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 reneefilho Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:30 am
Hello friends,

Using a Sequencer as a Master Clock Workstation, sending Clock to some gears and to MPC One (directly from one MIDI out Port), the sound comes out from MPC has a huge latency.

Even Sequencing the MIDI Notes at Sequencer, or inside the MPC, both results are the same, the sound comes out one week later, very lazy sound, no punch, no drive, very flat, mainly compared to old MPC's.

So it is impossible to use it in a Live Setup, as the sounds coming from MPC One are too delayed, in reference to the other gears.

Anyone know how is possible to try to handle with the MIDI Latency? If there is any tool/feature that could try to compensate the delay?

Thank you,
Best,
R.
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By Lampdog Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:39 am
Did you reset your OS as soon as you turned on the machine before getting to work?

What OS are you on?
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By bees80 Sun Apr 26, 2020 7:49 am
It's definitely something in your settings of the mpc or in the receiveing synths/equipment you have, because using the mpc as a master works tight, 100%.

Also, your post doesn't make much sense to me, because first you talk about midi latency, and then you say the sound is weak (no punch) which has nothing to do with midi.

If you want proper help, give proper information please..

- Please tell us all the gear connected and how (midi and midi thru)
- And list all the gear you have connected this way
By reneefilho Sun Apr 26, 2020 2:06 pm
Ok, thank you!

Testing 2 ways of Syncing Gears

1 - First Setup Test

> MPC One (Master Clock)
>> Cirklon
>>> DrumStation

MPC One sounds a bit delay, but almost there, like 95% on time (this show probably a slow envelope).

2 - Second Setup Test

> Cirklon (Master Clock)
>> MPC One
>> DrumStation

MPC One sounds very very very late (so this shows that probably is a MIDI Clock Latency).


So on setup two ( Latency + Slow Envelope ), results in a sound with a big gap/delay.

The Slow Envelope means that the sound doesn't "punch". It results in a poor quantize feeling,
in a lazy groove.

If you listen to a Jomox for Example, with Analog Envelopes and VCAs in any sound generator,
it is a "kick", like Bruce Lee. It hits you before you think.

That's the thing!!!


bees80 wrote:It's definitely something in your settings of the mpc or in the receiveing synths/equipment you have, because using the mpc as a master works tight, 100%.

Also, your post doesn't make much sense to me, because first you talk about midi latency, and then you say the sound is weak (no punch) which has nothing to do with midi.

If you want proper help, give proper information please..

- Please tell us all the gear connected and how (midi and midi thru)
- And list all the gear you have connected this way
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By NearTao Sun Apr 26, 2020 2:34 pm
If MPC One is master clock, I don't understand how it can be late, since by default it is what should be sending clocking information to everything else...

likewise it doesn't make (much) sense for everything else to be trigger earlier than the master.

Midi cabling issue that is causing a loop maybe?
By reneefilho Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:51 pm
It sounds with delay because the Envelope is slow.

When you have a Analog VCA + fast Envelope, the sound comes out fast.

When you have a CPU making 1000000 billion calculus, on which sample should play, start point, digital envelope, effects, etc etc etc etc etc ... there are many parameters to process before shoot-out the sound. That's why the "modern" gears sounds "different" than "old" gears.

The groove is not the same, feeling is not the same. Mainly between Analog and Digital.


NearTao wrote:If MPC One is master clock, I don't understand how it can be late, since by default it is what should be sending clocking information to everything else...

likewise it doesn't make (much) sense for everything else to be trigger earlier than the master.

Midi cabling issue that is causing a loop maybe?
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By bees80 Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:01 am
I am still scratching my head because of your description of the issue..

By fast envelope; you mean when you have a synth synced, it sounds ''late'' because the envelope of the amp ADSR has a long attack?
By reneefilho Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:26 am
It is not exactly the "Attack". But the Attack of the ADSR is one of the point.
ADSR is even late, because of Computer Processing of Thousand parameters.


>>> Like if you have a Analog Gear with one sound. It receives the gate, midi msg and plays the sound.
Receive / Play ... Receive / Play - just do that

(if there is a metronome hitting up, and every time it rings you clap your hands - ok - easy)


>>> It is different than a Digital Machine playing some sounds at the same time, passing to the same
computer processor (in the box) and trying to fit in tempo.

(if when the metronome hits, there will appear a color, and you have to say the name of the color.
slow tempo, is quite ok, few colors is quite ok. but when tempo is getting faster, and more colors
are added, you need to think more and the delay will get bigger)




bees80 wrote:I am still scratching my head because of your description of the issue..

By fast envelope; you mean when you have a synth synced, it sounds ''late'' because the envelope of the amp ADSR has a long attack?
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By NearTao Mon Apr 27, 2020 1:43 pm
Are we talking nanoseconds late, milliseconds late, or seconds late?

I haven't had any kind of unacceptable lateness on the MPC X, but you might be driving to a higher standard than I have been lately.
By reneefilho Tue Apr 28, 2020 11:24 am
So, maybe you can help me with your gear. And make a test.

4/4 kick drum at MPC One
4/4 kick drum at a Analog kick drum generator

Test 1: a sequencer sending midi to both gears, and send 4/4 kick drum trigger to Analog kd synth

> sequencer
>> MPC One
>> Analog kick drum


Test 2: MPC One being the master clock sending midi clock to sequencer

> MPC One (Master Clock)
>> Sequencer
>>> Analog kick drum


Test 3: MPC One being the master clock sending midi information to Analog kd synth

> MPC One (Master Clock)
>> Analog kick drum


Check these cases results. Please let me know.


I found at the Forum, some topic saying Firmware 2.x reduced the latency to 15 ms.
That 15 mili seconds, if you have 2 kick drums playing together, you can listen a bit
difference between both.

So if you are programming a drum using both gears, it is not possible to keep the
groove flowing this way.

Thank you!!!


bees80 wrote:Me neither. I have 6 external synths (yes, also analog) attached to my mpc live, 4 of them are multitimbral. My sync is tight as frog ass.
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By Lampdog Tue Apr 28, 2020 1:48 pm
I don’t know about One but my X (2.6) is clock for and sequences....

EMU Turbo Phatt
Moog Subsequent-37
Kronos2

All at the same time w/o latency problems. Admittedly no, I haven’t taken X midi files to PC to inspect for millisecond timing issues because I haven’t noticed or had any issues.