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.
User avatar
By Lampdog Thu Sep 03, 2020 4:15 pm
borez wrote:.But surely though if you're here on a help forum to, you know, help people with their questions then maybe leave the pointless sarcasm at the door , or just don't get involved at all.


Calm down, tune in and jam out!

Hideous mutant wrote:99.8 WONTRT FM


:-D
User avatar
By NearTao Thu Sep 03, 2020 4:25 pm
borez wrote:Well unless you've been hiding under a rock for a long time then there are these things called third party plugins which might have been available. I don't see mentioned anywhere in the manual that there aren't any for the MPC.

But surely though if you're here on a help forum to, you know, help people with their questions then maybe leave the pointless sarcasm at the door , or just don't get involved at all.


So let me get this straight... you believe you are entitled to get answers without indication of doing any work yourself or thanking others for help... and yet you find responses pointing you to get the answers yourself and where to go are unacceptable and unhelpful.
User avatar
By bees80 Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:05 pm
borez wrote:
bees80 wrote:The list of plugins is literally in the manual... perhaps you felt a bit dumb after that was pointed out and now you need to channel that towards me, which is fine! I'm a dick head regardless so no offence taken :)

Oh and welcome to the forums. Before you post more questions, make sure you read the manual first :nod:


Well unless you've been hiding under a rock for a long time then there are these things called third party plugins which might have been available. I don't see mentioned anywhere in the manual that there aren't any for the MPC.

But surely though if you're here on a help forum to, you know, help people with their questions then maybe leave the pointless sarcasm at the door , or just don't get involved at all.


Yeah it's not in the manual because ..... there are no third party plugins for the mpc live/x/one. It's like going to the mcdonalds and being surprised there is no whopper on the menu.

And thanks for your suggestions, i will put it on the agenda for the anual RTFM meeting next tuesday.
User avatar
By antic604 Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:16 pm
bees80 wrote:Yeah it's not in the manual because ..... there are no third party plugins for the mpc live/x/one. It's like going to the mcdonalds and being surprised there is no whopper on the menu.


There are no 3rd party MPC plugins because no dev bothered to make them. The system is ready for them, which is evident e.g. by ability to sort by manufacturer :)

So your analogy is a bit off...
User avatar
By NearTao Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:19 pm
@bees80... I started this for you...

Hello Akai Support
I can't believe my eyes
My MPC don't make beats
To impress the other guys

Did you read the manual?
Of course you say you did!
Did you read the manual?
I don't believe you kid!

The MPC missing features
The firmware ain't complete
How can I compose a track
I need to drop a dope beat

Did you read the manual?
Of course you say you did!
Did you read the manual?
I don't believe you kid!

Well other guys are jealous
My rhymes are on fire
Akai just tell me what to do
That's all that I desire
User avatar
By NearTao Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:26 pm
antic604 wrote:
bees80 wrote:Yeah it's not in the manual because ..... there are no third party plugins for the mpc live/x/one. It's like going to the mcdonalds and being surprised there is no whopper on the menu.


There are no 3rd party MPC plugins because no dev bothered to make them. The system is ready for them, which is evident e.g. by ability to sort by manufacturer :)

So your analogy is a bit off...


I think you're putting the cart before the horse in assuming that a sort by manufacturer infers the ability to load third party VSTs. For all we know the plugins are hard complied into the software. Unless you've got proof that the plugins are standalone, and that you or somebody you know has actually compiled VSTs or some other format to arm, on linux, and gotten them to show up in the plugin list I have to call BS.

Certainly the functionality *could* be there, but I haven't seen anything from Akai stating that this is in fact possible. Plenty of people have gotten SSH over wifi support into their MPC X/Live/One, and not one of them that I am aware of has gotten any third party plugins to work. Sure you can run third party apps, run display over ssh, etc... but none of that indicates third party plugins.
User avatar
By EnochLight Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:43 pm
NearTao wrote:I think you're putting the cart before the horse in assuming that a sort by manufacturer infers the ability to load third party VSTs. For all we know the plugins are hard complied into the software. Unless you've got proof that the plugins are standalone, and that you or somebody you know has actually compiled VSTs or some other format to arm, on linux, and gotten them to show up in the plugin list I have to call BS.

