MPC 2500, how to hook it up to Ableton via MIDI

MPC-Tutor wrote:

kpacardo wrote:hmm.. pardon me, I thought I needed a MIDI connection to do what I wanted to do but that is not the case. Recording is fine now (after I turned off all the MIDI settings) I might just return this MIDI usb connector unless there is something cool I can use this for..

You need MIDI to sync playback between Live and your MPC (but you can do this manually and align audio later)

You can also use MIDI to trigger Live software instruments and Live clips via your MPC pads/sequencer

I'd say it's pretty much essential to have a MIDI interface, so I'd stick with what you've got and see how you get on.

So everything is working fine, I've been able to play ableton sounds from the MPC pads which tells me my MIDI connection is fine.

However, I'm having trouble synchronizing the two. Both MIDI clock and MIDI time code does not work for me. I'm following the steps and whenever I hit play on the MPC, ableton doesn't play automatically with it. Do you have any idea?

You need to have MMC on! Check stuff on "midi machine control".

m:t:c wrote:You need to have MMC on! Check stuff on "midi machine control".

oh mmc is definitely turned on.

Go to ableton's preferences and go to the MIDI/Sync tab. On the Input labelled M-Audio UNO (or whatever its called), make sure the box for Sync is turned on. Next hit the down arrow next to that input and select MIDI Clock or MTC as the Sync Type (just make sure the same clock sync method that you choose on the MPC is chosen here).

Next in ableton's main screen, you'll notice at the top all the way to the left that a new button named EXT has appeared. Click that. Press play on the MPC, it should start Ableton's transport.

If you're using MIDI Clock, you will probably need to adjust the MIDI Clock Sync delay to get both lined up perfectly. Just program e.g. a 16th note hihat in both the MPC and in Live, and adjust the delay until they're perfectly lined up. IF you're using MTC, then you'll need to manually match Ableton's tempo to the MPC.

Note also that in the past, Ableton's sync has been less than perfect. A lotta drift. But if you look at the release notes here: http://www.ableton.com/release-notes/live-8 as of version 8.2.5 , they claimed to have improved the external sync. But I haven't tried syncing the two since last year some time so I can't verify that they have actually improved it.

still not working.. i dont know what's wrong with my set up.

Don't know what to tell you man. Assuming you've got your M-Audio hooked up correctly, and assuming your MPC and Ableton are set to the same type of sync and all the sync settings are correct on both, I don't know what else it could be.