until I was trying to use it, so I went back to the way I was doing it on my mpc1000.

I record a vocal track, and then 'sample' it back into the X using the master output. Then create a drum program for all of the audio samples that will follow, and assign them all to a pad there. Once I've spent some time trimming and making it fit where it should in the timeline, I add the effects (compression, reverb, delay, etc). Then repeat.

Lately I've been sampling vocal directly (not even using the audio tracks) and then assigning them to a drum program containing audio clips and... pretty much the same thing as up there.

Hope it helps.
By dmacto Mon May 21, 2018 5:22 pm
Guilleonline wrote:Here's another tip for unlimited vocals or audio tracks.
I bought the X because of the direct recording of Audio track into the machine but no one mentioned the audio limitations until I was trying to use it, so I went back to the way I was doing it on my mpc1000.

I record a vocal track, and then 'sample' it back into the X using the master output. Then create a drum program for all of the audio samples that will follow, and assign them all to a pad there. Once I've spent some time trimming and making it fit where it should in the timeline, I add the effects (compression, reverb, delay, etc). Then repeat.

Lately I've been sampling vocal directly (not even using the audio tracks) and then assigning them to a drum program containing audio clips and... pretty much the same thing as up there.

Hope it helps.


Interesting, would this not have any effect when it comes to editing and mixing? What do you mean by recording vocals directly without audio tracks? If this is the case, then its got me thinking, what exactly is the difference between Audio track and everything else on the new MPC's?

Thanks
By Madhilama47 Sat Dec 17, 2022 8:03 am
dmacto wrote:Hey People

I'm aiming to make full tracks in standalone, with programmed beats/finger drumming, recorded vocals, some bass, guitar, Keys and some samples here and there. Mixing I will do with a Pro on the Computer. Vocals will be on every track.

I've been convinced that the Pre-amps on the Mpc X are good enough for me to do this. But people are saying different things regarding the limited audio tracks and overall memory.

Some people seem to be able to do it, others are saying they cant record a single track. I know that the Akai team are currently working on disk streaming, but I'm talking about the new Mpc's as they are.

I am prepared to optimise, compromise, use workarounds and simply get creative (like my 90's forefathers). Who is making full tracks in standalone? What are your opinions? Workarounds? Compromises? Techniques?

Lay your MPC wisdom upon me.


I know this is extremely late, but I make full songs in my mpc x, it's very unconventional to some, but it works for me, I come from recording on tape decks, and multitrack recorders so maybe that's why it clicks for me. I build the beat first, structure it in song mode, and bounce it to a new sequence, from there I do vocals over the beat. I have a warm audio wa87, running into a dbx 286, then into a warm audio tone beast, then into the mpc x. There is the 8 audio track limit (which i wish they added more too!!) but I rarely use more than 5. Plus when looking at the actual audio waveform you can split the audio, and adjust the volume of the splits individually, which allows me to punch in on multiple different tracks. If you shoot me a email, I could send some songs I've done, as well as stuff I've recorded for others, it's completely possible to make quality songs in standalone, and after you find your own workflow with the vocals, it's actually very inspiring, more so than the typical DAWS in my honest opinion. I haven't used a tradionally DAW in years now. Lol *it is weird recording other people, because they are not familiar with the recording style, but in the end, they never complain about the results lol*
User avatar
By Monotremata Sat Dec 17, 2022 4:24 pm
They could technically give us 16 tracks, but like Ableton Live, everything is wired in stereo. Even if you use a mono sample, you get dual mono output. If you switch the track output to a single physical output, you get both mono L/R sides summed together. The only way to get 'true' mono is to pan the sample to one side and send it to a single output, and then because of their panning law, you have to crank up the level 6db to get it to match (it should only be 3db but its Akai after all).
By jamos Sat Dec 17, 2022 5:23 pm
One limitation that I don't believe anyone else has mentioned, is that you can only record up to 5 minutes at a time on an audio track. Once you hit that limit, recording stops. This doesn't mean you can't have audio tracks that are longer than 5 minutes, it just means that you have to record them in chunks.