Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
By Omni1 Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:03 am
Hey how's it going everyone? I'm finally up in here. And honored to say the least. I'd like to ask anyone with a good answer a question about recording external synths to the sequencer in my 4k. Ok so my 4k is the master right... And I have my roland jd-xi slaved to it. I can trigger notes coming from the roland using my 4k pads. This is cool but not what I want. When I record and play from 4k pads it records and plays back what I played but when I play from the synth I get nothing. Sure its something I'm missing here. Somebody school me please and thanks.
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By Lampdog Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:24 pm
When you play 4k pads and hear the roland that is MIDI.
MIDI is data NOT audio. Your playback will be from the sequencer, sequencer is 4k remember.

I use my 4k and korg in the SAME way you are trying to use your roland.
You are using the roland as a sound module, k is recording the NOTES you hit, not audio.
4k plays back the data (what notes were hit) and tells the roland to play them.
What you are doing is perfectly normal but you just need to understand a lil more about midi.
By CharlesRandolph Wed Oct 23, 2019 1:59 pm
Omni1 wrote:Hey how's it going everyone? I'm finally up in here. And honored to say the least. I'd like to ask anyone with a good answer a question about recording external synths to the sequencer in my 4k. Ok so my 4k is the master right... And I have my roland jd-xi slaved to it. I can trigger notes coming from the roland using my 4k pads. This is cool but not what I want. When I record and play from 4k pads it records and plays back what I played but when I play from the synth I get nothing. Sure its something I'm missing here. Somebody school me please and thanks.


Midi out of the Roland JD-Xi to Midi in of the MPC 4000.
Midi out of the MPC 4000 to Midi in of the Roland JD-Xi.
Turn Local Off on the Roland JD-Xi.

I do this with the ASR-X and my MPC 4000'S. (It may work for the roland jd-xi)
By Omni1 Fri Oct 25, 2019 4:39 am
What's good fellas ?! I appreciate the feedback! :worthy: When I first read the instructions you gave me I new it was a bit of a deeper issue. Primarily because that's one of the routing methods I had been attempting. The result was notes getting stuck . when I finally was able to get back to my lab to give it another try I decided to phone a friend who spent over an hr. On the phone with me getting to the issue. So I guess it's only right I share what I learned so someone else who I'm sure has had to struggle at some point with this May release some stress as well.
The roland jd-xi's sequencer is what what was interrupting the midi path which would not allow me to trigger notes from its keys in the attempt to record "midi data" to the 4k's sequencer. Two things needed to take place inside the roland... 1... Turn OFF " soft thru" and 2... Turn off " local sw"! Some how soft thru being set to on while the device is in slave mode in conjunction with the jd's internal sequencers configuration jams the midi out return to the 4k! Hope this helps someone. Thanks again for the help fellas... UNO
By CharlesRandolph Fri Oct 25, 2019 6:46 am
Omni1 wrote:0 Two things needed to take place inside the roland... 1... Turn OFF " soft thru" and 2... Turn off " local sw"! Some how soft thru being set to on while the device is in slave mode in conjunction with the jd's internal sequencers configuration jams the midi out return to the 4k! Hope this helps someone. Thanks again for the help fellas... UNO


So to update it:

Midi out of the Roland JD-Xi to Midi in of the MPC 4000.
Midi out of the MPC 4000 to Midi in of the Roland JD-Xi.
Turn Local Off and Soft Thru Off on the Roland JD-Xi.
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By Lampdog Sun Oct 27, 2019 7:58 pm
CharlesRandolph wrote:
Omni1 wrote:Bingo :!:


If it had a dedicated thru, then only Local off would need to turned off. Lesson: Only buy a keyboard with a dedicated MIDI thru port. J/K :lol:

I am a FAN of the MIDI THRU port.