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 cosmiceric Tue Aug 17, 2021 9:42 pm
Hi All,

I have recently been using my Arturia Studio Interface as a class compliant interface with my MPC One. It's all generally working well, but sometimes I am getting cracks and pops, and even some glitching during recording and playback. Here's a track I recorded last night where you can hear it: https://soundcloud.com/efunky/the_expanse-mp3 (most noticeable in the intro)

My levels seem fine, not clipping according to the Arturia Studio level meters, and if I go into "listen" mode on the Arturia studio the raw signal sounds fine. I'm thinking this is a latency issue, but I don't see how to increase the buffer with the MPC. I have my Arturia Studio set to 44.1hz sample rate. Has anyone else run into this?

Cheers,
By Selahl Tapes Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:40 am
I think it’s probably due to MPC CPU power, or try changing your buffer on the Arturia studio software and try again. I’m currently fully testing a Audient ID14 in standalone. With buffers 32, 64 and 128. Hopefully I can get a clean pop and crackle low latency experience or class complaint is pointless.. let me know how you get on.
By cosmiceric Wed Aug 18, 2021 3:55 pm
Selahl Tapes wrote:I think it’s probably due to MPC CPU power, or try changing your buffer on the Arturia studio software and try again. I’m currently fully testing a Audient ID14 in standalone. With buffers 32, 64 and 128. Hopefully I can get a clean pop and crackle low latency experience or class complaint is pointless.. let me know how you get on.


Thanks for the input. I'm not seeing a way to set the buffer size for the Arturia Studio, wouldn't you usually do that with the DAW (in this case, the MPC in standalone mode?). I'll reach out to Arturia and see if they have any insight. Really hoping to work through this, because it's been really nice having all my synths set up and ready to record without having to move cables around.
By cosmiceric Wed Aug 18, 2021 8:07 pm
Just head back from Arturia after reaching out to them. Here's what they said:

Hello Eric

Thank you for using the AudioFuse Studio!

Sorry to read about the troubles. I think this may be related to the following:

I- You are clipping inside the AudioFuse Studio itself, so make sure the Master Output of your MPC One is not too high that it is producing clipping inside the AudioFuse Studio, normally this could bee seen using the Audio Fuse Control Center, but the application only runs on Windows or Mac OS X systems, what you can do is connect the AudioFuse Studio to your computer, open the Audio Fuse Control Center and lower the channel volume of the incoming USB/DAW signals, Here is an Example:
​​
These settings are saved inside the AudioFuse Studio.


II- The other factor that can produce this is indeed the Buffer Size and CPU capabilities of your MPC One, but this is configured in the MPC One not the AudioFuse Studio, there is no Buffer Size setting on the AudioFuse Studio because this is something that the DAW must set, so read the User Manual of the MPC On to learn how to adjust this.

I hope this helps you resolve your problem, Please feel free to contact us if you need more assistance, in order to re-open the ticket simply reply to this message.

Best Regards,
User avatar
By Monotremata Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:26 pm
Yeah Akai may need to add some sort of buffer settings it sounds like. Ive run about 10 tracks at once so far through the Behringer 1820 (the rest were just MIDI triggering my EMU) with no glitches or anything but I wonder if you start piling on the virtual synths and really pushing the CPU if that's why its crapping out on us. Im guessing the MPC is fixed at whatever buffer works best with the built in interface, but we more than likely need to be able to adjust this with third party interfaces. The same type of thing happens on a computer when your buffer is too low, would make perfect sense as to why they start out fine and then start popping and sputtering once they get going.
By cosmiceric Thu Aug 19, 2021 12:25 am
Yeah, that would make sense. I have a few audio tracks going, each with compressors, reverb, or other fx on them, and a Maximizer on the main channels, so it may just be pushing the CPU too far. I guess I could try to keep things cleaner while recording and then add those FX after I lay down the raw tracks to see if that helps. I also reached out to Akai support to see if they had any ideas, but it sounds like they may need to add a buffer option to the next update.

