MPC X, MPC Live, MPC One & MPC Key 61 Forum: Support and discussion for the MPC X, MPC Live, MPC Live II, MPC One & MPC Key 61; Akai's current generation of standalone MPCs.
By Scott Righteous Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:21 am
When I got the MPC, I figured there would be enough memory that I wouldn't need to use disk streaming, as I had been doing on an Octatrack. However now I know there isn't as much memory in there as advertised.

I guess I could add something like a SP404 with a 32G card, and have a ton of sample power - throw bedtracks on there and trigger it with the MPC.

I could save the MPC memory for drums and elements I would want to manipulate live.

Anyone out there have experience triggering another sampler from the MPC Live? Is there any midi latency? can all of that be overcome by triggering external samples a smidge early?

Just wondering if this is a reasonable idea or not. I kind of wonder if the two machines would stay in sync properly enough to have rhythmic elements on bedtracks and coming out of the MPC.
By Caustic Yoda Thu Mar 14, 2019 1:53 am
I use my mpc live with elektron digitakt and boss sp303 for my live sets, the live doesnt cut it for a live set on its own, cannot load new project without it going silent, digitakt is dope sampler, sp303 is great for fx and disk streaming type stuff, the "live" should be renamed
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By mr_debauch Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:43 am
I use other samplers with it .. but i tend to use them and record that result into the live. For example, I use the remix 16 as the phono amp for my turntable... the outputs of that go into the live. If i just want a straight up vinyl sample.. it just works like any dj mixer would... however i can also sample onto a pad in the remix 16 if i wanted to and do things to the sound on those pads. For example, i can record at lower sample rates... i can do some pitch warping which is NOT the same sounding as adjusting the tune in the live.... i can do some weird reversing on the fly (hold the button and the pad your holding switches directions... then let go of the button and it switches back) .. it is one rugged grimy sampler. It aliases a bit to if you pitch down things from 45rpm.
Bymember04959388 Thu Mar 14, 2019 4:05 pm
I was thinking to do the same, adding another small sampler to trigger long samples and fill the loading gap between projects on Mpc.
I was considering a Roland sp404sx because I read it can stream samples from an sd card, I need to use very long recordings of more then 5 or 10 minutes sometimes.
Anyone is using this Mpc Sp404sx combo?
By Scott Righteous Fri Mar 15, 2019 2:57 am
Yup, the Sp404 can playback hours of samples. It streams from the SD card, which I hope Akai notices!
However I would be curious to hear if the machines can be reliably synced so that the 404 can be used to trigger pre-cut backing tracks straight of a DAW, and sound right with beats from the MPC on top.
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By DJSpaceP Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:42 am
I have a couple of Novation Circuits, and I can see a scenario where I would use one of them with the Live as an enhancement to what I can do sonically, maybe even use it for its Nova synth engines and some of the ways it can process samples live with some knob twists "out of the box" without any additional fx setup.

But TBH, the Live is such a beast that I haven't felt any serious lack, at least for what I'm doing with it. One of the reasons I bought it was so that I could do electronic dance sets with just one box.

So far, so good.
Bymember04959388 Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:41 pm
phdbeats wrote:I have a Roland SP 404a. I highly recommend building your beats in your MPC and then exporting them as .wav files into the 404 for live performances. The FX alone make it an awesome live performance tool.

Check out my @spbeatmakers page on IG too. Some guys pair the MPCs with the 404s.

Ok a couple of questions:

1 Is it true that sp404 uses only compressed sounds? And that only 404sx can use uncompressed wav files?

2 can the sp404 play very long samples without quantizing, I mean exactly as they are?
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By Bezo Mon Mar 18, 2019 7:59 pm
I've been contemplating bringing my Z4 back into service, but my sampling needs don't require the Z4's additional features.
By wavejockey Tue Mar 19, 2019 11:18 am
same here (ex MPC4000 user, but not using the additional feature set that much)
i'm now pairing with EURORACK Rossum-Electro Assimil8tor (that formal and basic interface tends to give you instant result) and Percussa SSP if i need 192khz , 32 bit direct to SDcard/ disk recording
By GoddamnSam Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:24 pm
I've been interested in using my live with my octatrack.

Does anyone have experience using program changes in the mpc to send program changes to the octatrack ?? ( to change patterns on the OT)

I believe it's only done in list editor of I'm not mistaken
By Chess Thu May 09, 2019 6:17 am
I use my mpc live to sequence my Roland sp-404 and sp-606. My drums are all on the 606 and longer melodic chops are on the sp-404. It's a great setup that's giving me the best of all my machines. There is no lag at all from touching a pad on the mpc and hearing the sound of the SP's through the speakers, note repeat works, full velocity, etc it's all there. You can then tweak the effects while the sequence plays, its dope.