Support and discussion for all of Akai’s modern standalone MPCs including the MPC X / X SE, MPC Live 1, 2 & 3, MPC One / One+, MPC Key 37/61.
By Lyricalgenius81 Tue Jul 28, 2020 4:43 pm
Yo thanks for the input peeps.

I’ve recorded some stuff straight into the mpc and I’m finding it quick to work with but the recording side of things is definatelly not ideal . I’m still experimenting.

I know that a Dedicated DAW has much more flexibility but i find working fast is quite important.

So do most of you create a song in the mpc then open up your DAW and bring it in to the song by dropping the mpc vst into the project? I like to drop vocals and then build the song around the vocals often times so stemming them out while they are still not complete is not really the way.

Bringing the mpc vst into Cubase I find it doesn’t loop properly so recording vocals in loop again is not ideal. Just trying to find the most suitable way really .
By Lyricalgenius81 Tue Jul 28, 2020 4:46 pm
bees80 wrote:
Lyricalgenius81 wrote:Bees I know what I’ve got But thanks for telling me what equipment I have oh and as well as the pc I’ve also got an i9 Mac too ! However I’m not asking you wether I should be recording in my DAW (which is cubase 10.5) I’m asking wether there’s a way to use the MPC 2.8.1 software to record vocals In a usable way. Why do I sense an air of frustration in your reply as if I’m asking a ludicrous question?

If this software is not a digital audio workstation then what would you call it?


Impressive. Guess i hit a nerve there, reading your replies :)

Anyway; No, you can't record longer audio tracks over sequences, you have to create a song first. It literally takes maybe 20 seconds to do. Is that really an issue?

I would call the MPC a sampler/midi sequencer. In no universe the MPC could match to ableton, cubase or whatever. Actually, the current song mode is the biggest point why it is not a daw.


Perhaps I was a bit rash with my reaction no hard feelings.
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By EnochLight Tue Jul 28, 2020 7:26 pm
bees80 wrote:Just out of curiosity, do any of you guys record vocals in the mpc?


I don't record vocals (my computer DAW will always be my go-to for that), but I do record live instruments such as my bass guitar on occasion. In fact, I've found that going DI right from my guitar into my MPC Live works great, and sounds great to boot. This is just using a cheap run-of-the-mill Ibanez bass. But I almost always do this on a per-sequence basis, and my sequences are rarely longer than 8 bars. Works great. I've also experimented with the MPC's actual Looper feature, but rarely use it these days. Need to mess with that some more.
By CharlesRandolph Tue Jul 28, 2020 8:44 pm
Lyricalgenius81 wrote:Yo thanks for the input peeps.

I’ve recorded some stuff straight into the mpc and I’m finding it quick to work with but the recording side of things is definatelly not ideal . I’m still experimenting.

I know that a Dedicated DAW has much more flexibility but i find working fast is quite important.

So do most of you create a song in the mpc then open up your DAW and bring it in to the song by dropping the mpc vst into the project? I like to drop vocals and then build the song around the vocals often times so stemming them out while they are still not complete is not really the way.

Bringing the mpc vst into Cubase I find it doesn’t loop properly so recording vocals in loop again is not ideal. Just trying to find the most suitable way really .


For myself, these MPC are cool auxiliary devices and great as a small midi drum controller for an ipad setup, I also use it for the audio sampling functions but I don't use the inputs.
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By bees80 Wed Jul 29, 2020 7:14 am
Lyricalgenius81 wrote: I like to drop vocals and then build the song around the vocals often times so stemming them out while they are still not complete is not really the way.

Bringing the mpc vst into Cubase I find it doesn’t loop properly so recording vocals in loop again is not ideal. Just trying to find the most suitable way really .


In your case, i would just make a basic long song to record your vocals, and then you can start building the song around it. Personally, i rather take it to a daw first, then record, and then built the song further in the daw. It's just so much easier and quicker to do it on the computer. That's just me.

I also don't use the mpc vst in my daw for this. I usually just record the seperate tracks in my daw. Alternatively, you could look into the explode function on the mpc, so you can import al your wav loops into cubase (including the vocal you recorded). I think most daw have an option to create a new track per .wav that is imported.. So that process should be relatively fast. See it as a quick coffee break ;)
By Lyricalgenius81 Wed Jul 29, 2020 3:56 pm
Yes the way Ive been doing it up to now has been creating a session in my DAW bringing in the rough song mix into the mpc vst in my DAW. Recording vocals over it then adapting and changing the mpc sequences around the song in the DAW but it all a bit fragmented. You can’t seem to do changes in the vst as it’s so sluggish and limited. But then when I want to make changes I have to close the DAW open Mpc 2.8.1 on its own and try to make the changes however obviously the vocals arnt in place (as they were recorded in the DAW) so hence the idea of recording into the mpc directly. I get ya about creating in song mode but it’s nice to have the flexibility working within the sequences. Usually I do stem out by exploding but that’s when I’m confident that the song is pretty much complete it’s just not how I’m tending to like to work tho , it’s a shame they can’t implement a few changes in mpc software so that it’s easier to punch in and record multiple takes of audio on one track.
By Lyricalgenius81 Wed Jul 29, 2020 4:01 pm
I also have to say the audio cutting tool and pitch shifting and fade in fade out on mpc software works great and very quick to use.

I would always mix in my DAW though as there’s so much more flexibilty as well as plugin delay compensation
By D. M. Wed Nov 16, 2022 4:01 pm
I’ve just got an MPC X and I’m trying to record vocals. I’m surprised there is no comping facility (not as surprised about the bugs surround time signature changes!!..)
It seems like the way to edit multi-take audio recordings is just to cut and splice one at a time, like we used to do with magnetic tape. Maybe the slowness of the process will feed the creative aspect, one hopes.
Still, very poor user architecture for such an expensive piece of kit…
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By Neurone Wed Nov 16, 2022 9:07 pm
I record vocals all the time in the audio tracks.
No problem.
Only issue comes if a vocal starts before the first beat or hangs over the last.
So I just append the patterns in question together to resolve that.
Sounds great.

I don't master in the MPC, it's not really up to it, I export the stems into whatever DAW is to hand and finish it off there.
I prefer doing all the hard work in the MPC standalone though as I detest the all the **** around in the DAW during composition.
Your mileage may vary.
By Villanosam Tue Jul 02, 2024 12:47 pm
It is possible to record a whole song, mix and master on the MPC. I record all my songs with it, Standalone. Let me know if you want a tutorial of how I do it. My YouTube channel is YouTube.com/@villanosamoficial

Let me know
Villanosam