It's a real bummer, because I really want to go "DAWless" for my ideation phase. Ultimately I'll probably transition to logic of AL for my final mixing and mastering, but it's really nice to stay off the computer when trying to just get ideas out of my head.
User avatar
By Monotremata Thu Aug 19, 2021 4:07 am
cosmiceric wrote:It's a real bummer, because I really want to go "DAWless" for my ideation phase. Ultimately I'll probably transition to logic of AL for my final mixing and mastering, but it's really nice to stay off the computer when trying to just get ideas out of my head.


I still do it this way even with the interface. The MPC gets me like 99% there from start to finish, but I just prefer mixing on a different platform. I run everything through a console though and have a rack or two full of gear to go with it, so I have a few options. I tend to wait until the end to start using effects sends in the mix because I can use all my Space Echo/Echorec delays and way better reverbs outside. If I don't end up just doing a mix down on the console itself, everything goes into Logic. If Ive got a song that needs a lot of 'tricks' or edits, its a lot easier working on a 6-7 minute linear song on a 4K monitor than the MPC.
By cosmiceric Thu Aug 19, 2021 5:00 am
Monotremata wrote:
cosmiceric wrote:It's a real bummer, because I really want to go "DAWless" for my ideation phase. Ultimately I'll probably transition to logic of AL for my final mixing and mastering, but it's really nice to stay off the computer when trying to just get ideas out of my head.


I still do it this way even with the interface. The MPC gets me like 99% there from start to finish, but I just prefer mixing on a different platform. I run everything through a console though and have a rack or two full of gear to go with it, so I have a few options. I tend to wait until the end to start using effects sends in the mix because I can use all my Space Echo/Echorec delays and way better reverbs outside. If I don't end up just doing a mix down on the console itself, everything goes into Logic. If Ive got a song that needs a lot of 'tricks' or edits, its a lot easier working on a 6-7 minute linear song on a 4K monitor than the MPC.


Yeah, this is my plan anyway. I’ve been a logic guy but was thinking about switching to Ableton live since the MPC has an Ableton export option. What’s you approach to get all the stems into logic?
By DOS.putin Sun Aug 22, 2021 10:12 pm
SAME HERE
My setup is similar MPC X, and Tascam Model 24 mixer.
Recording an 8 bar Audio track segment from one of the stereo pairs of input on the Model 24, no matter what I do, I hear random crackling in the audio capture. This is not clipping due to an overloaded input. I have 20db or more of headroom. Monitoring the CPU and Memory during the recording, MPC X CPU is at %13 and memory is %10. There should be NO reason for this clicking and popping. Akai's class compliant implementation seems like a flop. This reminds me of my recording experiences on an underpowered Windows XP box 20 years ago with Cubase and my first M-Audio USB Quattro and ASIO drivers. The only difference there was that you could adjust the latency and eventually get a recording that didn't pop and click.
There is no way to adjust the latencies between your USB audio interface and the MPC LIVE/ONE/X. Sad.

This is destroying the potential joy of this standalone configuration... My Old MPC 2500 could do better Audio track recording than this.

Guess I'm going back to the DAW boys. :Sigh:
By cosmiceric Mon Aug 23, 2021 6:10 pm
DOS.putin wrote:SAME HERE
My setup is similar MPC X, and Tascam Model 24 mixer.
Recording an 8 bar Audio track segment from one of the stereo pairs of input on the Model 24, no matter what I do, I hear random crackling in the audio capture. This is not clipping due to an overloaded input. I have 20db or more of headroom. Monitoring the CPU and Memory during the recording, MPC X CPU is at %13 and memory is %10. There should be NO reason for this clicking and popping. Akai's class compliant implementation seems like a flop. This reminds me of my recording experiences on an underpowered Windows XP box 20 years ago with Cubase and my first M-Audio USB Quattro and ASIO drivers. The only difference there was that you could adjust the latency and eventually get a recording that didn't pop and click.
There is no way to adjust the latencies between your USB audio interface and the MPC LIVE/ONE/X. Sad.

This is destroying the potential joy of this standalone configuration... My Old MPC 2500 could do better Audio track recording than this.

Guess I'm going back to the DAW boys. :Sigh:


Sadly, I'm coming to the same conclusion. I was really liking going DAWless for getting ideas out, but the clicking and popping is making that less than ideal. I'm moving back to Logic for recording for now, and hopeful that Akai can address this in future firmware updates.
By CBS25 Wed Aug 25, 2021 6:33 pm
DOS.putin wrote:SAME HERE
My setup is similar MPC X, and Tascam Model 24 mixer.
Recording an 8 bar Audio track segment from one of the stereo pairs of input on the Model 24, no matter what I do, I hear random crackling in the audio capture. This is not clipping due to an overloaded input. I have 20db or more of headroom. Monitoring the CPU and Memory during the recording, MPC X CPU is at %13 and memory is %10. There should be NO reason for this clicking and popping. Akai's class compliant implementation seems like a flop. This reminds me of my recording experiences on an underpowered Windows XP box 20 years ago with Cubase and my first M-Audio USB Quattro and ASIO drivers. The only difference there was that you could adjust the latency and eventually get a recording that didn't pop and click.
There is no way to adjust the latencies between your USB audio interface and the MPC LIVE/ONE/X. Sad.

This is destroying the potential joy of this standalone configuration... My Old MPC 2500 could do better Audio track recording than this.

Guess I'm going back to the DAW boys. :Sigh:

This is unfortunate .

The cracking/popping noise seems to be a common issue among several interfaces with the MPC 2.10 (as being discussed in multiple, ongoing Topics).

I’m curious to know how widespread the problem is with the Tascam Model series, specifically (pre-purchase), as it appears to be one of the “better” fits for the interface function (as mentioned in a few posts and highlighted in various YouTube videos, too).

Did this ever get resolved with your Tascam Model 24?
By misterflibble Sat Nov 06, 2021 12:10 pm
Hey folks, just wanted to pile on to say I’m having the popping issue with my XR18 and an Akai Force. I’m going to test it later with my MPC Live as well, and then run a test with the Akai devices only doing sequencing, and the XR18 recording into something on my Mac. I don’t own a DAW so I’ll have to try GarageBand or Audacity or something.

When monitoring on the XR18 through headphones, all is well. The audio is nice and smooth without any pops. As soon as I set up an audio track in the Force and record audio, I get little cracks and pops. They definitely seem to be from the inbound recording since the cracks and pops are always in the same spots on the recording and are visible in the audio waveform, so it doesn’t appear to be a playback over USB issue.

I just got the Force a few days ago, so I’m putting it through its full paces to decide if I want to keep it. I have had my MPC Live for about two years and have never had any issues with recording into it via either the MPC’s native audio inputs, or via the MPC2.0 software when routing audio into the MPC over USB from YouTube to sample the audio from videos. I haven’t used the class compliant USB audio to record anything on my MPC yet. All I did so far with the MPC was set up my XR18 for monitoring and confirmed that I could see the level meters bouncing.

When I bought my MPC and XR18, my intent had been to use a stereo bus on the XR18 to direct whatever I wanted to record into the MPC into the MPC’s inputs. I had no idea Akai was going to ever implement class compliant USB support, so it was a pretty thrilling revelation when the 2.10 firmware shipped and this was suddenly an option. To that end, I can always fall back to that original plan. But it is pretty shitty that these clicks and pops are happening when this capability is supposed to be supported. If I had bought all this gear new expecting it to work I’d be pretty mad.

Does anybody know of a class compliant USB interface that DOESN’T have clicks and pops? Akai is always demoing the class compliant audio feature with the same mixer, I want to say it’s a Tascam Model 12. Does anybody own that, and does that even work?

