Switching of projects in a gig situation

I don't want to have to dive into menus to switch projects in a live situation, so is the best solution to copy the beats from the individual projects into different sequences under one project and then use next sequence view to trigger them? The other issue is I usually create the beats live, with the sequences just containing the sounds I want for each song, so what's the best way of doing this on the mpc?

I use a novation circuit at the moment and it's just so easy to switch between different sessions.

As something that's labelled as "live" you'd think this would be core functionality accessible from the buttons/pads.

Depends on how you want to work through this... how many sounds you need... etc... keep in mind you can mix and match solutions...

Program
Setup a program, and use each bank as a different song... this can more or less work as a drum kit, key group if you don't need too many split key groups, or clips. Sounds like you're not into clips though. With a Program though, and clever usage of banks, you'll be able to hit your bank select to quickly move around different song components to play your song. My concern here is that you'd be limited to 128 different sounds... might be good... or might be too constrictive. You can pad mute to pull parts in and out. But... you are locked the sequence tempo which could be a benefit or a pain.

Track
If dumping everything into one program sounds like a pain, you could make discrete Programs, and then navigate them through tracks. A benefit of this tactic is that you can use track mute to bring different sections you played in live in and out. Also better use of mixer to my mind as you're mixing grouped content, instead of mixing on each individual sound. Still locked to Sequence tempo... for better or worse.

Sequence
At this level, you can manage your song transitions through NEXT SEQ, which could be a handy way to transition... and leverage either tracks or programs depending on what you need. A benefit here is that you can change sequence tempo when you change songs...

Anyways... I am sure you can plan something out to get it to work depending on your needs and interest...

Thanks, I'll need to have a think and a play and see which is most intuitive and efficient in a live scenario. Really would be good to just be able to switch around at the top level for sequences and instruments. Might keep with the circuit for live, though not really why I bought the mpc as a replacement

NearTao wrote:Depends on how you want to work through this... how many sounds you need... etc... keep in mind you can mix and match solutions...

Program
Setup a program, and use each bank as a different song... this can more or less work as a drum kit, key group if you don't need too many split key groups, or clips. Sounds like you're not into clips though. With a Program though, and clever usage of banks, you'll be able to hit your bank select to quickly move around different song components to play your song. My concern here is that you'd be limited to 128 different sounds... might be good... or might be too constrictive. You can pad mute to pull parts in and out. But... you are locked the sequence tempo which could be a benefit or a pain.

Track
If dumping everything into one program sounds like a pain, you could make discrete Programs, and then navigate them through tracks. A benefit of this tactic is that you can use track mute to bring different sections you played in live in and out. Also better use of mixer to my mind as you're mixing grouped content, instead of mixing on each individual sound. Still locked to Sequence tempo... for better or worse.

Sequence
At this level, you can manage your song transitions through NEXT SEQ, which could be a handy way to transition... and leverage either tracks or programs depending on what you need. A benefit here is that you can change sequence tempo when you change songs...

Anyways... I am sure you can plan something out to get it to work depending on your needs and interest...

You absolutely can change the sequence level and have everything setup as you desire per song... it really depends on how you want to approach the problem.

Personally, I'm gonna buy a second mpc unit and schlap a 4 channel mixer in the middle classic battle style with mpc units rather than turntables. It seems like the logical solution.

Sadly the mpc's can be finnicky i'm sure you've bumped into issues. Ever open up a drum kit and play it a bit then flip through some menus, return to the sequencer and now the pad buttons dont light up or respond? Cant have it doing that crap at a show so for redundancy issues I'm after second unit before i play live off mpc.

I've had the LEDs be the wrong color... I suspect that it's likely to not changing modes correctly. Tapping on the pad usually fixes it... but yeah, not always a solution when playing live.

Wlee2808 wrote:so is the best solution to copy the beats from the individual projects into different sequences under one project and then use next sequence view to trigger them?

Basically this is the way i’ve set things up with my band.The downside is that because MPC’s can’t stream from disk,the memory can max out pretty easily if you load long stereo samples.I can get away with 8-12 tracks per project so in order to load a new project in the background I must play something from my DSI Tempest.I’ve seen others using a Roland SP404 to transition to a next project..
If the much requested Disk Streaming feature was here we wouldn’t have this conversation..

Thanks, I've got an sp404, so will look into that, cheers.

Yorgos Arabatzis wrote:

Wlee2808 wrote:so is the best solution to copy the beats from the individual projects into different sequences under one project and then use next sequence view to trigger them?

Basically this is the way i’ve set things up with my band.The downside is that because MPC’s can’t stream from disk,the memory can max out pretty easily if you load long stereo samples.I can get away with 8-12 tracks per project so in order to load a new project in the background I must play something from my DSI Tempest.I’ve seen others using a Roland SP404 to transition to a next project..
If the much requested Disk Streaming feature was here we wouldn’t have this conversation..

Seems crazy to have to get a second unit though, the novation circuit makes it so easy, so may well import the samples from the mpc into there, though might be trickier with instruments. Diving into menus when you're playing live is just gonna bore the pants off people!

