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By Papasmirx Thu Feb 11, 2021 12:08 pm
Hi Peeps ,

Just dipped my toe into the MPC game..... And so far.... Man... what a piece of kit!!.... It's taking a little time to feel my way around but I am getting a lot under my belt already.

Looking forward to being here, posting and sharing experience and info. :)

I do however have a question about something I am struggling with. . . . Literally scratching my head.

So..... here is the scenario.....

I am working on something that has several tracks...... And I want to "perform" and record my drop ins and outs using the Track mute function. Nothing unusual so far. . . . .

My initial sequence was 8 bars. . . .. And I have my tracks setup to their number of beats(8/16/32 respective for different tracks). I have then "double lengthed" everything out to 32 bars in order to record what I am doing on the track mute page.......

And this is where I am falling down..... I start recording, but I cant perform my mutes over the total 32 bars... it seems to be looping what I have recorded with the mutes over the 1st 8 bars only.... and when i get to bar 9 onwards...it replicates what i did in the 1st 8 bars instead of letting me continuously drop in and out tracks over the full 32bars.

I have tried a few different things... including setting all tracks to sequence(instead of their respective number of beats ) ... thinking that maybe this was causing the loop. But its not and they just stop playing as they usually would if no time was set and the sequence was longer than the actual tracks)......

Am I missing a trick here?..... not sure what I am doing wrong. . . . .hope the above makes sense.

I should also add that I am using an MPC one on FW 2.9 in standalone mode

......................

Apologies that my 1st post is a question..... I am sure I will engage here more as I learn and can help others.

Take care and thank in advance for any help you can give me.

Beat on

P
By 40Beatz Thu Feb 11, 2021 1:54 pm
Are you "recording" Outside of the MPC? If so, make sure the Automation Symbol at the Top Right is Lit Up Green.
If you're recording Internally into the MPC, It sounds like you're recording your Track Mute Msgs
By Papasmirx Thu Feb 11, 2021 2:14 pm
Hiya ... not recording outside the MPC( I'm using the MPC in standalone mode).... I simply want to record my track mute automation over 32 bars(which is the length of my sequence).... dropping in and taking elements out along the way. And then have the MPC play it back the way I input it.

The problem I have is whilst recording my automation..... after 8 bars(bar 9 onwards while still in record on track mute page)) the MPC starts repeating what i did in the previous 8 bars instead of letting me continuously mute and unmute over the whole 32bars......

if that makes sense?

Cheers

P
User avatar
By Lampdog Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:00 pm
You doubled 8 bars and track mutes got doubled also.

Make your 8 bar beat first. Double the length out to 32. Now do your track mutes.

Or

List Edit, go in there and delete bar 9 and up track mute events.
By Papasmirx Thu Feb 11, 2021 5:16 pm
Lampdog wrote:You doubled 8 bars and track mutes got doubled also.

Make your 8 bar beat first. Double the length out to 32. Now do your track mutes.

Or

List Edit, go in there and delete bar 9 and up track mute events.


Thats what I thought I may have done too... but I reloaded the saved project(which had no mute automation recorded) but still the same thing happened.

I am 100% sure its user error and i am not doing something right. . . ..

As a side question.... my main beat on track 1 is set to 8 beats(2 bars)....My bassline and pads on separate tracks set to 16beats(4bars) respectively... and I have 2 hi hat tracks set to 32 beats.(8 bars) ..... Does the fact these tracks are different lengths make a difference?..... Common sense tells me it shouldnt. They should just loop over and over(at their set length) for the total length that I set the sequence right?.....Thus allowing me to mute and unmute over the full 32 bars?

.................. I am really scratching my head about this.....Just finishing work now... but when i get home I will go through the settings you suggested above and try again. If I fail maybe I will try to get a vid uploaded and shared in this post for some further input.

I was stoked that I could perform and record with this machine.... but its leaving me a bit deflated that I cant seem to get my head around this. Meh :/
By 40Beatz Thu Feb 11, 2021 7:08 pm
Hmmm Interesting....I would make all Tracks 32 Bars if you plan on recording Automated Track mutes over the 32 Bars.
Depending on the Active Track, it may be looping the Track mute of the Active Track...regardless if you're in the Track Mute Page or not. When i get home, i'll have to recreate that Prob
User avatar
By Lampdog Thu Feb 11, 2021 7:21 pm
You’ll start understanding it more as you jump into it more and frequently, same way with everything.

I suggest getting to know LIST EDIT intimately.
By Papasmirx Thu Feb 11, 2021 8:16 pm
40Beatz wrote:Hmmm Interesting....I would make all Tracks 32 Bars if you plan on recording Automated Track mutes over the 32 Bars.
Depending on the Active Track, it may be looping the Track mute of the Active Track...regardless if you're in the Track Mute Page or not. When i get home, i'll have to recreate that Prob


So I tried again... still had the same issue.... But i think it maybe the way its looping the tracks... or the way i have the lengths set....