I’m going to submit a ticket to Akai support. They went radio silent on me starting some time in 2020 so I’m not expecting any miracles, but they need to know that this feature isn’t usable at present. I found this thread looking for info on setting the MPC’s or Force’s buffer size, which apparently isn’t possible. The manual for the Force claims that the buffer size must be set to 128, but if I can’t set that then presumably the Force is negotiating that with the interface itself.

If anybody has had any luck getting a pop-free recording then please share your experience and what gear you’re using. Likewise for anybody who has had luck getting feedback from Akai on these issues.
By enderman Thu Nov 18, 2021 3:43 am
misterflibble wrote:Hey folks, just wanted to pile on to say I’m having the popping issue with my XR18 and an Akai Force. I’m going to test it later with my MPC Live as well, and then run a test with the Akai devices only doing sequencing, and the XR18 recording into something on my Mac. I don’t own a DAW so I’ll have to try GarageBand or Audacity or something.

When monitoring on the XR18 through headphones, all is well. The audio is nice and smooth without any pops. As soon as I set up an audio track in the Force and record audio, I get little cracks and pops. They definitely seem to be from the inbound recording since the cracks and pops are always in the same spots on the recording and are visible in the audio waveform, so it doesn’t appear to be a playback over USB issue.

I just got the Force a few days ago, so I’m putting it through its full paces to decide if I want to keep it. I have had my MPC Live for about two years and have never had any issues with recording into it via either the MPC’s native audio inputs, or via the MPC2.0 software when routing audio into the MPC over USB from YouTube to sample the audio from videos. I haven’t used the class compliant USB audio to record anything on my MPC yet. All I did so far with the MPC was set up my XR18 for monitoring and confirmed that I could see the level meters bouncing.

When I bought my MPC and XR18, my intent had been to use a stereo bus on the XR18 to direct whatever I wanted to record into the MPC into the MPC’s inputs. I had no idea Akai was going to ever implement class compliant USB support, so it was a pretty thrilling revelation when the 2.10 firmware shipped and this was suddenly an option. To that end, I can always fall back to that original plan. But it is pretty **** that these clicks and pops are happening when this capability is supposed to be supported. If I had bought all this gear new expecting it to work I’d be pretty mad.

Does anybody know of a class compliant USB interface that DOESN’T have clicks and pops? Akai is always demoing the class compliant audio feature with the same mixer, I want to say it’s a Tascam Model 12. Does anybody own that, and does that even work?

I’m going to submit a ticket to Akai support. They went radio silent on me starting some time in 2020 so I’m not expecting any miracles, but they need to know that this feature isn’t usable at present. I found this thread looking for info on setting the MPC’s or Force’s buffer size, which apparently isn’t possible. The manual for the Force claims that the buffer size must be set to 128, but if I can’t set that then presumably the Force is negotiating that with the interface itself.

If anybody has had any luck getting a pop-free recording then please share your experience and what gear you’re using. Likewise for anybody who has had luck getting feedback from Akai on these issues.


I have pops n clicks using the Model 12 but only during auto sample. Total bummer. I hope they address this soon because it’s the only issue I’ve had using the One so far. God I hope this doesn’t turn out like the MPC Touch experience :vomit:
By misterflibble Tue Jan 25, 2022 3:40 am
renegadebliss wrote:Have you seen this thread about changing the MPC Hardware's buffer size via a Control Panel window on Windows only?
viewtopic.php?f=48&t=212622

Does it work for you?

Sorry for the delay, I’m just now seeing your reply. I hadn’t seen that thread - I am going to try this out with my MPC and my XR18 when I have a chance. I have a dual-boot setup for Windows on my Mac so I should be able to run the utility being discussed. I suspect it’s just setting the buffer size when using the MPC as an audio interface to Windows but it’s possible that whatever buffer size is set there sticks in the MPC after Windows is disconnected.