Bug reports & end-user support for Akai's MPC Software 'controllers' including the new MPC Studio 2, the MPC Touch, MPC Renaissance & original MPC Studio and MPC StudioB lack.
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By GNRFAMZT Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:24 pm
hey there. i'm thinking about purchasing the studio. i have no opportunity to check one out beforehand. my initial situation: as a keyboardist i´d like to use midi pattern presets. the house expansion contains 30, uk dance 25, and dystopia 24 four-bar drum pattern-containing sequences. now, as you can see here...

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...on my motif xf each drum pattern preset (called arpeggio) has its own set of numerical groove parameter values, such as quantize value, quantize strengh, and swing. with that information at hand one can easily record or edit another pattern with exactly the same groove. the timing of all tracks is always perfectly tight.

i'm uneasy about the mpc software in that regard.

let´s say i choose a pattern from the uk dance expansion. how do i know how it was programmed? let´s say it feels ´laid back´. that probably means that the programmer used swing and shifted the timing backwards a bit. maybe he was quantizing triplets, who knows. let´s say i like the groove of that pattern a lot, i want to use it as a template for my song. how do i know its numerical groove parameter values, in order to record other patterns (bass, synth, whatever) which´feel´ the same, timing-wise?

i asked the great stephen kay of karma labs the same question, back then regarding the m3/kronos sequencer. his answer:
Stephen Kay wrote:Once you have copied [a pattern preset] into a sequencer track, then you can use the dialog...

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...to change the feel. But it's just going to display the default values when you call it up. If the pattern is already swinging, it's not going to reflect that in the dialog. The dialog simply applies the settings to the existing data, whether it already has "feel" in it or not.

it is most provoking that kronos/m3 possessors are unable to use korg´s excellent drum track pattern presets as groove templates for their own songs, because nobody knows how they were programmed in the first place! what a bother. i guess the same is true of loopmasters´ patched phrases for the 5k. reason: they contain audio, not midi data.

to cut a long story short: after choosing one of the pattern presets from one of the mpc expansions inside the mpc software, are the pattern´s values for time division, swing, shift timing, window and strength (meaning: the ones that were used by the programmer for that pattern) shown to me here?

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or the default values instead?

thank you for your attention.
Last edited by GNRFAMZT on Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By dazastah Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:45 pm
time correction in mpc's isn't like how you explained in the motif xf. (apregs have swing shift etc date stored per aprgs.. so that extra parts that are recorded will lock to the adjusted vaules of shift swing stc...)

It's the same answer as steph kay with karma... it will be default values... unfortunatley for you..
By dazastah Sat Jun 14, 2014 4:21 pm
Not entirely.. See im pretty sure most of the patterns in maschine are tight and are your standard type swing(that slight 16th triplet swing) and it's destrucltey written/programmed in, But, maschine quantize can be non destructive... and it;s per pad or per group(maschines groups are a bunch of 16 pads and doesn't have pgms).. IT can also be applied when you record events in, or you can leave it and have the non destructive quantize do its thing.. much more flexible and powerful imo..

example, you could use the step record feature similar to xox type seq for drums, then apply a non destructive 8ths swing to the hihat pad leaving the rest of the kick and snares to be locked on..

I would try it out beucase it's been a while since i messed with maschine 2..
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By GNRFAMZT Sat Jun 14, 2014 5:43 pm
i'm sorry, i didn't catch that. take for instance the “dark pressure” maschine expansion. it comes with patterns made by dj and producer steve lawler. are you saying that the original timing values of his patterns are visible, or are you saying that maschine only displays default settings when starting, just like in mpc software/essentials?

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By dazastah Sun Jun 15, 2014 7:11 am
I'm pretty sure that it is default settings displayed, but i cannot confirm that the expansions patterns are written to events, or that they are apllied via non destructive swing as i dont use maschine 2.1 regularly. All i can confirm is that the swing can be applied in a non destructive way.(doesn't visually shift the events) Mite be worth checking over at the ni boards. Dont want to give away the wrong info...
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By GNRFAMZT Sun Jun 15, 2014 8:56 am
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followup:
dazastah wrote:It's the same answer as steph kay with karma... it will be default values

karma is quite different from the drum track. here´s his additional explanation...
Stephen Kay wrote:Korg's Drum Track is really nothing more than a single track playback of a preset pattern. There are no parameters that modify what comes out of it, in terms of rhythmic quantization or swing feel. Whatever the pattern does is what it does. The Motif's arps are...well, arps - similar to KARMA GEs. They have variable parameters, as do KARMA GEs.
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By GNRFAMZT Sun Jun 15, 2014 5:39 pm
dazastah wrote:I'd love a motif xf.....
I just can't justify it to the boss...

nah, you can! by informing him about its unique selling point imo: the awesome remix function. it divides the midi data in a selected track into several pieces of a specified note length, and randomly rearranges a portion of the data. when remix is used on a track containing a sliced sample voice, the various segments of the sample are also rearranged with varied timing. there are six different modes...

Normal 01 – 16: The divided data is only rearranged. 16 variations are provided.

Pitch 01 – 16: In addition to rearrangement of the divided data, some portions of the
data may be pitch-shifted. 16 variations are provided.

Fill 01 – 48: In addition to rearrangement of the divided data, some portions of the
data may be played with fill-in. 48 variations are provided.

Roll 01 – 16: In addition to rearrangement of the divided data, some portions of the
data may be played with a roll effect. 16 variations are provided.

Break 01 – 16: In addition to rearrangement of the divided data, some portions of the
data may be deleted to create breaks. 16 variations are provided.

Reverse 01 – 16: In addition to rearrangement of the divided data, some portions of the
data may be played in reverse. 16 variations are provided.
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By SimonInAustralia Mon Jun 16, 2014 5:27 am
GNRFAMZT wrote:hey there. i'm thinking about purchasing the studio. i have no opportunity to check one out beforehand.

:lol: :Sigh: All that bitching about Akai, Pete, MPC controllers, MPC Software, and MPC Software release dates, all those animated gifs, and you don't even own it! :hmmm: :lol: :lol: :lol:

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GNRFAMZT wrote:my initial situation: as a keyboardist i´d like to use midi pattern presets. the house expansion contains 30, uk dance 25, and dystopia 24 four-bar drum pattern-containing sequences.

:lol: Uses preset MIDI patterns! :Sigh:

You will have to purchase those "Elements of" MPC Expansions seperately from the MPC Studio, as they do not come with it.

GNRFAMZT wrote:to cut a long story short: after choosing one of the pattern presets from one of the mpc expansions inside the mpc software, are the pattern´s values for time division, swing, shift timing, window and strength (meaning: the ones that were used by the programmer for that pattern) shown to me here?

No.

There is no overall swing setting for a seqeuence that you can view, the swing function destructively shifts the events to the swung location when applied.

There could be multiple swung events, on different pads/notes for example in the one sequence track, and in different tracks within the one seqeunce, that could be all swung using different settings.
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By GNRFAMZT Mon Jun 16, 2014 9:22 am
SimonInAustralia wrote: :lol: :Sigh: All that bitching about Akai, Pete, MPC controllers, MPC Software, and MPC Software release dates, all those animated gifs, and you don't even own it! :hmmm: :lol: :lol: :lol: [...] :lol: Uses preset MIDI patterns! :Sigh:

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p.s.: who are your descendants, simoninaustralia? delinquents or jail guards?

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