If i look at my drum track in grid view(which is set to 8 beats/2bars on screen) And then double up to my 32 bar sequence. I can only see notes in the 1st 2 bars of every 8.... the rest of the 6 bars in between are blank even though the beat is still playing.( I am guessing this area it is just looping the 1st 2 bars ) ....Which is why my automation is reapeating itself every 2 bars for that track.........

If you can imagine the scenraio..... I'm let the begining of the track start in record.... then start unmuting things in the second 8 bars and on the third set of 8 bars it starts repeating what i did in the previous 8

So Yeee... I think you maybe right... and I may have to fill the sequence out to 32 bars(then copy that sequence so i have a blank canvas for the next 32 and so on.) ... that way I will be able to perform across the whole of the sequences ) .............

I am gonna test the theory now. . . . :)
By Papasmirx Thu Feb 11, 2021 8:20 pm
Lampdog wrote:You’ll start understanding it more as you jump into it more and frequently, same way with everything.

I suggest getting to know LIST EDIT intimately.


Yes I discovered the list edit....and my brain when *UUURRAAARRRGGHHH this weird looking screen with numbers and symbols is gonna be important isnt it? :Sigh: lool :lol:
By Papasmirx Thu Feb 11, 2021 9:12 pm
VICTORIOUS!......

You were right..... I had to make a "filled up" 32 bar seq..... leave the track on seq and work my mutes across parts.

Thanks for your suggestions and help peeps. :) ..... I am so pleased...... this machine absolutely kicks ass(Literally mind blowing to me having never touched an MPC before)...

I think this relationship may get "special" :)
User avatar
By Lampdog Thu Feb 11, 2021 11:11 pm
Another way to do that would be to make a main seq 1.
Assign all the tracks how you want.

Copy that and make changes. Rinse wash repeat until you have several seqs.

Place them all into song mode, convert to seq, result will be all 1 long seq of all those song mode peices.
NOTE: Convert to seq will ONLY use the track assignments in the very first seq in the song chain so make SURE all the seq’s track assignments are the same. That’s why I said at the beginning to make a seq with all the tracks assigned and work with copies of that.

Afterwards you could do all your track mutes in that converted seq.

LIST EDIT is super important and is very detailed. Biggest thing I’ve heard about it was people messing up their automations and didn’t know how to get rid of them and start again. List Edit helps see everything. No fancy screen, just time and values, lol. It’s akin to what old schoolers called “trackers”.
By Papasmirx Fri Feb 12, 2021 7:28 am
Lampdog wrote:Another way to do that would be to make a main seq 1.
Assign all the tracks how you want.

Copy that and make changes. Rinse wash repeat until you have several seqs.

Place them all into song mode, convert to seq, result will be all 1 long seq of all those song mode peices.
NOTE: Convert to seq will ONLY use the track assignments in the very first seq in the song chain so make SURE all the seq’s track assignments are the same. That’s why I said at the beginning to make a seq with all the tracks assigned and work with copies of that.

Afterwards you could do all your track mutes in that converted seq.

LIST EDIT is super important and is very detailed. Biggest thing I’ve heard about it was people messing up their automations and didn’t know how to get rid of them and start again. List Edit helps see everything. No fancy screen, just time and values, lol. It’s akin to what old schoolers called “trackers”.


Yeeeeee ... I realised last night I was overcomplicating sh*t somewhat..... I facepalmed when the penny dropped that I can use just 1 sequence for pretty much a whole track. I guess its the way my brain is wired coming from a DAW working with arranging patterns in a song mode.........

My eyes are bleeding this morning.... Can't remember the last time a piece of gear kept me up until the birds start tweetin'. :lol:

"Trackers"... yeee.... like the polyend.... and depending how old you are : Stereo master on the commodore amiga lol.... Never even tried to get my head around this type of software tbh. . . But I guess I will have to learn now.

Anyway... had a good sesh last night.... lets see what MPC can show me today. :D
User avatar
By NearTao Fri Feb 12, 2021 12:40 pm
The advice I'll give you for the MPC way is to learn the pros/cons for different workflows... and definitely don't rush into it... just take your time and it will come naturally. The MPC process has plenty of things that seem awkward when you consider them alone, but when you look at the system as a whole you'll get those "eureka" moments where suddenly you'll realize that a workflow that seemed almost the same before (so why is it there) reveals itself to have some subtle and some dramatic differences that can open up entire other ways of approaching music.
User avatar
By Lampdog Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:48 pm
Papasmirx wrote:.......depending how old you are....

50..

Computer classes in high school were on Apple IIc.
By late 90’s I was a whiz at Dos 6.22.