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 Nouri_leiner Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:37 pm
Hi,

I was messing around with my modular and wanted to record the session as audio in the MPC and the recording stops everytime after 148 bars even if I set the total bar way higher.

Is there a maximum length of bars?
I read everything I found in the manual and couldn't find an answer.

Thanks!
By Straker Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:04 pm
I think it depends on the available Ram, because audio tracks are stored in Ram.
So the limit should be around 800mb, I really don't know what this means in terms of minutes.
Keep in mind that internal processing (and so also audio tracks recordings) are 32 bit.
By HouseWithoutMouse Mon Sep 06, 2021 6:16 pm
Recording audio in 44100 Hz stereo 32 bit float eats 44100 * 2 * 4 * 60 * 60 = 1.18 gigabytes of storage for one our of stereo recording, half that i.e. around 600 megabytes for 30 minutes. The MPC boxes don't (yet) have disk streaming, so everything has to fit in available RAM. Myself, I would use an external stand-alone, direct to SD card audio recorder such as Zoom H4n, for recording live sessions.
By AndersonUsman Tue Dec 23, 2025 1:22 pm
Yes, this is a known limitation and you’re not doing anything wrong — on MPCs the bar-based recording length is capped, and long recordings are better handled in audio track mode or by recording freely without relying on an extended bar count. Once you hit around that 148–150 bar range, the sequencer-based recording can stop even if you set more bars, especially at certain tempos. The usual workaround is to record the modular session as a long audio clip (not tied to bars), then trim or place it in the sequence afterward.