Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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By sytrusze Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:35 pm
Whatsup guys,

is there any possibility that when i press record on my MPC that the midi notes record inside logic instead of the MPC sequencer? I'm running JJOS1 v.4.99 on my MPC 1000. Thanks
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By damien907 Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:07 am
yes you can set this up.

when i use my mpc with logic i do something similar, not exactly what your saying whith the record button and stuff though. the master slave setup might work more like that, ive never tried it though.

what i do is use the mpc as a soundsource and have my midi going out of my mpc and audio cables going out of my mpc, then in logic when i activate a external midi instrument and select the appropriate channels and set my mpc up right, it enables me to arrange the chops i have in my mpc on my logic piano roll/arrange page.

note that im not using the mpc sequencer at all, im using logic as the sequencer, so i can build my song in there, when im done i record the audio of my mpc into a new audio track in logic and thats how i track beats when im working this way.

do a search youll find out how to do it.

hint: in the mpc main screen youll need to change your midi channel to 1a, or something similar, then go from midi out a to midi in on your interface, then go from midi in 1 to midi out on your interface. this sets up a midi handshake.
learn this and welcome yourself to the club.

you can also set it to 2b, ect ect. but i always just use 1a.

now just mess with you logic settings.

the akai website has some tutorials on how to do this with logic too, and also i think they sell a book at mpc-samples.com that is called using your mpc with logic.
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By sytrusze Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:35 am
Thanks for the respond.

damien907 wrote:what i do is use the mpc as a soundsource and have my midi going out of my mpc and audio cables going out of my mpc, then in logic when i activate a external midi instrument and select the appropriate channels and set my mpc up right, it enables me to arrange the chops i have in my mpc on my logic piano roll/arrange page.


Well, actually this all goes pretty well. I setup an external midi device in Logic and set the input to 1-2. When i hit a pad on my MPC i hear the sound and i can see the midi volume moving in Logic. When i record arm and press record it starts recording and when i hit the pads in successfully records the midi notes inside Logic, BUT....when i press play, i hear nothing. Logic DOES record the sounds but doesn't trigger them.
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By damien907 Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:21 am
you have to enable an audio track as well, you cant hear the midi, you can just hear the audio that the midi is triggering. so for every external instrument track, you also need an audio track, make sure the inputs match the line ins that your 1/4 inch cables are coming in on, then when you push the little R button on the audio track, you should be able to hear the audio.
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By sytrusze Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:23 pm
After messing around with the midi settings from the External instrument track i managed to even get sound, without an audio track. But sometimes i can record, sometimes i can't and sometimes i even get a horrible robotic skreek which almost made me deaf a few times. Also if i press play or stop on the MPC, the playhead goes al the way back to -8 bars :cry:

Im really confused, i will try messing with it again today.
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By damien907 Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:15 pm
thats weird, i always just opened an external midi track and it worked fine, i havent done this for awhile, ill try it today if i get a firewire cable, i cant connect my soundcard right now cause i dont have one; i need to get on that.

some of my directions might have been wrong cause i was going from memory, so sorry about that.

you shouldnt be hearing a loud squeek though, there may be a feedback loop somewhere.

the transport should be sending though mmc, if it even sends at all that is.
why dont you just use the transport in logic by clicking with your mouse? i never used the transport in my mpc when using logic as the sequencer.

if you want to use a physical transport control instead of relying on your mouse,check this thing out

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/nanoKON2bk/

or this

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FaderPort/

i would be willing to bet that the faderport has better build quality, those things look dope!

also, on my logic key commands, i have set up the [ and ] brackets set to jump ahead a bar and behind a bar, that might help you out too.
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By sytrusze Tue May 01, 2012 2:59 am
Thanks for the tips.

The reason why i would like to use the transport buttons on my MPC is because my keyboard and MPC aren't turned towards my iMac so i have to go back and forth between my MPC and Keyboard which is kinda annoying. I was also thinking about upgrading my keyboard to a MPK or something which also includes transport control so that i have everything in my reach.

I have been looking at that faderport for a while now, might be the right time to cop one.

ps. I'm a shortcut addict, i have all my favourite actions set to a shortcut. But like a said above, it just a hassle going back and forth or another option might be a second keyboard that is in front of my MPC...hmm lots of ideas lol
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By damien907 Tue May 01, 2012 3:10 am
yeah no problem man, hope you get it all cleared up, im gonna get a fw cord soon and ill set mine up again. looks like your getting it sorted out though.
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By sytrusze Tue May 01, 2012 3:33 am
Yezzur. Right now i just set the same BPM in Logic as my MPC and then track everything out one by one (my soundcard doesn't have multiple inputs unfortunately) and then i slice all the audio files start/endpoints to that i can align them evenly.

Works pretty well, so having the MPC and Logic in synch isn't really a big must have for me, but if it is possible...why not, right?

I think the biggest issue for me is, was and always has been, is that i have to go back and forth between my hardware equipment/controlers and my keyboard....

anyway, this will be solved SOON, time for an upgrade ;)
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By damien907 Tue May 01, 2012 6:14 am
thats similar to what i do too, if not exactly the same.

you dont need to set your bpm in your mpc cause your not using that sequencer at all though.

if you set your bar to a little before the 1 in logic, then it will start recording right when it hits the first bar, no need to slice and chop then.

good luck man 8)