MPC Software & MPC Beats Forum: Bug reports, feature suggestions and discussion for the MPC Software and the free 'MPC Beats' application for Mac/PC. If you have hardware-specific questions, please post in the relevant MPC sub-forum.
By BillHdz Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:11 pm
Hello MPC users!

Where can I find a tutorial on how to use the MPC Beats software as a plugin wrapper for Garagebang?
My M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini does not have a built-in preset for GarageBand and I am trying to find a better way to integrate GarageBand with my M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini. Maybe using MPC beats as a plug-in may do the trick. I am new to the MPC beats software and I am just trying to understand how something like this will work. THANK YOU!!!
By Trensharo Tue Jul 12, 2022 7:02 pm
BillHdz wrote:Hello MPC users!

Where can I find a tutorial on how to use the MPC Beats software as a plugin wrapper for Garagebang?
My M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini does not have a built-in preset for GarageBand and I am trying to find a better way to integrate GarageBand with my M-Audio Oxygen Pro Mini. Maybe using MPC beats as a plug-in may do the trick. I am new to the MPC beats software and I am just trying to understand how something like this will work. THANK YOU!!!

MPC Beats is free, so I don't feel I am crossing the line saying this.

Never get an Oxygen Pro Mini over a Novation Launchkey Mini, Arturia MiniLab, or Komplete Kontrol M32 (if you don't need pads) if you use the following DAWs:

1. Ableton Live
2. Logic Pro
3. GarageBand
4. Studio One
5. Pro Tools
6. Cubase
7 Reason

A. Logic Pro has native support for Novation Launchkey MK3 (incl. Mini). They work out of the box, no setup needed. It was designed to work well with Ableton. It has soft pickup in DAWs like Studio One and Pro Tools using even HUI protocol. It is supported out of the box in Cubase 12 via the MIDI Remote system (no setup required, automatically detected by the DAW). Reason is supported via a script. Once installed, the DAW will set the controller up fairly automatically.

B. Oxygen Pro Mini lacks Soft Pickup on the Knobs and Faders, so sacrificing 8 Pads and 4 knobs to gain 4 impractical faders while retaining only 4 impractical knobs is not a good compromise.

C. Launchkey MK3 and Oxygen Pro Mini both have 270 degree Rotary Knobs. In order for those to be practical, you need pickup on the knobs. The LK Mini has this in GB/Logic Pro. The Oxygen Pro does not - not even in MPC 2 or MPC Beats - so using it for plugin control is just not practical. You'll probably spend more time working around the lack of pickup than actually being creative if you try to use the hardware for this.

D. You give up 8 superior, more sensitive pads for those faders, which simply aren't practical due to parameter jumping.

For Logic/GB, you should have defaulted to the Launchkey Mini MK3, which has a stock MIDI Map in the MPC Software. I know my LK49 MK3 works somewhat in the MPC Software (at least the basic transport works and the pads (chromatic by default in MPC, since 2.11) are mapped properly - knobs and faders do not), but nothing works on my Oxygen Pro 49, so that's also something you'll have to check. Do those knobs and faders even map/work properly. My Oxygen Pro is as useful as a Keystation, using Akai's Factory MIDI Map for the Oxygen Pro 49.

This worked in 2.9, so my guess is Akai broke it in the 2.10 update and since they don't read their email, they didn't see my messages telling them that this has happened.

I think the marketing by M-Audio was genious with the Oxygen Pro Mini. They call "DAW integration" what in reality is nothing more than a factory preset in the Device's ROM (it is nothing like what Novation does with Ableton or Logic, or what Nektar does with their DAW integration).

They also put Faders, Knobs and Pads on a mini controller. This makes the controller "look" more useful than others which may have more practical user experiences. The reality of the matter is that those faders and knobs are of little use because they force impracticality everywhere in your workflow, unless you simply ignore them and pretend they aren't even on the device (and use only for in-built functions like the Arpeggiator, etc.).