How is the MPC Live timing and MIDI clock after 2.3 update?

Greetings MPC Live peoples ...

I’m close to picking up an MPC Live. As posted in the past, I love my MPC 4000 for sound and tight timing, but know it will die eventually.

The Live sounds good, but in a lot of the Youtubes I feel like it doesn’t totally sit in the pocket like it should ... as if the timing is slipping and sliding just a little bit. I never feel that with the 4000, nor even with the old Roland SP606.

But I can’t tell what’s going on — sloppy MPC Live videos could just be the result of sloppy musicians ... bad unquantized playing, or not trimming loop ends quite right. I used to play drums in bands and I might be more sensitive to shaky grooves than a nooby.

So what do you all think now ... is the Live tight and on time since 2.3, used standalone? And how about the MIDI latency when the Live sends MIDI notes (for basslines, chords, etc.) to other hardware synths?

Thanks for your thoughts!

percussion boy wrote:Greetings MPC Live peoples ...

I’m close to picking up an MPC Live. As posted in the past, I love my MPC 4000 for sound and tight timing, but know it will die eventually.

The Live sounds good, but in a lot of the Youtubes I feel like it doesn’t totally sit in the pocket like it should ... as if the timing is slipping and sliding just a little bit. I never feel that with the 4000, nor even with the old Roland SP606.

But I can’t tell what’s going on — sloppy MPC Live videos could just be the result of sloppy musicians ... bad unquantized playing, or not trimming loop ends quite right. I used to play drums in bands and I might be more sensitive to shaky grooves than a nooby.

So what do you all think now ... is the Live tight and on time since 2.3, used standalone? And how about the MIDI latency when the Live sends MIDI notes (for basslines, chords, etc.) to other hardware synths?

Thanks for your thoughts!

3000/4000 still the kings of timing and MIDI.

First, what Charles said. No denying that.

Second, what you said. Not going to call anyone bad though. But I’ve found myself listening to countless YouTube videos thinking “man, if you would have just tightened this up, truncated that, etc”.

Third, just get one. You’ll be fine. I get where you’re coming from, but most people worrying about sequencer timing aren’t playing anything more than a kick, snare, hi hat and a sample. 4-5 tracks max. If you’re a musician, you understand that sequencer timing isn’t 100% critical, because musician timing isn’t 100% critical. I highly doubt anyone is going to notice “That was one tick off”. I grew up playing drums too. I get it. We are obsessed with timing. But you’ll be fine. The track in my signature was 90% done on an MPC Live. I didn’t have any timing issues for what I wanted it to sound like.

Now, latency sending to synths, maybe someone else can chime in. I’ve never done that. Sold all my external synths so I can’t test it. These days I regret selling my Roland XV5080.

Thanks folks. I know I had posted an older thread about this a while back, but had seen some online discussion about the timing being noticeably bad to some users in the early firmware version ... but that 2.2 (?) had tightened things up. All secondhand, I know.

fwiw, I’ve seen the Akai rep post on GS to say they test this stuff pretty closely, and that the clock runs very accurately as master in standalone for the internal sequencer. (People seem to agree that there’s some lag in sequencing external synths, and in recording start for the looper and audio tracks — no latency compensation?—but I can live with all that if the drum machine’s own groove is solid.)

Re what Eyalc said: I’m not worried about the issue in an abstract way; what bothers me is that a lot of the beats I’m hearing on the Live don’t *feel* solid (e.g, the backbeat seems to drift a little), even when the users seem experienced. But as we already discussed, that might not be the machine’s fault. And it’s easy to make yourself crazy trying to figure out if what you’re hearing is true.

Thanks for the feedback! Open to any more opinions on this ...pb

In my opion coming from a 4000 to renaissance to a live. The software is a little jittery at times but in stand alone mode sequencer is on point. The 4000 was always on point when it came to midi timing.Miss that white elephant.

for sequencing synths and other samplers in standalone the live is great, i have it running a korg monologue and digitakt nicely, doesnt need any pre-roll bars to start on point, this is one aspect of the live im very happy with. in controller mode the software is quite laggy at times and while latency is fine with a well tuned rig there are occasional note drops and glitches (in controller mode win10 2.3), x/y fx too laggy to use. standalone all seems good with midi out. midi in a bit crippled with everything set to omni channel.

I don't have timing issues using Live in standalone with Supernova slaved to Live midi master and triggered by a midi track.
All works perfectly

CharlesRandolph wrote:

percussion boy wrote:Greetings MPC Live peoples ...

I’m close to picking up an MPC Live. As posted in the past, I love my MPC 4000 for sound and tight timing, but know it will die eventually.

The Live sounds good, but in a lot of the Youtubes I feel like it doesn’t totally sit in the pocket like it should ... as if the timing is slipping and sliding just a little bit. I never feel that with the 4000, nor even with the old Roland SP606.

