MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By Bigheaded Sat Mar 05, 2022 9:02 pm
I'm still new to the MPC, so for me it would be pretty slick if Akai put the PDF of the manual in an update and added an icon on the screen that if you pressed the manual would open up. When I'm working in standalone mode (99% of the time) and I want to look something up in the manual, I gotta stop what I'm doing, go to my laptop, open the manual and go back to restart what I was doing. Also make it searchable with the virtual keyboard. There's A LOT of features that don't make sense to me yet, so if I was able to click 1 thing and pull up the manual it would help me so much.
By artemusprime Wed Mar 09, 2022 10:12 pm
As my last post here, it looks like that everything that I was looking for in the MPC and I thought was missing, was to be found in The Force.
Don't get me wrong, if you're an inexperienced consumer and you think that a built in speaker and battery are the winning pros of the MPC Live Mk2 over the Force, think again. They're different categories but they look similar. Live 2 is a great groove box, probably the best I've seen so far, beats any Elektron and Roland gear.
I was confused because of the name of the product itself: Live.
Akai has a confusing line-up. The Force does the "live" elements better that 'Live' hardware.
So, if you want live clip launch, arrangement, looping, etc., it's not the Live Mk2 you need but the Force.
If only the Force came with an internal battery and speaker!
By JoonasMatias Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:30 pm
Yo Mpc heads!
I´m very blessed with my Mpc and pleased to be a part of our Mpc family. I have Mpc live which i work with. I think it´s an one bad ass machine and very capable of doing many things. But, still.. there are some things i would like to see updated.
Example:

1. LOOPER NEEDS AN ARM FUNCTION, like sampler does! I really don´t use the sampler much, looper is much more usefull, because of the overdub function. But looper definetly needs arm fuction too. So i can arm record in looper, set the db. Then grap my guitar and start playing, without need to push record, when my hands are already on guitar. The absence of arm function in looper is really a workflow killer. Please update that Akai!

2. The Grid screen. I feel that Akai should definetly update the tools in Grid screen. It feels so hard, rigid and limited to work with the midi notes. I can´t be without comparing it to Fl Studio, because that is where i moved from to Mpc. Fl Studio is so much more flexible to work with midi notes.
2.1 I think you should be able to pick all the midi notes without using the select box tool.
2.2 Secondly you should be able to stretch all of the selected midi notes at the same time. I don´t mean changing the end of the notes, but stretching them over the grid like Fl Studio does in piano roll mode. It would be so usefull feature.
2.3 Also it is very slow to nudge notes on the grid. It would be usefull if there were shift function in nudge mode. So pressing shift and then nudge the notes they would move more rapidly. That shift function could be usefull also in browser, when you are choosing samples from your very long list. So you could move more faster down and up on your file list.
2.4 Then there could be a slicer(scissors) in Grid window too. So you can slice your long notes if you want to.

2.5 Then lastly but not insignificant, one thing that really bothers me in Grid window. If i example have 8bar sequence, and example 4beat drum track, then i go to Grid window and zoom in my 4 beat drum track to work with my midi notes. It is so annoying when the play head follows the sequence and not the track which i´m working with. The play head should be looping my 4 beat drum track and not the whole sequence!
IT DEFINETLY SHOULD BE ABLE TO LOOP THE SEQUENCE AND STILL HAVE ONE PLAY HEAD LOOPING YOUR TRACK IN GRID WINDOW! I so so much wish that kind of updates on the Grid view.

3. In mixer it would be so usefull to be able to change fx order. And, maybe more usefull would be "mix" knob for every fx, where you can specify how much wet signal there are. That knob should be in the insert main screen beside the fxs. That should already be there!

4. Then still one cosmetic thing. It would be so nice for the eyes to have ability to change the color scheme. Especially the colour of the midi notes. They could be the same colours as the pads. It would be much easier to follow in Grid view, when your different samples shows up in same colours like your pads. The other colors in the whole layout could be changeable too. That one would be more important in the Mpc software in my computer.

NEES ONE BUG FIX ALSO! My Q-link knobs are acting very weird. Sometimes they don´t respond, and sometimes they move randomly. It is very annoying and make working difficult.

So there are my major concerns for the workflow right now. I hope Akai will do updates like those i mentioned.
I apologize my english, i´m not native speaker. And i thank all of you for keeping community up and helping each others!

Cheers! :)
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By Lampdog Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:41 pm
JoonasMatias wrote:Yo Mpc heads!
I´m very blessed with my Mpc and pleased to be a part of our Mpc family. I have Mpc live which i work with. I think it´s an one bad ass machine and very capable of doing many things. But, still.. there are some things i would like to see updated.
Example:

1. LOOPER NEEDS AN ARM FUNCTION, like sampler does! I really don´t use the sampler much, looper is much more usefull, because of the overdub function. But looper definetly needs arm fuction too. So i can arm record in looper, set the db. Then grap my guitar and start playing, without need to push record, when my hands are already on guitar. The absence of arm function in looper is really a workflow killer. Please update that Akai!


Did you look into footswitch functions?
By JoonasMatias Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:34 pm
Did you look into footswitch functions?

:o I was thinking why there is no foot switch input on Mpc live. I google it and it seems that you can use some foot switch pedal by usb with Mpc live. Cool, but it means extra money spend and it´s not the same as arm function in looper mode. I could afford that kind of foot switch, but i really like to have that arm function in Mpcs looper!
By protagon Mon Mar 28, 2022 6:16 pm
One thing that bothers me is the mapping of Akai plugins. The eq e.g. is mapped horizontal. Tweaking a band is so annoying. You can't use the encoders at once, you have to switch using the bank buttons. A lot of the Akai plugins are useless for me because of this.
By artemusprime Sat Apr 02, 2022 2:48 pm
I think I've just stumbled across something that might be of interest to some who are not expert level MPC users. I was using an M-Audio Oxygen8 V2 keyboard and the program change buttons actually changed sequences on the MPC! I've never heard of that before, it actually solves a lot of my previous issues for live performances. I'm a guitarist and want to change sequences with a MIDI footswitch, so I think a simple program change would do that for me. Before, I tried to look into mapping the 'Next Seq." button through MIDI somehow but couldn't. Hope this might help someone, was truly just a random find!
By artemusprime Fri Apr 15, 2022 3:38 pm
I think that the chromatic note selection should be disabled in grid (piano roll) when using a particular scale from pad perform. If I'm recording something in a certain scale and I want to edit it later on, I would only like to transpose some notes in grid view within that scale and not chromatically, especially if it's a long arrangement and I have to re-listen to a part while transposing a note.
By Jawbrizza Wed Apr 27, 2022 12:14 am
are akai actually active on here?
PLEASE let us set our own default programs! when I open a drum program I want it to be mapped chromatically rather than retro random notes. When I open a midi program the q links should just be set to cc 1-16 rather than random CCs all over the place. I have a midi program that I load or change the note mapping for drums EVERY TIME. i think it’s safe to assume that basically nobody uses the current default right? Let us choose which default programs load in each mode please!