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 VRN Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:22 pm
Hi I'm totally new to the MPC world and just recently purchased a "Live". From the reviews I got the impression, it can actually be (ab)used for composing rock songs. As a guitarist, I am happy it does most of what I don't, i.e. keys, bass and drums. Now doing some backing sequences, I want to add some cool rock bass and got slightly disappointed not to find a decent stock rock-bass sound onboard. I have seen the "Electric Bass" package here on the mother website, which might be the solution, but before deciding, I was wondering if anyone else has a good alternative idea(?). Maybe I just haven't looked in the right places, or maybe one of the other sounds can be tweaked to do a decent job? Anyway, I am not looking for perfect, but something not sound too electronic would be nice.
Thanks for any constructive comments and suggestions.
>V<
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By MPC-Tutor Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:28 pm
The onboard sounds are pretty basic when it comes to instruments, to my knowledge my Electric Bass pack is the only MPC expansion available that features properly multisampled bass guitars optimised for the MPC Live/X. I keep meaning to create a rock demo for that pack, there's definitely plenty of suitable presets on it for rock.
By VRN Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:12 pm
Thanks for the speedy reply. I am happy to get the confirmation (although not surprised when coming from the man himself LOL). The sound demo for the pack is relatively convincing and I (also) have found nothing comparable yet. But if a rock demo is due anyway, I'd be happy to become fully convinced.
>V<
By VRN Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:21 pm
By the way, if the process of making the demo could be shared as a step-by-step video, that would be really cool.....
By VRN Sat Jul 13, 2019 11:48 am
Purchased the package yesterday and so far, it is making a solid impression.

>V<
By VRN Sun Jul 14, 2019 12:20 pm
Maybe just an utterly stupid newbee question, but I am wondering, what actually happens in the assign process of the multisamples? Do I need to do anything special/manually to make sure the correct samples are assigned to the right pads and the interpolations take place where no sample is available?

So far, I double-clicked on the .xpm I want to use in the browser to add it to my project and all the individual samples appear in my pool (sample assign list) and there I can audition the individual samples and play the pads from bank C and upwards. But they seem to extrapolate the single sample I just auditioned rather than using the multisamples. For example I see 2x21 samples for the Jazz Bass clean stretching the tonal range from D1 to D4, but when I assign a sample, this seems to go to all pads (being pitched accordingly).

Moreover, when I open the program editor I was expecting to see a keygroup with a tonal range of roughly 2 semitones defined for each sample and two layers applied since the are two samples per note, but I don't. I just see a single sample in a single layer assigned to the entire note range.

So, maybe I have misunderstood the entire concept or I am doing something wrong. Of course, I can start assigning everything manually, but I naively expected there would be some (semi)automatic way. Is there?

Best regards,

>V<
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By MPC-Tutor Sun Jul 14, 2019 6:50 pm
Just load the XPM and this will assign the samples to the pads/keygroups for you, you don't need to manually assign any samples to the program. In the case of these bass programs, the range will be something like D1 to D4 to match the original instrument. But you definitely shouldn't be assigning any further samples, they are all already assigned and mapped for you, it's fully automatic.

After loading, just select the track that your keygroup is assigned to and play the pads (bank C and upwards for those programs I believe). You shouldn't need to even use program edit unless you want to change/tweak program parameters or FX.
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By Lampdog Sun Jul 14, 2019 8:55 pm
@VRN, Tutor and partners have always done the most with the kits. Only time you will have to change anything is when you want something out of the norm, even then the standard is still there, editable, customizable if needed.
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By Icepulse Tue Jul 16, 2019 1:58 am
Go steal your own, like a proper MPC user. Go to YT and search “isolated McCartney bass”.

Thank me later.
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By Lampdog Tue Jul 16, 2019 12:47 pm
:lol: