mpc 1000 live set ideas

Hi, first of all sorry for my english

I play electronic music (something is on http://soundcloud.com/soulongear). My sounds are manly looped, and i search variations with muting tracks and with fxs.

Now i want to move my bedroom workflow to a stage live set. I don't need nothing of extraordinary but when i play my music it should be less programming and a little more performing (a little! )

My songs are usually composed by program chops rearranged (programmed) and re-played (intros, chorus...) in complex ways on a track. I don't want to transform these tracks in sample loops because I like to arrange them in different ways, and i need the original program! I need the program also because i can play over the unmuted program, in new ways.

I DON'T want to perform only muting/unmuting (like I'm doing now) on stage, but if I begin to play on a program it is a pain to switch between mute window and single tracks window because I get lost between the tracks, and i need ALWAYS under eyes the possibility to mute/unmute.

What could be some ways to mantain the power to mute/unmute tracks but at the sime time be able to play directly on a program? Is there a way to do something similar with OS2 XL? Now I have OS 1

Give me a brainstorming please

I was thinking about mantain the mpc on mute screen and using a cheap midi pad controller controlling the active track…

Hi,

Why don't you install os2xl and try it?
I know that's not answering your question (sorry) but with the addition of multitimbrality, pad mute, button feature...etc I'm sure you'll find a way to improve your current workflow.

Peace

Thank you for the reply le rat. I've the demo of 2XL.

I tried it, but it seems that also if more powerful it does not improve substantially my workflow. For example it is great to have the possibility to switch active tracks directly in track mute window, but if I want to play the program, I have to exit!

Other things like pad mute expand the possibility of muting, but not the possibility to play (imho).

However I know the complexity of this OS, and I'm curious to know if someone could give me some input I didn't think of!

thanks

If u hold the Q2 button and press a pad in the program mode it will make that track active. Generally much faster than using active track in track mute mode, maybe u could work that in somehow?

Edit.. Although reading ur post again it sounds like u want to be able to play pads while in some sort of mute mode...so maybe not.

maybe time to rethink your live style...



i actually struggled with same problem so i went back to basics...

t_bias wrote:maybe time to rethink your live style...

i actually struggled with same problem so i went back to basics...

yo, that was sooooooo **** sick!!!

@inflict - thanks bro! there's more here

@soul on gear - sorry didn't mean to hijack your thread...

what i was trying to get at was that maybe you could explore a more live approach...

maybe you resample larger portions of your chopped and arranged samples (perhaps
say a bars worth... or other parts divided equally in a musical sense - i.e. 1/4, 1/2, 1/16th etc.) and trigger them on the fly.

combine this with a sequence that is playing and maybe some trackmuting as well and
you could create something that is more interesting for you as a performer and better
for your audience.

i always find it tricky to strike that balance between feeling like you're performing (not just standing back and hitting play, for example) and creating a show that's
interesting enough and has depth.

t_bias wrote:@inflict - thanks bro! there's more here

@soul on gear - sorry didn't mean to hijack your thread...

what i was trying to get at was that maybe you could explore a more live approach...

maybe you resample larger portions of your chopped and arranged samples (perhaps
say a bars worth... or other parts divided equally in a musical sense - i.e. 1/4, 1/2, 1/16th etc.) and trigger them on the fly.

combine this with a sequence that is playing and maybe some trackmuting as well and
you could create something that is more interesting for you as a performer and better
for your audience.

i always find it tricky to strike that balance between feeling like you're performing (not just standing back and hitting play, for example) and creating a show that's
interesting enough and has depth.

+1 thats it tbias, I think the same. I feel that live is also condusive to new ideas to so is like a circle. Balance of presequenced as well as playing with it at same time constantly. Do it like this at home in your lab and after a while you will have a better live flow and rock it.

i haven't tried this? but has anyone explored the pad line pattern feature?(plays a line pattern on a pad) had a quik look and you can change pads from playing samples to triggering line patterns on a pad. Can't remember if it's program specific?(line pattern plays sequence from specific pgm..) gonna give it a bash...

@t_bias DOPE SKILLZ!!!

or buy another mpc.....

@dazastah: WORD!

been looking into the pattern option as well - haven't quite cracked it as i'm well behind the 8-ball... been abroad/broke so haven't had cash or time to dedicate to OS2XL... just getting round to it now... but pattern mode is one of the big attractions!

not sure if it's program specific, but might be track specific - like 'audio', 'chord', 'arp' etc... which means all the pads are dedicated to that purpose - i.e. no one shot on one pad while another triggers a pattern...

to be able to build composite programs - ie one pad chord, two pads audio function, 4 pads pattern, 3 pads drum style one-shots... now THAT'd be dope. but possibly asking a bit much?

as i said i'm still exploring the OS so stop me if i'm wrong here!

just looked again - not track specific... still don't know how it works! but seems to be pad specific, not program or track specific.

you have to stop the sequencer to do basically anything with the pad patterns, which makes them worthless for live use. you can maybe insert patterns in the grid edit and turn the pattern track on and off but thats about it.

i don't use the sequencer live so... definitely still useful.

Here are some ideas I have been experimenting with for live sets, and quick composition. You may find some of it useful. I'm mostly making techno right now, and sequence variation is not so important, but just constantly changing the sound elements is...

I start by making a program which is just kicks. Another program just for snares. A third program which contains 1-bar hihat loops. I pack all of these programs.

Next, I create a sequence. Track 1 is for the kick, track 4 is my snare, and tracks 9-12 are for hihats. The exact track numbers doesnt matter, but they are always the same for every song I do so I can quickly find the right track. Assign the relevant program to each track.

From the Main screen, I can hold the q2 After button and hit the pad to select that track. Record (or presequence) the kick and snare in the right positions, and a note to trigger a hihat loop at the start of the bar.

The advantage with setting things up this way is as follows:
* I can audition all the snares just by going to the snare track and hitting random pads.
* I can go to the bottom of the screen and select which sample is assigned to the current snare pad. I can scroll through a list of only snare sounds, and then change to a different track, and scroll through just the sounds for that track. This is great if you build your music up from loops or layers and wish to build the live set by swopping them in and out.
* If you go to the Trim screen, all of these samples are hidden (as they are packed) so you can clearly see the samples you are more interested in working with.

If you hold Numeric and hit mode+a04 which will assign the track mixer to Numeric. Now you can access the track mixer with one click, and the track mute screen with one click.

I also like to toggle between main and grid edit with the main button. GridEdit and the LoopEdit is pretty good as it allows you to remove notes again without stopping the sequencer (notes you input by recording youself playing on the pads cannot be deleted without stopping the sequencer).

I have also started experimenting by building up a track in Bank B, but having everything assigned to different outs. This way I can cue it, and then crossfade using and external mixer, then go back to bank A and make some changes and then fade back to that.

Inserting patterns in GridMode is probably a useful trick but I haven't gone there yet. I guess the hihat loops could easily be replaced by patterns.

innovine wrote:you have to stop the sequencer to do basically anything with the pad patterns, which makes them worthless for live use. you can maybe insert patterns in the grid edit and turn the pattern track on and off but thats about it.

I totally disagree with that statement. Sure you have to stop to make them, but thats not the point is it. If you are going to make a set for a live show, makes sense you actually make a few BEFORE. If you do your laughing.
And they are very versatile and useful. For instance you could make a whole bank of midi phrases or drum phrases that can be triggered in time, any time. Also just MIDI CC data can be made into a pattern, which gets assigned to a pad, then if you hit a pad the MID CC data is sent to external gear, say for filter sweep over 4 bars. all in time as its sequence data. I do not use them enough.