Set list

Hi, I'm currently getting my Akai MPC Force set up for some live gigs. Each song in the setlist is a Force project (in Arranger view - basically several tracks of WAV files playing back with disk streaming, and one MIDI track triggering some DMX lights).

I'm wondering if there's a clever way to program a "set list" into the Force. Right now, when I go from song to song, I need to load a new Force project for each song. Not the end of the world because they load quickly (due to disk streaming - so there aren't any large audio files being loaded into memory when I load the project), but it's still awkward to start pushing buttons and doing some menu diving to get to my songs when I'm on stage.

I'd much rather pre-program that sequence of projects to be played back, and be able to trigger the next one with a simple button push.

Does anybody have any clever ideas on how to do that?

Thanks!

The project is your vinyl record, and the Force is your turntable. You can only have one (1) record on a single turntable at any given time. If you want to keep the music playing while changing records, you'll have to have more than one turntable. If you want to keep the music playing the whole night with just one turntable, you'll have to have all-nighter records. (Haven't seen any of those yet) Or you'll need two turntables.

I see three options:
- multiple Forces
- the Force together with another device, for example Roland SP-404, that continues making sound while the Force is stopped and loading a new project,
- just have an interruption - announce a short pause, or make other kinds of noise while the Force is loading a project, as a distraction. Cause a fire alarm or something, they won't notice you're loading a project.

Ah, thanks, that's what I thought. No big deal - the kind of music I make is experimental/ambient, and it's OK to have a short pause (not more than 10 seconds) between songs, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

If it's ambient stuff, even a single delay effect might be enough to fill the project loading pause. Or something more complex, with reverbs, filters, delays, a looper maybe. You may already have just the right tools for that. Korg Kaoss pad? Mooer Ocean Machine? Boss DD delay pedal? Use it as a master effect between the Force's master outputs and the PA. When it's time to stop the Force, dial in some of that stuff.

Btw, it would be nice to have a project-independent effect like that on the Force itself...

That's a great idea! I've also prepared a 10 minute track that's just full of weird ambient fragments from my live set, to be played over the PA as people gather for the show, and maybe I can just put that track onto a little MP3 player, hook that MP3 player up to one of the Force audio inputs, and then just fade into and out of that "filler track" between songs. I'm going to try that!

And yes, it would be awesome to have project-independent effects on the Force master bus!

I think it cuts audio in between loading since there is no audio track active. You would need a mixer to achieve this.

Timo wrote:Hi, I'm currently getting my Akai MPC Force set up for some live gigs. Each song in the setlist is a Force project (in Arranger view - basically several tracks of WAV files playing back with disk streaming, and one MIDI track triggering some DMX lights).

I'm wondering if there's a clever way to program a "set list" into the Force. Right now, when I go from song to song, I need to load a new Force project for each song. Not the end of the world because they load quickly (due to disk streaming - so there aren't any large audio files being loaded into memory when I load the project), but it's still awkward to start pushing buttons and doing some menu diving to get to my songs when I'm on stage.

I'd much rather pre-program that sequence of projects to be played back, and be able to trigger the next one with a simple button push.

Does anybody have any clever ideas on how to do that?

Thanks!

Hi Timo!
very interesting you angle... I'm in a very similar need about the live performance.
Plis can you tell me what device you use for the DMX MIDI triggering?

thank you very much!!!

Hi, I'm using this for the MIDI-to-DMX conversion:

https://response-box.com/gear/decabox-m ... mx-bridge/

Works like a charm!

Timo wrote:Hi, I'm using this for the MIDI-to-DMX conversion:

https://response-box.com/gear/decabox-m ... mx-bridge/

Works like a charm!

Thanks a lot, Timo
I’ll get it