Question For DAW Users

More like 80% of People doing music that matter don't use the ren

Mistamixx wrote:People doing music that matters don't use 80% of a daw's capabilities.

Who is on the list of "people doing music that matters"? I'd love to read up on them. Maybe learn something in the process. Not being sarcastic. Really want to know who makes this list for you.

Second question, also might learn something in the process... how do you record a full song without audio tracks? What do you do to record the vocals? Do you use live instruments in your compositions?

Eyalc wrote:

Mistamixx wrote:People doing music that matters don't use 80% of a daw's capabilities.

Who is on the list of "people doing music that matters"? I'd love to read up on them. Maybe learn something in the process. Not being sarcastic. Really want to know who makes this list for you.

Second question, also might learn something in the process... how do you record a full song without audio tracks? What do you do to record the vocals? Do you use live instruments in your compositions?

First of all, I consider myself a beginner in this beat making business. I use the Ren along with two synths, and I have my gear hooked up through a Yamaha mixer which is connected to my Ren. I want to avoid other DAWs, as long as possible possible. I would like to get everything done with the Ren. When my buddy and I want to record vocals, it is always a pain in the a**. For me it's direct record into the Ren and then I put the recorded track on the one. Although you still have to assign a track/program, so it is quite uncomfortable. If there is some further work to do, I use the vocal recording like I would use a sample, chopping and arranging it. This is not too comfortable and my buddy is always pissed as this all takes a while and destroys whatever inspiration there is as the workflow gets interrupted. Lately, to make things run quicker, I export my song, open it in Garage Band where we then do the vocal recording. This way, we get faster results and we can directly listen to what we recorded, without any delay. Then, when we are happy, I export the vocal track to the MPC software, and later I arrange it there and finalize the track.
I do not use live instruments yet, but as I mentioned, 2 synths. I have them hooked via MIDI and audio to my Ren and when I want to use them, I record my stuff into a MIDI track, tweak and work on it and once I am sure I am ready, I re-sample everything and put it in a drum track, so that upon exporting the song, the synth sounds get exported as well.
For live isntruments, I guess I would be doing it like recording vocals or I may be using the looper which is cool, even though its recording time is limited.
I am curious to hear about others...

DAW user here,I own a Ren as well,I've used Mpcs in my studios as well as professional studios, for over 20 years. I never use the Ren in standalone. It has too many limitations, but I don't care about a standalone workflow anyways. I write,track,mix in my daw, there's no standalone option that will ever be better then my daw, it simply will not happen. As each update my Mpc gets, my DAW gets one as well, and it's more of what I'm used to,it's focused on those 3 elements above.

I simply want my MPC to work well within my DAW. I'm part of that 80% (f thats even correct,I'd wager it's more in 2015) that uses a DAW for music production/tracking/mixing.

I'm here as long as I can be, I also have a Maschine Studio, it does most of what I want it to, I've not left Akai Mpc yet, but if things don't start shaping up, I'd be the first to say Maschine would be my go to.It's about 90% Daw ready, just needs better transport options and more robust hardware imo.

^^ This.

I'm holding out hope for a robust, functional plugin by 2.0. If not, I'm giving up hope. Akai hasn't stuck with one product for much longer than that historically. It will be a shame if they don't get it done - so much potential in this thing. But I said the same thing with the 4000 and 5000 too - so much potential that neither reached.

The only thing I want to use a daw for is mastering. I never thought I would see the day when the AKAI MPC would be not much more than a plugin smh.

bobbybland wrote:DAW user here,I own a Ren as well,I've used Mpcs in my studios as well as professional studios, for over 20 years. I never use the Ren in standalone. It has too many limitations, but I don't care about a standalone workflow anyways. I write,track,mix in my daw, there's no standalone option that will ever be better then my daw, it simply will not happen. As each update my Mpc gets, my DAW gets one as well, and it's more of what I'm used to,it's focused on those 3 elements above.

I simply want my MPC to work well within my DAW. I'm part of that 80% (f thats even correct,I'd wager it's more in 2015) that uses a DAW for music production/tracking/mixing.

I'm here as long as I can be, I also have a Maschine Studio, it does most of what I want it to, I've not left Akai Mpc yet, but if things don't start shaping up, I'd be the first to say Maschine would be my go to.It's about 90% Daw ready, just needs better transport options and more robust hardware imo.

Well... I could write,track,mix and edit in the MPC if they add audio tracks! People always talk about how great there daw is but don't use 80% of it's features to make a 3 minute song. Be honest! You use synth/Fx plugins/audio tracks/editing features and not much more when you do your projects in your daw. Add Audio tracks/editing features to the mpc and I don't see a need to open, and import a project into a feature bloated daw. OVERKILL! The only thing I would use a daw for is mastering, but normaly i'll send it out to be mastered.

Eyalc wrote:

Mistamixx wrote:People doing music that matters don't use 80% of a daw's capabilities.

Who is on the list of "people doing music that matters"? I'd love to read up on them. Maybe learn something in the process. Not being sarcastic. Really want to know who makes this list for you.

Second question, also might learn something in the process... how do you record a full song without audio tracks? What do you do to record the vocals? Do you use live instruments in your compositions?

U didn't get what I was saying lol. Nobody uses more than 20% of there daw's features.

Paradox1 wrote:I think it may come down to preference.

To me, it make more sense to do everything on the MPC and use mixing plugins to finalize the track/song.

I think some may perfer to use DAW just for their own workflow

This is the best response by far.

Mistamixx wrote:

Paradox1 wrote:I think it may come down to preference.

To me, it make more sense to do everything on the MPC and use mixing plugins to finalize the track/song.