Here's how quick it is on the circuit, with one of the tracks I play live : https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeLaRegj/

Ultros wrote:Personally, I'm gonna buy a second mpc unit and schlap a 4 channel mixer in the middle classic battle style with mpc units rather than turntables. It seems like the logical solution.



Sadly the mpc's can be finnicky i'm sure you've bumped into issues. Ever open up a drum kit and play it a bit then flip through some menus, return to the sequencer and now the pad buttons dont light up or respond? Cant have it doing that **** at a show so for redundancy issues I'm after second unit before i play live off mpc.

I have to admit I haven‘t experienced with that feature at all, but did you look into CLIP MODE? Maybe that helps.

Hi,

I play everything in live usually, so don't want to just trigger pre recorded loops.

83dude wrote:I have to admit I haven‘t experienced with that feature at all, but did you look into CLIP MODE? Maybe that helps.

Wlee2808 wrote:I don't want to have to dive into menus to switch projects in a live situation, so is the best solution to copy the beats from the individual projects into different sequences under one project and then use next sequence view to trigger them? The other issue is I usually create the beats live, with the sequences just containing the sounds I want for each song, so what's the best way of doing this on the mpc?

I use a novation circuit at the moment and it's just so easy to switch between different sessions.

As something that's labelled as "live" you'd think this would be core functionality accessible from the buttons/pads.

Well a "session" on the MPC Live is a sequence. Put all your programs in a single project. You can have than 64 tracks. The Circuit doesn't have that.

That was what I'd mentioned doing further back in the chain. Though, as I play it in live I think everyone would be off to the bar if I used 64 tracks! Does give a lot more scope though definitely. I'd just need a quick way to switch between tracks without delving into menus, so if you know a way to achieve that, it would be useful

ace_of_dub wrote:

Wlee2808 wrote:I don't want to have to dive into menus to switch projects in a live situation, so is the best solution to copy the beats from the individual projects into different sequences under one project and then use next sequence view to trigger them? The other issue is I usually create the beats live, with the sequences just containing the sounds I want for each song, so what's the best way of doing this on the mpc?

I use a novation circuit at the moment and it's just so easy to switch between different sessions.

As something that's labelled as "live" you'd think this would be core functionality accessible from the buttons/pads.

Well a "session" on the MPC Live is a sequence. Put all your programs in a single project. You can have than 64 tracks. The Circuit doesn't have that.

Ultros wrote:Personally, I'm gonna buy a second mpc unit and schlap a 4 channel mixer in the middle classic battle style with mpc units rather than turntables. It seems like the logical solution.

Sadly the mpc's can be finnicky i'm sure you've bumped into issues. Ever open up a drum kit and play it a bit then flip through some menus, return to the sequencer and now the pad buttons dont light up or respond? Cant have it doing that **** at a show so for redundancy issues I'm after second unit before i play live off mpc.

a] comparing a circuit to the new MPC is pointless. These 2 machines are both good but clearly not from the same planet. The circuit requires desktop software to really cook, the MPC has a touchscreen & was designed to standalone. I personally prefer the korg electribe series for “DJ BEAT SETS.”

b] I agree with ultros, you def want to cop a 2nd MPC. a used ONE will be pretty cheap come 2022
1] as a backup
2] you can use a DJ mixer and flip between the machines.

DokBrown wrote:

Ultros wrote:Personally, I'm gonna buy a second mpc unit and schlap a 4 channel mixer in the middle classic battle style with mpc units rather than turntables. It seems like the logical solution.

Sadly the mpc's can be finnicky i'm sure you've bumped into issues. Ever open up a drum kit and play it a bit then flip through some menus, return to the sequencer and now the pad buttons dont light up or respond? Cant have it doing that **** at a show so for redundancy issues I'm after second unit before i play live off mpc.

a] comparing a circuit to the new MPC is pointless. These 2 machines are both good but clearly not from the same planet. The circuit requires desktop software to really cook, the MPC has a touchscreen & was designed to standalone. I personally prefer the korg electribe series for “DJ BEAT SETS.”

b] I agree with ultros, you def want to cop a 2nd MPC. a used ONE will be pretty cheap come 2022
1] as a backup
2] you can use a DJ mixer and flip between the machines.

I'm not sure how buying a second MPC it would solve any problem for the OP to begin with.

He'd still need to switch projects between songs or whatever with a second MPC, in the middle of his performance with one of these hypothetical MPC, while he is operating the other.

No, he needs to treat each sequence as a song, and a project as his entire Live performance.

Wlee2808 wrote:That was what I'd mentioned doing further back in the chain. Though, as I play it in live I think everyone would be off to the bar if I used 64 tracks! Does give a lot more scope though definitely. I'd just need a quick way to switch between tracks without delving into menus, so if you know a way to achieve that, it would be useful


Well a "session" on the MPC Live is a sequence. Put all your programs in a single project. You can have than 64 tracks. The Circuit doesn't have that.

You don't have to use 64 tracks. The point is being able to cram every single song in your performance in a single project, and treat each sequence as a different song. Thus that's why I said that on the MPC, a sequence IS the equivalent of a session on the Circuit.