Arranger for the MPC-series sequencers: is there a place?

Yeah, that's called working hard for no reason.

bees80 wrote:just wondering; don't you guys think the mpc live/x/one screen is a bit too small to be comfortable in an arranger mode?

Not sure how much tracks you all use, but i use to go up to 20/30 tracks for an instrumental. I would probably go mad having to do that in the mpc without a mouse.

I think it'll be necessary for Akai to offer the Arranger mode as an "option" on the MPC in its settings, so the older MPC-heads who prefer the old fashioned approach can continue to work. Unless they solved bouncing between the two, which I don't believe they did.

EnochLight wrote:I think it'll be necessary for Akai to offer the Arranger mode as an "option" on the MPC in its settings, so the older MPC-heads who prefer the old fashioned approach can continue to work. Unless they solved bouncing between the two, which I don't believe they did.

Again it has nothing to do with an Old Fashion approach. It's has everything to do with screen real estate and functionality. Will the user be able to rearrange the track order and how will that effect other sequences?

Ableton style would be that changes in sequence do not effect changes in arranger. Basically you'd play your sequences and 'record' your sequences/transitions into the arranger and then change things around on the arranger without impacting the sequences. To go back the other way in Ableton you'd basically grab a track from the arranger, and then paste it back into a sequence track.

Not sure how it'd get implemented in an MPC, which is a key question... but at least from a workflow I think I can get how it would work at a high level.

bees80 wrote:just wondering; don't you guys think the mpc live/x/one screen is a bit too small to be comfortable in an arranger mode?

Not sure how much tracks you all use, but i use to go up to 20/30 tracks for an instrumental. I would probably go mad having to do that in the mpc without a mouse.

I edit a similar trackview on the little screen of my mv88 w/o problems so this shouldnt be a real problem on the mpc screens.

NearTao wrote:Ableton style would be that changes in sequence do not effect changes in arranger. Basically you'd play your sequences and 'record' your sequences/transitions into the arranger and then change things around on the arranger without impacting the sequences. To go back the other way in Ableton you'd basically grab a track from the arranger, and then paste it back into a sequence track.

Not sure how it'd get implemented in an MPC, which is a key question... but at least from a workflow I think I can get how it would work at a high level.

Indeed. I think the confusion stems from Dan G's comments a year ago about needing 1:1 tracks in an Arranger.

CharlesRandolph wrote:Again it has nothing to do with an Old Fashion approach. It's has everything to do with screen real estate and functionality. Will the user be able to rearrange the track order and how will that effect other sequences?

Again, it has everything to do with the old fashioned (current) approach having parity with however they are implementing the Arranger on the MPC line. The question is: how is Akai going to address this? As for screen real estate, the video antic provided shows you that the screen can be resized just fine. Just because you feel like you can't work in that environment just proves my point: Akai needs to provide both options if they do introduce an Arranger mode on MPC.

NearTao wrote:Ableton style would be that changes in sequence do not effect changes in arranger. Basically you'd play your sequences and 'record' your sequences/transitions into the arranger and then change things around on the arranger without impacting the sequences. To go back the other way in Ableton you'd basically grab a track from the arranger, and then paste it back into a sequence track.

Not sure how it'd get implemented in an MPC, which is a key question... but at least from a workflow I think I can get how it would work at a high level.

I agree, but how to do that with the MPC without breaking everything is the question. We can't even change time signature and tempos and render a full sequence that represent those changes.

EnochLight wrote: Just because you feel like you can't work in that environment just proves my point: Akai needs to provide both options if they do introduce an Arranger mode on MPC.

It's not that I can't work in that environment, it's that fact that choose not work in that cramped environment.
It's easier to render my 30 track stems and open it up in an environment that is optimized for that type of work flow.

Mouse, Keyboard short cuts, Markers, Meters, Full control surface support, etc.

CharlesRandolph wrote:It's not that I can't work in that environment, it's that fact that choose not work in that cramped environment.
It's easier to render my 30 track stems and open it up in an environment that is optimized for that type of work flow.

Mouse, Keyboard short cuts, Markers, Meters, Full control surface support, etc.

Sure, as most people do when they want to finish their work - a proper desktop DAW will always be a better choice. No one is suggesting otherwise. But we're talking about taking things to a different level on the MPC/Force in standalone compared to where they are now.

EnochLight wrote:
Sure, as most people do when they want to finish their work - a proper desktop DAW will always be a better choice. No one is suggesting otherwise. But we're talking about taking things to a different level on the MPC/Force in standalone compared to where they are now.

Moving things forward is great, if it's really a forward movement. I'm not against it, but I'm pressed to see how they would implement it, without breaking so many other things. My guess is they will just make a visual representation of what the current Song Mode already does. Same code, Same functions, Different look.

CharlesRandolph wrote:Moving things forward is great, if it's really a forward movement. I'm not against it, but I'm pressed to see how they would implement it, without breaking so many other things. My guess is they will just make a visual representation of what the current Song Mode already does. Same code, Same functions, Different look.

Would a different look alone (while maintaining the current workflow) be enough to offer some value to your workflow?

I already have a mental map of song mode and could care less about the look... so putting a different look on it doesn't improve the actual limitations it imposes on my workflow... but I guess YMMV.

EnochLight wrote:Would a different look alone (while maintaining the current workflow) be enough to offer some value to your workflow?

In that case, It would be the same for me. The functional aspect of the arranger, must improve without breaking the core foundation. I think this works for the force, because it doesn't have song mode. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) But for the MPC, there are users who import older projects over, so how does that affect them.

+100 for Alias style tracks or whatever people call them. The ability to have a track which persists from one sequence to the next is a really basic thing, and all software has it. Some hardware has it.

+100 for an optional arrangement mode, not just for taking it the next level in standalone, as EnochLIght says, but to allow for more flexible way to take songs from Daw and perform them live. Or just for more options if improvising live.

a tracker style layout would be dope for song mode, song mode on mpc has always been clunky at best