But I can’t tell what’s going on — sloppy MPC Live videos could just be the result of sloppy musicians ... bad unquantized playing, or not trimming loop ends quite right. I used to play drums in bands and I might be more sensitive to shaky grooves than a nooby.

So what do you all think now ... is the Live tight and on time since 2.3, used standalone? And how about the MIDI latency when the Live sends MIDI notes (for basslines, chords, etc.) to other hardware synths?

Thanks for your thoughts!

3000/4000 still the kings of timing and MIDI.

This is incorrect mate.

The internal sequencer and when used as the master to trigger external synths etc. The X/Live are slightly less jittery than the 4k, which means its tighter than the 3k.

This was tested by the innerclock guy and was said to be almost sample accurate when used this way.

And this was the case since the initial release.

The guy that designed the sequencer on the 4k did the sequencer on the X/Live.

There were problems when being synced as a slave device that have since been fixed. Now its comparable to the 4k in this use case as well.

Which means that overall its slightly more tight than both the 3k and 4k, although its almost negligible because all three are some of the most accurate sequencers ever made.

And this applies to both standalone as well as controller mode.

smellypants wrote:
This is incorrect mate.

The internal sequencer and when used as the master to trigger external synths etc. The X/Live are slightly less jittery than the 4k, which means its tighter than the 3k.

This was tested by the innerclock guy and was said to be almost sample accurate when used this way.

And this was the case since the initial release.

The guy that designed the sequencer on the 4k did the sequencer on the X/Live.

There were problems when being synced as a slave device that have since been fixed. Now its comparable to the 4k in this use case as well.

Which means that overall its slightly more tight than both the 3k and 4k, although its almost negligible because all three are some of the most accurate sequencers ever made.

And this applies to both standalone as well as controller mode.

I've read mixed reviews. However, if it has improved that is for the better. This is the main reason, I export or prefer to track out the entire song in one pass. However for the MPC X, I would need two of them because 8 outs are not enough.

I don't want perfect, I want groove, which rely on slight imperfections. Music without push and pull is boring and unnatural.

Eyalc wrote:Third, just get one. You’ll be fine. I get where you’re coming from, but most people worrying about sequencer timing aren’t playing anything more than a kick, snare, hi hat and a sample. 4-5 tracks max. If you’re a musician, you understand that sequencer timing isn’t 100% critical, because musician timing isn’t 100% critical. I highly doubt anyone is going to notice “That was one tick off”. I grew up playing drums too. I get it. We are obsessed with timing. But you’ll be fine. The track in my signature was 90% done on an MPC Live. I didn’t have any timing issues for what I wanted it to sound like.

^ Could not have said it any better.

Thanks again, all. Sounds like I’ll just have to dive in with the Live and see for myself. Glad everyone here’s having good experiences with the timing, that’s encouraging.

I am working with the MPCX - my identified timing issues:
- if MPC is the clock master - other hardware needs its time to synchronize
- - possible issue: the MPC starts sending clock timing only with hitting the start button
-- possible workaround: run a very short empty sequence (e.g. 4 clocks) before starting a song
- floating of sequences - easy to identify if a test recorded sequence, incl. Drums, plus the original drum track are started at the same time - eventual after the first round you can easily hear the drift. I have tried it a few times - and NO workaround found. I have checked of course that the beats are on the spot and the sequence length is OK.
Solution for both issues might be that they should give the MPCs a steady running clock (like other systems do as well) so that the MPC synchronizes not only external hardware, but also itself.

DeaDeus wrote:I am working with the MPCX - my identified timing issues:
- if MPC is the clock master - other hardware needs its time to synchronize
- - possible issue: the MPC starts sending clock timing only with hitting the start button
-- possible workaround: run a very short empty sequence (e.g. 4 clocks) before starting a song
- floating of sequences - easy to identify if a test recorded sequence, incl. Drums, plus the original drum track are started at the same time - eventual after the first round you can easily hear the drift. I have tried it a few times - and NO workaround found. I have checked of course that the beats are on the spot and the sequence length is OK.
Solution for both issues might be that they should give the MPCs a steady running clock (like other systems do as well) so that the MPC synchronizes not only external hardware, but also itself.

Yes, I've heard other people mention that these MPC's do not have a steady running clock, it only starts when you press the start button.

Something to keep in mind

For me the sequencer is tight in standalone. Also cool in controller mode.

Has anyone tried to make the MPC Live/X a slave using MMC or MTC? If so was the midi tight?

Danoc wrote:For me the sequencer is tight in standalone. Also cool in controller mode.

Has anyone tried to make the MPC Live/X a slave using MMC or MTC? If so was the midi tight?

Depends on the Software DAW and Midi Interface. Some are better that others. For example in Pro Tools, you may have to do negative offset when, pushing the MPC via MMC. To get the MPC and Protools to lock exactly on the one.

My issue was never with the Start and Stop, but with the tempo changes. There's slight hiccups when switching back and forth.