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 fvwelsh Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:34 am
Been reading lots of forum postings, some made long ago, regarding the lack of mulit-timbral operation of the Live/X. So why hasn't this happened yet? Are you kidding me?
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By EnochLight Wed Sep 11, 2019 3:34 pm
fvwelsh wrote:Been reading lots of forum postings, some made long ago, regarding the lack of mulit-timbral operation of the Live/X. So why hasn't this happened yet? Are you kidding me?


The Live/X is of course multi-timbral - you can layer plenty of presets and instruments on top of eachother at the same time. Or do you mean multi-timbral MIDI?
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By Monotremata Wed Sep 11, 2019 6:07 pm
fvwelsh wrote:Been reading lots of forum postings, some made long ago, regarding the lack of mulit-timbral operation of the Live/X. So why hasn't this happened yet? Are you kidding me?


If you are talking about multi-timbral MIDI..
Its because for some strange reason Akai didnt think people would want to use it for multi-timbral MIDI operation (yes Ive actually seen Dan say this exact thing on Gearslutz). On top of that, changing the underlying code probably isn't just something like 'Oh just add this line, flip this switch and turn it on'.. We've all seen how they botched their track layout from the beginning following the old MPC way, and in order to 'fix' it and bring it up to a more modern 1:1 track layout design, requires a rewrite of the code. That shit isn't easy. You see how many problems they have when they actually took a few years and did it 'properly'. There is no way I would want someone to throw together a rewrite of the MIDI/Audio engine and just release it without making 150% sure that thing was not going to piss everybody off and break again. That just doesn't happen like that with ANY product or ANY company.
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By Lampdog Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:51 pm
Monotremata wrote:If you are talking about multi-timbral MIDI..
Its because for some strange reason Akai didnt think people would want to use it for multi-timbral MIDI operation (yes Ive actually seen Dan say this exact thing on Gearslutz).


And this is actually SAD/PATHETIC because the mpc has been the midi-timbral heart of hundreds of setups because it does it SO DAMN WELL. Did he forget MIDI Production Center? HOW the **** can he?
By CharlesRandolph Thu Sep 12, 2019 12:18 am
Lampdog wrote:And this is actually SAD/PATHETIC because the mpc has been the midi-timbral heart of hundreds of setups because it does it SO DAMN WELL. Did he forget MIDI Production Center? HOW the **** can he?


It feels like the focus for these MPC's are: Sound module first, controller second, sampler third and sequencer/midi center last. There's too much going on under the hood, because they are trying to cater to the widest customer base possible.

It seems like the focus should've been, Sampler/Sequencer/Midi center with the ablity to load Akai Pro, Air and Sonivox instruments and effects. The MPC line could've been the Hub for all inmusic brands.
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By Monotremata Thu Sep 12, 2019 3:51 am
Yeah exactly. When I read that comment I went 'WTF?? Can somebody call Roger Linn up?' I don't know maybe they wanted to design the Force from the beginning, but management wanted an MPC out there so they kinda scraped together what they wanted it to be out of the remains of the 5000 OS. I mean Im totally down for working with audio clips and shit like Ableton style, but I also love my gear, and nothing is ever going to replace that stuff.. The sampler is weak, we don't even have multi-timbral MIDI, it can't even open Akai's own sampler programs properly unless theyre its own new version of them (it sounds like its the exact same import features listed in the 2500s manual)! At least I should have a sampler on its way this time next week to remedy part of that heh.
By Caustic Yoda Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:29 am
yep the step backwards from prev mpcs with this lack of midi multimode is tragic and doesnt seem to be getting much attention in any updates or discussions from akai, current mpcs still get a fail mark from me usable but plastic toy box that doesnt do what its predecessors did properly
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By Monotremata Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:27 am
Well that's not totally true.. They said theyre 'working on it' a couple months back but that was pretty much it. I think it goes along with having to rewrite the whole thing to fix the track layout in general.

Someone was just mentioning the sudden quiet at Gearslutz earlier today. Dan dropped off the face of the earth around the time the Force beta came out, so Im sure theyre just busy with it. You gotta remember, the guy used his own free time to go out of his way to give us info and stuff on the forums. He's probably so sick of seeing the Force and MPC by the time he gets home every day he doesn't wanna go talk any more about it online haha. Im guessing they already said as much as can be said until the stuff is ready to go. Well hear more when that gets close I bet.
By wavejockey Thu Sep 12, 2019 10:10 am
peeps, this only applies to Multi timbral MIDI IN

on the out side, the MPC is perfectly capable of sending MIDI sequences to multiple outputs on different channels
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By jackmate Thu Sep 12, 2019 4:56 pm
not many seem to understand the issue, like u can see on the last post above...
its about playing a rhodes live via midi keys, while your drummer is triggering drum samples at the same time on different midi channels..
or you want to play your bass program, while fingerdrumming on some other program..

stuff like this is what people used to do on this machine for decades, but now, even the automation, is limited one channel only and the whole purpose of having so many programs, clips or instruments is lost, because its limited to the sequencer of the live/x...

i also think, that is was missed in the basic programming of the os. and now a later implementation might not be possible or too resourcefull...

thats very sad, cause its even named live...

but, user-friendlyness and simplification seems key, even in prosumer gear, structure comes second or they miss out on producers/musicians, to give them proper feedback on their products, seeing most of their ex-customers moving on to other gear or consisting mainly of DJs instead of producers...
its one thing to play alongside some tracks,, or playing whole gigs with the mpc as the logical center..
By Cockdiesel Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:08 pm
Man... you can tell they have been making the foundation for it within a few updates buts it’s been awhile since those updates. I’ll give them some slack on this one but it would be nice to have a drum program on the pads while having my keyboard able to play keygroups or external stuff. Really could make my work flow fast as hell. What I miss most about the 4000 besides the more in-depth sampling.
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By Lampdog Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:13 pm
And again, is the reason why I waited to see if it could replace my 4k. It can't.
A lot of things X can do that 4k can't, but, X is still not up to par for me.
By Moho Fri Sep 13, 2019 12:33 pm
Multi in should come as soon as they link tracks and instruments as I think its easier to assign a midi channel to a track, TBH I've never understood why they weren't, if your sat at a hardware mixer with piano on channel 1 its always on that channel whether its the verse, chorus, bridge etc. The only reason I can see is if you had a limited number of tracks, but does anyone use more than 128?
By 40Beatz Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:06 pm
Ok guys forgive me for being Naïve...Can you describe to me...in a Studio environment.. how would you Need Multi Midi on the Input? I can see it on stage, it might be helpful. But im just trying to grasp the idea of using it in a Studio Environment
Because the Sequencer on the Out...has Multi Midi.
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By Lampdog Fri Sep 13, 2019 3:32 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong as ****, but.

Most times I bang keys on triton midi out to 4k midi in.

Triton / Turbo phatt drums are usually controlled by 4k pads, using the triton
as a sound module (4k midi out) just like I do the tp.

4k records diff triton chnls.
triton piano midi chnl1 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch01
triton bass midi chnl 2 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch02
triton horns midi chnl 3 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch03
triton drums midi chnl 4 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch04

4k records diff turbo phatt chnls.
tp synth midi chnl 5 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch05
tp harp midi chnl 6 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch06
tp synth midi chnl 7 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch07
tp orch midi chnl 8 = mpc seq1 trk1 midi ch08

4k is the master/sequencer.