MIDI LEARN not working with MPC Live and MPKmini mkii

Hey guys,

I sent this to Akai support but I'm posting it here too in case anybody knows what's up. I'll post the resolution once I figure it out to help others in the future.

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Hi,

I am having trouble getting my MPKmini mkii to control parameters on my MPC Live running 2.9.0 in standalone mode.

Using the MPK editor software, I have set up a Program on the MPKmini mkii which maps control knob K1 to CC 71, with a LO of 0 and a HI of 127. I want to use this to control the filter cutoff of TubeSynth installed on Track 03, Plugin 002 of my sequence.

On the MPC Live, I opened MIDI CONTROL > MIDI LEARN, hit + to add a new mapping and entered the following.

SOURCE: Program > Plugin 002 > Plugin 002
TARGET: Program > LPF Cutoff

I then go to the line in the TARGET/TYPE/CH/DATA/FLIP table and hit the LEARN button. When I turn knob K1 on the MPKmini, nothing happens. As a result, I am unable to map CC 71 to Plugin 002's LPF Cutoff.

I also have knob K3 on the MPKmini assigned, but in this case to CC 10 (Pan) with a LO/HI of 0/127. If while LEARN is still toggled on in MIDI Control, I turn knob K3, then "Track 003 Pan" is correctly identified in the TARGET/TYPE/CH/DATA/FLIP table as the control message being sent in. However, once I turn off LEARN and try to play Plugin 002 on Track 03 while turning knob K3, there is no effect on the LPF Cutoff parameter. By contrast, if I go into Program Edit for Plugin 002 and use the Q-Link knobs to control the LPF Cutoff, it works just fine.

I have the following questions.

1. Why isn't MIDI LEARN picking up the CC 71 messages from knob K1? If I look in the MIDI MONITOR I can clearly see the MIDI messages for knob K1 and all the other MPKmini knobs coming in just fine, on the correctly assigned CC numbers as set in the MPKmini mkii Editor. However, the only CC that MIDI LEARN recognizes is CC 10 (Pan). Across my MPKmini I have CC numbers 71, 74, 10, 4, 75, 76, 78, and 79 assigned, but MIDI LEARN only recognizes CC 10. MIDI MONITOR correctly recognizes all of the CC messages sent by the MPKmini's knobs.

2. What do I need to do in order to get the MPKmini knobs to control the LPF Cutoff and other parameters on TubeSynth? If MIDI LEARN is the wrong way to set up this kind of control, then is there another way to do it?

3. Is there a default set of MIDI CC numbers that TubeSynth and the other plugin instruments on the MPC Live respond to? If so, is this published anywhere?

I have tried this same task countless times and am also unfruitful. It's mind boggling. It seems the mpc does not want to respond to any cc messages that arent from the mpc units built in interface (other than pan). It's a bit of a head scratcher... I've not tried it yet, but perhaps moving the mpk mini over to channel 9 (where the mpc expects the built in midi interface to be) and try again? I have my doubts that will help either though.

Thanks, good to know I’m not the only one having issues. What’s weird though is that even with the Pan control recognized and mapped in MIDI LEARN, nothing happens in TubeSynth when I tweak turn that knob on the MPK.

Have you been able to get use MIDI LEARN any external MIDI controllers to successfully control parameters in TubeSynth or any other internal parameters within the MPC? Without using MIDI mapping, I’ve been able to do things like use my CS6x to control MIDI channel pan within a sequence by turning the dedicated Pan knob on the CS6x, so it seems that sequence tracks respond well enough. But the internal plug-in program just completely ignored the MIDI LEARN mapping.

lol no, like you ive only ever got it to map the pan control via any knob or slider. it's enraging. I cant even get the pads to map on an external. i had to take the same route as you and map the controller and still have had no success what-so-ever. I have pretty much thrown it on the back burner now.

I favor hardware, so I do not use any synth plug-ins. That being said, I have been able to map my 9 sliders and 17 knobs from my old APC40 to my MPC live mk1 running 2.8.


viewtopic.php?f=48&t=208370&hilit=apc40


The slider control volume levels
Most of the knobs control fx settings and drum pad filters.

BTW – I did have to fiddle with the MIDI/SYNC settings but you seem quite knowledgeable so I doubt that is the problem.

Did you get that mapping working over USB MIDI or a MIDI DIN connection? I’m wondering if this has anything to do with it. Since I was using my MPK I was using USB MIDI.

OH CRAP it just dawned on me what you're doing wrong..

Those are considered "control changes" you need to go to settings > midi / sync and enable "control" and "master" beside your "MPK Mini" for transport controls to work correctly. May as well click both who knows maybe you wanna turn the master volume up and down too. I got it working over here with my mpk mini play and apc mini.

Oh man, I didn’t see your reply until just now. Thanks so much! Going to try this today.

Ultros wrote:OH **** it just dawned on me what you're doing wrong..

Those are considered "control changes" you need to go to settings > midi / sync and enable "control" and "master" beside your "MPK Mini" for transport controls to work correctly. May as well click both who knows maybe you wanna turn the master volume up and down too. I got it working over here with my mpk mini play and apc mini.

Ultros, you were spot on. I went into the settings on the MPC and turned on CONTROL for the MPK in the INPUT PORTS section, and sure enough all the MIDI LEARN stuff is picking up the controller messages from the MPK now. Thanks for solving my problem!

misterflibble wrote:

Ultros wrote:OH **** it just dawned on me what you're doing wrong..

Those are considered "control changes" you need to go to settings > midi / sync and enable "control" and "master" beside your "MPK Mini" for transport controls to work correctly. May as well click both who knows maybe you wanna turn the master volume up and down too. I got it working over here with my mpk mini play and apc mini.

Ultros, you were spot on. I went into the settings on the MPC and turned on CONTROL for the MPK in the INPUT PORTS section, and sure enough all the MIDI LEARN stuff is picking up the controller messages from the MPK now. Thanks for solving my problem!

No problemo dude. However the hardware tab does appear to be a placebo. It saves the values in the ".mcn" in the project root when you save the project. However nothing mapped under the "hardware" tab will have any effect. It's quite odd. I've been on an MPC / midi mapping kick for about 4 days now figuring it all out between the mpc and a laptop...

misterflibble wrote:
I went into the settings on the MPC and turned on CONTROL for the MPK in the INPUT PORTS section, and sure enough all the MIDI LEARN stuff is picking up the controller messages from the MPK now. Thanks for solving my problem!

For anyone else who still have issues with midi learn not working: I _also_ had to reset my prefs to make it work (dont ask me why...). Thought it might be useful to share...