I think some may perfer to use DAW just for their own

This is the best response by far.

True but how do you finish a song without audio tracks?

Mistamixx wrote:

Eyalc wrote:

Mistamixx wrote:People doing music that matters don't use 80% of a daw's capabilities.

Who is on the list of "people doing music that matters"? I'd love to read up on them. Maybe learn something in the process. Not being sarcastic. Really want to know who makes this list for you.

Second question, also might learn something in the process... how do you record a full song without audio tracks? What do you do to record the vocals? Do you use live instruments in your compositions?

U didn't get what I was saying lol. Nobody uses more than 20% of there daw's features.

No I did get it. You said "people doing music that matters", that's the part I'm asking about... who is on your list of "people doing music that matters"?

And I don't know much about using a DAW for mastering. Wrong tool for the job IMO. And side note - if your mastering engineer is using a DAW to master your stuff, might want to find a new mastering engineer.... lol just messing with you... but really...

Well Eyalc did you miss the part when I said normaly I would send a project out to be mastered??? lol. I've produced some nationally released projects in the past for a couple of record companies, and had the privilege to spend several hours with Tony Dawsey in his room at Masterdisk mastering my productions.(PAYED FOR BY THE RECORD COMPANY) Google him lol. http://www.discogs.com/artist/346852-Tony-Dawsey This is 2015 and you can do a damn good job mastering your stuff with a little know how, and the right tools/mastering suite. http://www.askaudiomag.com/articles/10- ... g-plug-ins

If audio tracks where here now i'd use it,but I'd want tighter plugin integration with a daw before audio tracks here's why..
By tighter plugin integration i mean that the mpc software plugin can be multi timbral midi input. "midi Input" meaning that, when it's a plugin , midi channels from your daw can control specific tracks or pgms within the mpc plugin. There's already audio output routing, just needs midi input routing
I use reaper, and i'm sure other daw users here would agree that it would take a very long time to get the same audio editing features that your daw has into the mpc software with the audio track feature.
Once i get into the daw, i don't really wanna go back into the mpc's sequencer flow.. Because by that time i'm arranging in the daw visually, grabbing blocks/sections of pieces and mixing engineering in daw mode workflow.

Here's the things i use in the daw that mpc soft would have to add for me to consider even using just the mpc software.

custom key binding
macro key binding commands
Midi controller/control surface mapping
visual arranging of multiple clips.
Timeline regions where regions can be dragged copied rearranged
Markers that can trigger daw commands/actions
Clip grouping
Clip colouring
Clip naming
clip takes(loop recording)
multiple clips bounced to one clip(render as one clip)
insert plugin fx can be midi or audio or both on any track or clip
Per clip Plugin fx insert chains
Clip stretching/pitching warp markers
Per clip envelope automation for pitch/pan volume
Per clip envelope automation for clip insert fx
Flexible track routing(route midi or audio to anywhere regardless of track type)
Ability to modulate plugin parameters from audio, midi or lfo
text filter in all browsers(viewing plugins, media files etc clip pool)
Track arranging
Multiple track copy pasting deleting duplicating ...
track colouring
track grouping(master slave control for all track options .. mute solo record arm etc)
track templates(group of tracks as well with routing and fx etc)
record multiple(more than two) input sources/tracks in one take
project tabs fast switching or multiple projects open at once.

There's probably more things but you get the point...

So as a daw user, that above list verses making the mpc plugin multitimbral makes more sense to me.

dazastah wrote:If audio tracks where here now i'd use it,but I'd want tighter plugin integration with a daw before audio tracks here's why..
By tighter plugin integration i mean that the mpc software plugin can be multi timbral midi input. "midi Input" meaning that, when it's a plugin , midi channels from your daw can control specific tracks or pgms within the mpc plugin. There's already audio output routing, just needs midi input routing
I use reaper, and i'm sure other daw users here would agree that it would take a very long time to get the same audio editing features that your daw has into the mpc software with the audio track feature.
Once i get into the daw, i don't really wanna go back into the mpc's sequencer flow.. Because by that time i'm arranging in the daw visually, grabbing blocks/sections of pieces and mixing engineering in daw mode workflow.

Here's the things i use in the daw that mpc soft would have to add for me to consider even using just the mpc software.

custom key binding
macro key binding commands
Midi controller/control surface mapping
visual arranging of multiple clips.
Timeline regions where regions can be dragged copied rearranged
Markers that can trigger daw commands/actions
Clip grouping
Clip colouring
Clip naming
clip takes(loop recording)
multiple clips bounced to one clip(render as one clip)
insert plugin fx can be midi or audio or both on any track or clip
Per clip Plugin fx insert chains
Clip stretching/pitching warp markers
Per clip envelope automation for pitch/pan volume
Per clip envelope automation for clip insert fx
Flexible track routing(route midi or audio to anywhere regardless of track type)
Ability to modulate plugin parameters from audio, midi or lfo
text filter in all browsers(viewing plugins, media files etc clip pool)
Track arranging
Multiple track copy pasting deleting duplicating ...
track colouring
track grouping(master slave control for all track options .. mute solo record arm etc)
track templates(group of tracks as well with routing and fx etc)
record multiple(more than two) input sources/tracks in one take
project tabs fast switching or multiple projects open at once.

There's probably more things but you get the point...

So as a daw user, that above list verses making the mpc plugin multitimbral makes more sense to me.

Do you honestly need all of that to make 3 minutes of music?? LOL OVERKILL.I listened to your latest project grand lodge 3. Hot track but the only thing that couldn't be done in the MPC software is the vocal tracks.

You can do vocal tracks, it is just a terrible pain in the a**...