MPC - User-created pad note maps

I want to use my MPC One+ to trigger sounds on my external drum machine. However, I'm having trouble editing the MIDI sent from the MPC's pads.
I've used the EDIT NOTE MAP function to re-arrange the MIDI notes sent from my pads and those changes seem to be saved OK. I can re-load the project and the new values are there when I next go to the EDIT NOTE MAP page, after tapping the MIDI track's pencil icon on the MAIN page.
However, the MIDI data sent from the MPC don't correspond with my new pad configuration.
I've tried using the CUSTOM option on the Pad Perform page but that doesn't seem to work either.
What am I doing wrong?

MickG666 wrote:I want to use my MPC One+ to trigger sounds on my external drum machine. However, I'm having trouble editing the MIDI sent from the MPC's pads.
I've used the EDIT NOTE MAP function to re-arrange the MIDI notes sent from my pads and those changes seem to be saved OK. I can re-load the project and the new values are there when I next go to the EDIT NOTE MAP page, after tapping the MIDI track's pencil icon on the MAIN page.
However, the MIDI data sent from the MPC don't correspond with my new pad configuration.
I've tried using the CUSTOM option on the Pad Perform page but that doesn't seem to work either.
What am I doing wrong?

After reloading the project, try selecting Bank A in the MIDI program.

Thanks Elijah.
It made no difference.
The edited pad data is being stored somewhere - it's still there when I use EDIT NOTE MAP again, but the pads still send the worng data. I've also checked this by recordng pad hits. They trigger the default pad settings.

More data to impart...

I have connected my Akai MPD18 drum pads to the MIDI input of the MPC.
I have the MPD18 pad values edited to create a useful map to trigger my external TR-8 drum machine, which is MIDI'd from the output of the MPC One (which is still refusing to obey my re-mapping of its own drum pads using the MPC One's EDIT NOTE MAP).
If I hit the MPD18 pads, the MIDI is sent to the TR-8, via the MPC One, and triggers its pads correctly according to my MPD18 pad re-mapping.
However, when I record this MIDI pad data on the MPC is shows the MIDI note data to be sitting somewhere else in the piano roll screen than the correctly sent MIDI note values, e.g. the note C1 sits at C-2, D1 sits at C#-2.
However, it still transfers these MIDI notes with their correct values through to the TR-8.
Moreover, playback of the MPC One does the same. The piano roll shows notes at C-2, etc. but delivers C1 to the TR-8.
How can this be?

I also get exactly the same behaviour from the MPC One if I use an external MIDI keyboard to send drum trigger data to the MPC One/TR-8 instead of the MPD18 drum pads.

A bit of an old thread, though this sounds like my current problem using MPC 3 on my MPC One. I'm still quite new to MPC (I got the thing yesterday ) but when I went to map pads so I could control my Drumbrute Impact over MIDI, I found something similar. I would set pad A1 to C-2 (kick). If I pressed C-2 on my MIDI keyboard running through the MPC, it works. But if I press the pad for the same note, it wouldn't.

In order to make this work I had to press and hold the Notes button on the MPC will playing the pads. Then it worked as expected. What I'm finding out is when pressing the pads, it seems to be sending a higher octave than the one configured on the pad but I cannot find where that is coming from with the only fix being holding down the note button. It's workable but certainly not ideal since I can't toggle the button behavior.

Quick update, the latest 3.4.3 firmware doesn't seem to have fixed it. I also noticed the same behavior when using CV out rather than MIDI.

Also was able to cross reference the issue in the MPC 3 epic-thread:

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=218084&start=1560#p1891801

its a confirmed bug.
The midi note mapping is completely off, when you assign an intrument in the main screen, than go into the step sequencer and press the same pad it sends a different note. i made some videos and sent them to akai and they agreed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6gnNgNGKJc

the whole midi system seems flawed and im losing hope

Yep I saw your vid yesterday, thanks for sharing it! That helped confirm I wasn't going crazy (Akai seems to be ). For my Drumbrute I can work around this. For CV, not so much because I need to map specific notes to known CV values for my Sampler module. I think I can still make this work by configuring my in-rack MIDI to CV module to grab the notes send by the MPC and then send the right CV value, but it's a lot of fiddling.

Seems like this works in MPC 2? But while I don't use the MPC as a full DAW Replacement, having the DAW view there is kinda nice so I'm debating on if that's a good idea or not.

Fortunately, everything else has worked great. Even running my Impact using MIDI Thru from my keyboard I thought might have issues (due to the Note Off bug?) but I've had zero problems there. It's been a treat! So overall I'm happy but the pad issue definitely put a dent in my ideal plans. Oh well. Hopefully Akai fixes it. While I do plan on sampling stuff on the One directly some of the time, I'm mostly using it as a MIDI/CV recorder/sequencer. Not having to screw around with Windows for 20 minutes before I can open Live and start making music has been so lovely and I do like the change up in the workflow as compared to what I'm used to. I'm starting at screens a lot less and playing synths with my hands more. This is great!

Opted to downgrade to MPC 2.15.1 and it works as expected there.

Filed a ticket with Akai/Inmusic and while it was initially given review, if in a mediocre sort of way, they ended up closing my ticket with this following:

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond and for gathering that important information. It truly means a lot!

This is not a bug and is the expected behaviour of the MPC; it stems from the fact that different MIDI note numbering conventions exist across various platforms and devices. This variance can lead to some confusion among users who transition between different software and hardware setups.

For instance, every Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) has its own unique approach to MIDI note numbering. Take FL Studio as an example; it utilizes C0 as the reference point for note 0, which means that the numbering system starts at that specific note, influencing how the notes are organized and perceived in the software.

I trust this is useful, and I will now proceed to set this ticket to a soft-close. However, if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to reach out, and the ticket will be reopened.

Which is complete unhelpful and left-field to the actual issue. It honestly pissed me off pretty good. But be that as it may, I'll be opening up another ticket and mentioned to them I will continue to do so (along with being vocal in any MPC forum I can find) until they address the issue. I recommend folks running into this do the same.

As noted, MPC 2 works as expected so I've stuck with that for the time being. It's in some ways better and some ways worse but the pads working like they should is a pretty big deal so that'll keep me on MPC 2 until that gets addressed (if).

Another update on the continuing saga. Akai was apologetic about the abrupt closure of my ticket and took another look. They did ask me to make a video despite the above YT one, so I went ahead and made two showing the behavior for MPC 2 and for MPC 3. I shared that with them directly but can toss those up on YT if anyone else might want to see them.

They were able to confirm my behavior on MPC 3 was unexpected. They'd like to have some project files to try and reproduce this on their end so I'll be sending those over hopefully by today.

One thing I was surprised and very appreciative by is they offered to throw in a plugin upgrade for free, including Stage Piano. That was very kind of them and actually fills in a gap I had in moving to the MPC platform from Ableton. I lost a practice piano. So this will fill that gap nicely! I found that to be a really nice gesture on their part and wanted to communicate that positive experience out to folks.

Akai checked their own BS & rewarded you. How awesome!

Basically I'd rather have the issue fixed for sure but even so nice surprise! It may have been also because the first tech on the ticket didn't really seem to give much of a shit about the issue and the tech I'm dealing with now definitely noticed that poor customer experience.