Playing the MPC live

allllright.
So i play my mpc live and I was just wondering if anyone else does the same thing and techniques used.. this is just a discussion topic if anyones doing something similar, i dont have an actual question....

By play live I dont mean playing for an audience, i mean I dont press play on the sequencer..
I do a mash up style dj set with a turntablist and I kick a variety of different things off the mpc, from vocal samples to 3min long tracks as one-shots(im using a 4k), and I also play drums..(check the vid if u can dig it up).

for Dj style mixes using the mpc i'll usually have the first 4 bars to do the mixing in with and then have the whole track on another pad, i might do something similar for the end of a song. for a fade or something...

One problem I do have is that if im playing drums(full lvl off) and then I wanna kick the track seemlessly ontop of the drums, I wanna kick the track sample full level everytime... this means I have to keep drumming with one hand, press full level and then press the track with the other, then press full level off and keep drumming.... a nice workaround feature would be a full level setting within the program that means no matter how hard or soft you hit the pad (full level off or on) it kicks in at 127 everytime..

I used to kick tracks with full level off but once that puppy starts there no making it louder so full level is essential..

Im also starting to use my mpc to scratch... ill post a vid soon...
anyway, any mpc drummers or live mpc heads shout..
especially in aus, i wanna battle peeps.

Pez

yeah ive been doin it live with my 1k... that's part of why i bought it, jamming with friends in a 'live ' way

but im entering a new zone, before i did some techno sets where mpc was the main midi sequencer, i would overdub/improv patterns .
now im working on a 'dj' set as backup for mc's i work with...
i'm going to run 6 channels separated out to my mixer and work the mixer a lot.
gonna try some scratching techniques, too.

an interesting factor becomes how to break things up into programs and how to arrange the slider assignments per program so that i can select different tracks and do something funky with the slider.

i have some effects rendered out from Ableton Live so in some of my programs im using the sliders to adjust the wet/dry mix of effects (by adjusting Level of the All wet and All dry samples)

for each song, i plan to spend 90percent of the time on the Main or slider screen, bringing parts in/out with the mixer and doing fills/scratches on the pads,,, and hopping to the Track Mute screen to transition to new sections where the loops are different.

i plan to use 'mute targets' to cut off parts of the drum loops and put fills at the end of a section; then the loop will come back in automatically..

i've got some other good tricks figured out.. i will report back once we play our first gig (june 18).


re: your full level comment:: are you sure there's no setting to turn off the connection between note velocity and how loud the sample plays?? even on the 4k??

boywithpez, where can i see your video of the live performance?

i have some effects rendered out from Ableton Live so in some of my programs im using the sliders to adjust the wet/dry mix of effects (by adjusting Level of the All wet and All dry samples)

I like it!! what sort of effects u using? im doing the same on the 4k and the qlink sliders. especially when I scratch I set em up:

Lower Pitch | Raise Pitch

Resonance | Delay Dry/Wet

Cutoff | Delay Time

[quote]re: your full level comment:: are you sure there's no setting to turn off the connection between note velocity and how loud the sample plays?? even on the 4k?? [quote/]

MMMm i think using the word connection right there is gunna help me... i think i can use the matrix thing to disconnect velocity... fk yeah good work, ill check it out 2nite. thanks man

Heres the link to the drumming vid, i cant check it at work so it might not work
http://rapidshare.de/files/7204772/mpcs ... p.wmv.html

boywithpez007 wrote:Heres the link to the drumming vid, i cant check it at work so it might not work
http://rapidshare.de/files/7204772/mpcs ... p.wmv.html

Wicked!

fuk me that video is good.

fastest fingers i seen

Cool vid!!!

thanks gents! that vids pretty old. got some new patterns worked out now so ill post a new vid soon.
I worked out how to do 16th hats and rock the kick n snare at the same time...

boywithpez007 wrote:thanks gents! that vids pretty old. got some new patterns worked out now so ill post a new vid soon.
I worked out how to do 16th hats and rock the kick n snare at the same time...

what did you use, your toes??!! lol, can't wait to see the new vids.

hahah! nah 4 fingers and some mad zen concentration... finish work early tonight so i might post then

Anyone use footswitches to trigger certain drum sounds while playing live? Hi hats, kicks? Any suggestions on which ones are good for that?


Stilo.

hot sounds on the vid... complimented by some serious playing.. thats some of the best fills i've seen on an MPC.. you just sent me back to the drawing board

boywithpez: excellent video. whats your layout? which sounds on which pads? do you switch between layers using velocity?

yeah I saw a vid of some dude playing a herbie hancock track and he was using a pedal to open close the hi hats..
I've figured out how to keep the hats going with my fingers so I dont know what id assign a footswitch to, im not that co-ordinated with my feet, I cant play real drums that well...
I experimented with a roland spd 6 and some triggers(dodgy $20 guitar switch) for kick and hats but I really couldnt get anything going, maybe If I had the proper kick drum pedal it would be useful. but yeah, pads are plenty!

as for the sounds, I full sampled one of the real kits from the motif es, tweaked and setup a velocity crossfaded program... its setup like this

Crsh1| Crash2 |splash | Ride
tom | Tom | Tom | Tom
Snare| same snr | Open Hats | semi-opn hats
Kick | same kick | closed hats | China Cymbal


Sometimes i'll swap the toms and cymbals out for instrument samples and/or layer the kick drum(from say 100 velocity upwards) with a sub bass sample so when I hit the kick close to full velocity I get a bass tone aswell...

Anyone know how I can capture video thru my firewire port and at the same time capture the audio from my soundcard?
The hi-hats dont come up properly on this vid cos of the shtty camera mic..
atm im just recording thru permiere but theres no option to change the sound source while capturing...
I tried running audition and premiere at once so i could just match up the audio later and that didnt work cos both soundcard and camera use firewire.