Share tips, tricks, gear set ups and videos relating to the use of MPCs in live performances including MPC finger drumming, MPC scratching, using MPCs with decks, computers and other instruments.
User avatar
By lockah Sun Feb 15, 2015 11:30 pm
Hi all,

Just wanted to start a thread for my continuing adventures with using the MPC 1000 as the workhorse of my fairly minimal live instrumental setup. I picked it up just before Christmas but the sensors were mostly a bit sloppy so I fitted a replacement with fat pads a few weeks ago while I was still in the process of finishing my next major studio project...

I've now started taking bookings for live shows in a forthcoming tour of a far & distant land, so the practice and theory has begun...I've realistically got less than 2 months to figure this out completely :?

You can hear some tracks from my first album here: https://soundcloud.com/lockah/sets/yahoo-or-the-highway

Essentially I make fairly raw instrumental pop influenced by early hip hop, club tracks, techno & electro, piano hardcore and so forth. One thing that's always perplexed me is how to work as 'live' as possible - since I'm not exactly a hot musician - and since my music isn't exactly experimental I've always been a bit nervous as to how I can offer something new in that environment.

My setup as it stands:

MPC 1000 (128MB RAM) - taking care of drums, melodic audio loops, backup bass and 'soft' bass parts.

Dave Smith Mopho Keyboard - 'aggressive' bass parts, leads, noise & effects

Boss RPD-10 Panning Delay - cheap vintage digi-delay. Mopho goes through this to add a bit of space, and does 'infinate' delay eg self oscillation...useful for hairy moments on stage? 8)

Boss SP404 - naff sampler/fx. havent hooked this up yet, but i'm gonna use it for one shots, cymbal crashes, stabs, effects and also reckon this could be useful for more ambient loops and beats to have playing while I'm switching between MPC programs.


Day 1 of the practice project:

Since my music is ALWAYS melodic, the only way I really stand a chance with improvisation is to keep things in key and at a similar tempo. To help with this, I've picked 4 songs around the same tempo & key and revisited the Ableton sessions where they were first mixed down. I was able to shift the synth parts up/down a couple of semitones and set their song tempos to be the same (120bpm).

The vague plan I guess, is to split my 64 pads into 4 x 16 which will cover all the parts for each song. That way, I know I can gradually bring in parts from the next song. I'll output two of them to outs 1/2 and two to 3/4, so i can also keep things tight running them separately though the club mixer.

I had an idea that will keep things really speedy, has anyone tried it? I thought I could name dummy sets of blank tracks ie. KICK, SNARE, HI HATS, PERC, BASS, LO CHORDS in advance with nothing in them. That way I will be able to lay stuff down really quickly and don't have to lose track of what is on each one when I'm in the Mute Track view. I guess I could save the lot as an All Sequences file and even set it to autoload?

Some stuff I'm stuck with - can you use an external MIDI synth to play melodies on a sample like in 16 Levels? Can't see a way of doing this so far...

I also need to get to grips with getting MID clips into the MPC to trigger the more complex basslines...I'm not a serious keyboard player and I'm gonna end up **** up if I try to do it all myself.

BTW the mopho is pretty big, weighs almost 10 lbs and on its maiden voyage in an aeroplane its LCD screen has sustained a dent which i'm a bit pissed off about. I wonder if grabbing a Microbrute would be a better solution as they're wayyyy smaller and lighter, plus replacing the Mopho would cost 3 or 4 times as much (I got mine on the used market for a steal) plus, perhaps its limitations mean that I could dial in a sound really quick...even tho the Mopho has a knob for most of its functions there are still a lotta things you can't modify in the space of a couple of seconds as I could with the Microbrute...

Anyway I thought instead of asking questions I would go the other route and explain the way I'm going about it. Maybe if folks have spotted something I'm doing the 'wrong' or slow way that I could improve with a better workflow, let me know. On the other side of the coin, maybe by documenting everything I'm going through I might be able to inspire others or add something to the ongoing discussion...

Cheers y'all

Lockah
User avatar
By empeecee.P Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:43 am
Hey
Great post
I for one like the process discussion however it might be best as a blog or tumblr page. A beat diary might get lost here. I like the soundcloud and the live set you are describing sounds similar to the things I am developing. I will say the one thing I think is that you should feel free to improvise with no rules.

"Since my music is ALWAYS melodic, the only way I really stand a chance with improvisation is to keep things in key and at a similar tempo"

I for one like to just let things fall and see what happens. I mean its more accessible musical and easy for listeners to follow to stay in key and tempo but don't limit yourself nor deprive yourself of the unexpected happening. Things don't always have to resolve. Things can be out of tune off beat all kinds of stuff can happen. Happy accidents.

Thats my two cents
User avatar
By t_bias Fri Feb 27, 2015 6:17 pm
yo dude,

been scoping you round the brighton scene - big ups! love the sound man.

maybe you could try using pattern mode for your midi clips? that way you can trigger them on the fly essentially.

this is a function of JJOS - if you're not already using that, best get around it.

hope to catch a set soon mate - live setup sounds awesome... after listening to your stuff i assumed you were primarily a DJ, so it's awesome to hear you're planning to piece this together live.

good luck with it!