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.
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By hyena Fri Sep 30, 2022 3:32 pm
Telefunky wrote:The trick with FM is to use (some) fx, in particular delay and reverb.
A patch may sound boring if played dry, but suddenly comes to life with the proper setting. No need to drown it in reverb, it‘s about more subtle aspects of the FM sound structure (dynamic and harmonics) and how this interacts with the fx processor.

I hate the Whitney piano, too... but will always keep my Yamaha TX-7
It can do so much more :smoker:


Another very important aspect regarding organic and expressive fm patches is dynamics, modulating fm index with velocity,that means how much the modulators actually modulate the carriers = how many harmonics are created must be under velocity control if you want it to be really expressive when you touch those keys.
Also starting with very low fm amounts , setting envelopes correctly, going subtle. you can definitely avoid using filters with fm, a shitload of impressive sounds were made on a dx7, with no filtering at all. if you comprehend that you can reduce harmonics down to the fundamental sine wave just by lowering fm index, then you don't need filters. filters are there just to add another layer of control, of processing. an icing on the cake.
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By EnochLight Fri Sep 30, 2022 3:49 pm
Neodymium wrote:The OPX4 looks pretty intuitive with the matrix, and having that inside the MPX, has knocked the Korg OPsix off my radar.


:worthy:

I was literally about to buy a Korg Opsix for my studio, but then OPx-4 came out. After spending a great deal of time with OPx-4, it made my desire for the Opsix completely disappear. And I realize the Opsix has more Operators, but the OPx-4 does pretty much everything I need it to, and sounds fantastic. So, I saved myself $750 USD (and Opsix isn't multitimbral, which was an issue for me as well).
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By Lampdog Fri Sep 30, 2022 11:41 pm
I said it right off the bat, OPx4 is a beast! I recognized the potential in 5 minutes of messing with it. I’ve only said the same thing before about ios animoog and ios model d.

Yeah I talk shit, forget things, but, don’t sleep…
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By Neodymium Sun Oct 02, 2022 3:27 pm
Even though I am really keen, part of me wanted to wait until black friday. But then after a few days, I decided to go for it. But the akai/in music website is a mess. Doesn't send me an email to log in, even though I am logged in, and I was clicking on a link from their email to me (so my address is fine). Raised a ticket, got an email for that.

I don't find their website very intuitive. No search function on the akai pro site, although there is one on the store. and finding the OPX4 after selecting a few menus is still fairly hidden
By PPlastic Mon Oct 03, 2022 8:07 am
I've taken up the offer for the OPx4 and did demo it for a day before I forgot the trial ran out. So far though its only making me think its ok. Sure I think it has a huge amount of potential for programming but for some reason I find programming synths on the MPC ONE a bit laborious and just not fun. I think maybe the tabbing system doesn't do it for me or something - I cant put my finger on what it is but I sometimes don't think AIR's interface design (although very pretty) is as intuitive as it could be - I probably just need to dig in deep.

I do think that the OPSix from Korg still probably blows the OPx4 though. The flexibility of the OPSix is mind boggling in different ways because its not just FM, but has virtual analogue alongside it. I recently got the V collection too and the DX7 in that is fun too and cray flexibly with more than just sine waves.

I think I just need to patch from scratch on the OPx4 to see what it can do, altering pre-sets hasn't been that fun so far as its so hard to tab through so many pages to see what is going on. I guess a huge majority of users will just use the pre-sets though ;)
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By Lampdog Mon Oct 03, 2022 1:05 pm
Any dedicated synth will be better than virtual synths inside an mpc.

It’s not “hard” to hit another tab to go to another screen. Yes deep menu diving over and over can get annoying, but it’s not “hard”. Press the button.

But, FUN is a major factor, YEP!
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By EnochLight Mon Oct 03, 2022 2:33 pm
PPlastic wrote:I think I just need to patch from scratch on the OPx4 to see what it can do, altering pre-sets hasn't been that fun so far as its so hard to tab through so many pages to see what is going on.


Lampdog wrote:It’s not “hard” to hit another tab to go to another screen. Yes deep menu diving over and over can get annoying, but it’s not “hard”. Press the button.


Man, after spending even a fraction of time menu-diving on the MC707/101, having tabbed pages on a touchscreen is a godsend as far as I'm concerned! :lol:
By TT_Lab Mon Oct 03, 2022 11:23 pm
EnochLight wrote:Man, after spending even a fraction of time menu-diving on the MC707/101, having tabbed pages on a touchscreen is a godsend as far as I'm concerned! :lol:

I like me my 707 and its great synth capabilities, menu diving and all (I really don't mind). It's very capable synth! :worthy:
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By Neodymium Tue Oct 04, 2022 6:56 am
PPlastic wrote:
I do think that the OPSix from Korg still probably blows the OPx4 though. The flexibility of the OPSix is mind boggling in different ways because its not just FM, but has virtual analogue alongside it. I recently got the V collection too and the DX7 in that is fun too and cray flexibly with more than just sine waves.



If I didn't have other synths, maybe the OPsix would be more appealing, but its the FM aspect that appeals to, as I don't have this. Yes the OP6 have 6 operators, compared to the OPX4, but then, it dosen't have the matrix approach but algorithm. So they have 2 different approaches. In that basis, I see them as more even. Although OP6 have more oscillator types.

As for being a virtual analogue, I'd argue the same can be said for the OPX4, as with has subtractive synthesis too, although the OP6 have a few more capabilities.

In a direct head to head, yes the OP6 is a better synth, but it's not that black and white for me.

I currently have 5 synths running into into my set up, taking up 6 audio ins, and I occasional use my other remaining 2. The OPX4 however integrates seamlessly, with out having worry about using a USB input device. It takes up zero space on my desktop. I don't need another keyboard. And on top of that. I can run more than one at a time, so for $79 it blows away the OPSix which will cost me 17,589,000VND ($739). So from my perspective it's not the OPX4 being blown out of the water.
By PPlastic Tue Oct 04, 2022 7:38 am
Hehe, yep I think all totally valid points against my vague rambling. Having that FM power in your MPC for sure blows everything away away for convenience ;) :worthy:

I think I'm too hooked on button presses and knob twiddles on my Wavestate to quickly get places to edit. I love the touch screen on the MPC but I wonder it it just had a couple of buttons for navigation if that would somehow help - Just thinking aloud ;)

So yeah i guess i am wrong really, and for $79 that's unbeatable. I'll get my coat :lol:

(Still love the OPsix and it does have a matrix system, its just called the user algorithm.)
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By Lampdog Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:19 am
Wavestate looks like some serious business.
Korg doesn’t mess around.
By TT_Lab Tue Oct 04, 2022 11:45 pm
jabberwalky wrote:Dammit, I went ahead and bought it. I blame Lampdog.

:twisted: Ye! We all are witnesses. Clearly his fault :lol: