Help with Beatstep Pro and Drum Programs

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and this is my very first post, so sorry for the noobage.

I recently got a Arturia Beatstep Pro and I'm trying to use it to control a chain of synths, as well as an MPC Live. My hope is to use the Beatstep to control a drum program on the MPC, while it's other two sequencing channels control the synths. This hope has been stifled thus far...

The first problem is that, while the Beatstep is sending drums on MIDI channel 10, the MPC seems to receive Midi notes from all the channels, inserting drums into my synth lines. The pads are linked to channel 10 be default in the MIDI control window... Can the MPC somehow ignore Midi from channels other than 10?

The second problem is that when the MIDI notes arrive at the drum programs they are scattered all over the piano roll. I assumed the notes for Bank A of a drum program would be something like be MIDI 0 (C-2) - 15 (Eb-1), but that does not seem to be the case. I even set the pads to be controlled by those notes in midi control, and it works in everything BUT drum programs. I tried to figure out what notes did trigger the pads in drum programs and they seem totally random, (Band A - Pad 2 will be triggered by note 36, but Pad 3 will be note 42!!) and sometimes a two different MIDI notes will trigger the same pad. What is going on here?? I feel like i must be missing something...

Many thanks to any you all can provide!

You just discovered one of the biggest requests a bunch of really pissed of MPC users have for the next update..

It doesn't do multi-timbral MIDI very well at all. In fact the only thing that can do it is the MPC sequencer itself. Anything coming out of the Beatstep is going to whatever channel you have selected in the MPC. The brilliant devs didn't think anybody would want this in the MPC so they didn't include it. Now everyone is wondering where the hell it is after 2+ years and why an MPC didn't have this from day 1 heh.

You cant go by the piano roll when it comes to a drum program. Find a good BIG picture of an MPC3000 and read the labels above each pad. Thats how you're 'supposed' to set it up. The Kick is a C2 (or maybe its C1 I forget), the Snare is a D2, etc. You just have to learn how Akai mapped the pads. In a key group program, the pads are generic chromatic notes like a regular keyboard, in a drum program the default assignment follows the MPC3000s layout.

Thanks guys! At least now I know I'm not crazy, and the it's not as easy as I was hoping. I'll look into the OMNI timbre setting. That might be the first step in the right direction.

Monotremata - Crossing my fingers that they address this in a future update. I feel like the amount they've improved with the updates so far has been stellar. We'll see what the future has in store...

Lampdog wrote:

Monotremata wrote:The Kick is a C2....... the Snare is a D2.......

Yep, it’s general midi drum mapping. Been that way since forever and 15 days.

Yeah that threw me off when I first started playing with it. Im so used to that drum map being in a straight line on the keys. I was looking at these pads going WTF AKAI?? Now its like second nature.

@Welcomeman - They said 'they're working on it' hehe. Supposed to be in one of the upcoming updates so lets hope!

They've been "working on it " since 2017.

Worked the specifics of some of this out and I figured I'd post it for anyone else out there struggling with the same issue. Thanks you all for helping figure this out.

The Bank A pads are correlated with the following Midi Numbers: Pad 1 = 37, Pad 2 = 36, Pad 3 = 42, Pad 4 = 82, Pad 5 = 40, Pad 6 = 38, Pad 7 = 46, Pad 8 = 44, Pad 9 = 48, Pad 10 = 47, Pad 11 = 45, Pad 12 = 43, Pad 13 = 49, Pad 14 = 55, Pad 15 = 51, Pad 16 = 53

This system seems horribly dated, and with any hope they will make this customizable in the future. Still working on isolating MIDI Channel 10 as the only input the MPC receives... Other channels are still triggering the drums

You would need a separate midi out going to the Mpc. Midi in on the Mpc controls whatever the current track is.

To achieve what you want connect the midi out of the Mpc to the beat step. The akai is a lot more robust of a sequencer, better pads and quicker work flow.

Mpc midi out to beats stp midi in, beat step midi out to synths. The Mpc has all the same features plus some conpared to the beat step.

I use a keystep for a portable controller and once the Mpc got arps I had no need for the sequencer.

I know that you want the beat step to be your main brain but you’re overlooking a much better tool for the job. I get it though, the Arturia stuff can be fun but the beat step is really a knock off Mpc with different features.

You’d be better off getting a cheaper alternative to just trigger drum samples if that’s what you really want. They say multitimbral support is coming but for all we know akai can bankrupt out tomorrow .

I imagine it has something to do with the usb midi with the hold up. We haven’t seen that and I see it being very complicated to sort out if you have physical and virtual ports sending who knows what to each other. Just my humble opinion.

Im thinking in the rush to get the MPC initially done for the 'suits' they wrote alot of half ass code thrown together and they probably wrote themselves into a hole as far as MIDI/USB/Multitimbrality goes. Remember Dan, the Product Manager, said they didn't include multi-channel MIDI input because they "didn't think anyone would want to use it" (thats an almost exact quote hah). They probably coded the majority of it with clips and whatever deal they made with Ableton and Splice in mind first and foremost so everything else was kind of squeezed around it. Its like the "upcoming" 1:1 track layout. They wrote themselves into a corner, and in order to redo the Arrangement, they have to rewrite the whole thing. Someone didn't do very much planning and just threw the thing together to rush it to market. Id almost bet thats why its in the state it is.

Cockdiesel wrote: I know that you want the beat step to be your main brain but you’re overlooking a much better tool for the job. I get it though, the Arturia stuff can be fun but the beat step is really a knock off Mpc with different features.

I agree that the MPC is a far superior machine in most ways, but that's part of the appeal of playing with the beatstep, it's kind of a creative limitation. It's very simple and tactile, and I don't get caught up in the infinite possibilities of the Mpc. A strange approach I know, but it's fun sometimes.

Multi-timbrel would be nice, but i won't hold my breath. Thanks for the help

Put the work in. You will find the Mpc architecture to be unparalleled.

If you have the MPC software, open the program, go to Edit > Program > Note Mapping and change it to chromatic mapping. Save it and reload in standalone.