Certainly the functionality *could* be there, but I haven't seen anything from Akai stating that this is in fact possible. Plenty of people have gotten SSH over wifi support into their MPC X/Live/One, and not one of them that I am aware of has gotten any third party plugins to work. Sure you can run third party apps, run display over ssh, etc... but none of that indicates third party plugins.


There may be some truth to antic604's idea. Over at Gearslutz, there is a user that has posted customized skins on the MPC Live for the current plugins. They're the person that rooted Juno 106-themed skins to the MPC Live's TubeSynth, etc. I'm pretty sure that's the same person who also frequently rips apart the firmware code and finds "stuff". Over at GS, they claim that there is code that suggests some sort of 3rd party plugin support may be possible - if Akai just finished the code and of course activates it.

Obviously there's a metric shit ton of work that would need to happen - not least of which is releasing a viable Plugin SDK that allows devs to create Plugins for the MPC (and presumably Force) in standalone that work within the hardware constraints of the current gen hardware. And then they'd need a store to distribute them in, and authorization service, etc. Think Propelleheads (er, Reason Studios) Rack Extensions but for standalone MPC's instead.

Whether we see something like that obviously remains to be seen. It would be a smart move by InMusic/Akai to create a new revenue stream and allow users to purchase separate plugins and customize their MPC's, for sure. Sort of surprised they didn't do this already.

Of course, it's also possible that user is making this shit up. They seem pretty legit, though. I'll see if I can find the thread.

*EDIT: here it is: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpos ... ount=23999

*EDIT 2: and here's examples of their awesome skin work:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpos ... ount=23514

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpos ... ount=23500
Last edited by EnochLight on Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:51 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
By bees80 Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:46 pm
NearTao wrote:@bees80... I started this for you...

Hello Akai Support
I can't believe my eyes
My MPC don't make beats
To impress the other guys

Did you read the manual?
Of course you say you did!
Did you read the manual?
I don't believe you kid!

The MPC missing features
The firmware ain't complete
How can I compose a track
I need to drop a dope beat

Did you read the manual?
Of course you say you did!
Did you read the manual?
I don't believe you kid!

Well other guys are jealous
My rhymes are on fire
Akai just tell me what to do
That's all that I desire


Oe that's hot. I feel this should be a piano-balad. I can see myself going full backstreet-kid; "THATS AAAAAHAAAALLL III DESIIIIIREEEEEEEEEE YEEAAAAH BABYYY"
User avatar
By bees80 Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:55 pm
antic604 wrote:
bees80 wrote:Yeah it's not in the manual because ..... there are no third party plugins for the mpc live/x/one. It's like going to the mcdonalds and being surprised there is no whopper on the menu.


There are no 3rd party MPC plugins because no dev bothered to make them. The system is ready for them, which is evident e.g. by ability to sort by manufacturer :)

So your analogy is a bit off...


Not sure why the possibility to sort by manufacturer is evidence that the mpc software is ready to work with 3rd party plugins... :hmmm:

Not bothered to make them? You think that's how a company works? Personally, I think it only has to do with resources. They are limited and adding the possibility of 3rd party plugins would be huge. Just look at how long they took on implementing midi correctly, and it still has flaws.
User avatar
By NearTao Thu Sep 03, 2020 6:56 pm
The skinning of those plugins is just replacing graphic files, so while interesting, is probably one of the easier things to hack into a firmware most of the time.

To get 3rd party plugins to work would require an API of some sort that could manage Audio In/Audio Out/Midi Data/CV Data/etc...

I'd imagine the easier thing for somebody to hack on would be to try and get the Hype Synth over to the MPC from the force, but that'd assume that it's a real plugin and not just compiled into the Force executable.

The best way to get at this kind of stuff would be with a dev kit, but barring that, it becomes pretty gnarly to start figuring out the build roots for the application, build out library dependencies, replace whatever Akai has created without having docs, etc... It's not to say that it's impossible, but for most people it is far more work than what you'd get out of it in the best circumstances... Even if there is an API interface that could allow third party apps, without a header file to declare what the function calls are, parameters, and returns... it becomes a huge problem to figure out how to map all of these things. Again... it's possible, but it then relies on somebody with serious debugging skills, particularly in the ARM environment, to be able to rip these things apart and understand what they are doing.

I've got a lot (not all) of the necessary background to get into this stuff, but I feel like I have better things to do with my time... like actually make some music :D