Software Sequencing - Dumping into the 3K

I've been messing around with some software like MAX MSP (http://cycling74.com/products/max/) and Nodal (http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~cema/nodal/). I've been making sequences in them and have really enjoyed it.

Obviously, when I try and spit those sequences out of USB into some hardware synths, there's latency.

So I was wondering, if I like some sequence I made in this software and saved it, is there a way to dump into the MPC, without playing it through the USB and dealing with the latency caused by that?

depends how you save it.
if you can save it as a midi file and then transfer that to the 3k, no problem.
alternatively, you can set the tempo on the 3k to the same as the soft, midi them up and record in realtime.

or, you could record the sequence in logic, then st logic to be master and slave your 3k to logic, then hit play in logic and record in the 3k.

you'd have to make sure your logic channels are set up to send on the correct midi port / channel.

But if I use logic as the master and sending clock out, or anything like that, won't there be midi latency?

dtirer wrote:But if I use logic as the master and sending clock out, or anything like that, won't there be midi latency?

there will be midi jitter. from what i've experienced, this is more problematic as it relates to clock.

maybe a better idea, at least to try, would be to not set up sync, and just set the tempos the same, and then record the midi data into the 3k. there will still be midi jitter but it won't be as noticeable since it will only effect individual hits, not the clock of the whole system.

i think the best bet is saving a midi file, but i have no experience with getting a midi file itself onto a 3k.

Hm alright, I'll have to do some investigation. But yes, a MIDI file sounds like a good idea

I've loaded a midi file saved with logic, into a 3k.. Or maybe it was a 60. Either way, it was an easy straightforward task. If you can save the file to a zip or a floppy, then you should be good. Just pop the disk into the 3k and load the file.. It may prompt you to save it to a new sequence or something.. Can't remember.

I'm not entirely sure how logic saves a midi file, as logic is something like 960 ppq, and the 3k/60 are 96 ppq. The midi file was not quantized but it loaded it fine, and the timing seemed relatively the same, obviously not exactly, but in the same ballpark. Note: Most likely if you have a quantized midi file it will end up closer to being the the same, as opposed to an unquantized midi file where 960 ppq gets rounded down to 96.

Another thing you might want to consider to avoid headaches once you have your sequence loaded into your 3k, is to figure out what notes corespond to what pads prior to exporting the midi file from logic. Shifting your midi notes in logic would be much faster then trying to shift them in your mpc.

Oh alright great, thanks for the info!

viacom wrote:I've loaded a midi file saved with logic, into a 3k.. Or maybe it was a 60. Either way, it was an easy straightforward task. If you can save the file to a zip or a floppy, then you should be good. Just pop the disk into the 3k and load the file.. It may prompt you to save it to a new sequence or something.. Can't remember.

I'm not entirely sure how logic saves a midi file, as logic is something like 960 ppq, and the 3k/60 are 96 ppq. The midi file was not quantized but it loaded it fine, and the timing seemed relatively the same, obviously not exactly, but in the same ballpark. Note: Most likely if you have a quantized midi file it will end up closer to being the the same, as opposed to an unquantized midi file where 960 ppq gets rounded down to 96.

Another thing you might want to consider to avoid headaches once you have your sequence loaded into your 3k, is to figure out what notes corespond to what pads prior to exporting the midi file from logic. Shifting your midi notes in logic would be much faster then trying to shift them in your mpc.