Pro Pack and Clips

Hi, since I can't find any video with in-depth usage of Clips on older MPCs , are there dedicated shortcuts for recording to next clip , next row and launching clips / rows ? Or it's limited to the touchscreen ?

That's an excellent question, in practice, how does all these "pro pack" functions work in an OS designed for the LIVE III, thus without the physical controls?

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VpkLx5jcHo

MPC_Maschinist wrote:Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VpkLx5jcHo

I've seen the Akai video , but unfortunately it has zero info . My guess it's that the whole workflow is based on touchscreen , but I'm sure some people that prefer clip mode , upgraded and will post some feedback .

You can you the 16 function buttons on the top & use the 16 pads when in clip launching mode (4x4=4 track & 4 clip)

B-Wise wrote:You can you the 16 function buttons on the top & use the 16 pads when in clip launching mode (4x4=4 track & 4 clip)

Hi, thanks , but I asked specifically for the older MPCs

To answer your question...
Yes, it looks like the clip launching, etc is limited to the touchscreen since there are no dedicated controls for it on the older MPCs. I saw a guy "Ghettostyle" on Youtube using his MPC X SE with it and it seemed to be fine though. I WOULD buy the Pro Pack, but it's fugged off to hell right now and you can't place an order. Has Akai even addressed the issue publicly? I swear to Bookman if they up the price before they fix the ordering issue I'm going to be mad heated..

SakisX wrote:Hi, since I can't find any video with in-depth usage of Clips on older MPCs , are there dedicated shortcuts for recording to next clip , next row and launching clips / rows ? Or it's limited to the touchscreen ?

Had a brief play on my Live mk 1 earlier. Aside from setting the pads as launch controls, I think it is all on screen. However, it's a pretty good interface - long-press clips to get a menu (delete. copy etc) and on the 'Main' screen it's easy to launch clip recording, select the next clip slot (with the main encoder), and duplicate the current clip to a new empty slot (it then moves so you're playing/editing the copy).

I've got a Force which obviously has dedicated controls, but even so, I think some of these upgrades to clips will improve things on there too.

Zack Zerox wrote:Had a brief play on my Live mk 1 earlier. Aside from setting the pads as launch controls, I think it is all on screen. However, it's a pretty good interface - long-press clips to get a menu (delete. copy etc) and on the 'Main' screen it's easy to launch clip recording, select the next clip slot (with the main encoder), and duplicate the current clip to a new empty slot (it then moves so you're playing/editing the copy).

I've got a Force which obviously has dedicated controls, but even so, I think some of these upgrades to clips will improve things on there too.

Thanks , can you move up/down , left/right using the buttons of "Pad Bank A/B/C/D" like Live3 ?
Also , if you are in Rec mode , can you trigger with the pads the clip you want to record ?

SakisX wrote:I've seen the Akai video , but unfortunately it has zero info . My guess it's that the whole workflow is based on touchscreen , but I'm sure some people that prefer clip mode , upgraded and will post some feedback .

Tonight I played with the clip matrix tonight on my MPC One. Yes, it is mostly touchscreen - I found no value in using the pads to start/stop clips, because that means looking at the clip matrix through a straw (4x4 pads, so only 4x4 cells at a time) and moving that "viewport" around... I prefer having the pads available as pad perform while I mess with clips on-screen where I can see them all at once (I haven't yet exceeded a single screen worth of clips - though a complicated song will)

Overall, it is easy and efficient - at least on par with my only other clip matrix experience, which is Roland Zenbeats. It is all that I hoped for and I cannot shake the impression that Akai listened to us... Sooo much faster than messing with sequences and pad mutes - I can instantly mix & match parts on the fly, painlessly emerging a track from primordial jamming... I wonder if I'll use song mode as usual, or if performing to the arranger will take that final assembly role.

With TR-8 and RC-505 Mk2 alongside, I'm having tons of fun !

Roland may have the best customer support, but no one even approaches Akai's generosity in software updates !

It would be great if you could connect a controller like the APC64 or any other of the APC range and use it for clip and scene launching. Even the new Live 3 could profit from that.

Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:

SakisX wrote:I've seen the Akai video , but unfortunately it has zero info . My guess it's that the whole workflow is based on touchscreen , but I'm sure some people that prefer clip mode , upgraded and will post some feedback .

Tonight I played with the clip matrix tonight on my MPC One. Yes, it is mostly touchscreen - I found no value in using the pads to start/stop clips, because that means looking at the clip matrix through a straw (4x4 pads, so only 4x4 cells at a time) and moving that "viewport" around... I prefer having the pads available as pad perform while I mess with clips on-screen where I can see them all at once (I haven't yet exceeded a single screen worth of clips - though a complicated song will)

But can the clips be launched via MIDI?

IMHO switching between clip mode, track/pad mute view may feel cumbersome for some. But if one could reliably map these to MIDI messages an MPC with a dedicated pad controller would be awesome in a live situation.

Masi wrote:But can the clips be launched via MIDI?

Right now in standalone, the answer is NO.

This is why clip programs were so important IMHO - it wasn't perfect, but one could launch audio clips in sync from any MIDI controller. But they were removed in OS 3.X.

What could be the reason, technical or commercial, why Flex Beat and the clip matrix are not MIDI-controllable ?