Noob question, how do I keep key groups seperate

First, I'm not worthy.

There has got to be an easy fix for this and I'm so new, it has got to be right in front of me, but I haven't seen it on a single tutorial, because it has got to be so easy, literally no one teaches it. so here is the problem.

When I am working with a key group like a piano and messing with the pad perform functions, like changing a piano chord or chord progression or whatever, and changing the key, and changing the octave or the scale or whatever, and I have all that dialed in, it is perfect, that is great but there is a problem

I go back to my other key group ( in the same project) like the baseline or an 808, that I have have created using the same method as above, and it also changed up the pad perform on that instrument to the same piano changes.

The question is, how do I keep my key group changes separate from each other?

The settings for pad perform are project-wide, so there is nothing we can do about it.

Pad perform settings are not assigned to a specific program, they are global for the current project, so your settings remain regardless of which keygroup, plugin or midi track you select within your project. So you'll just have to open up pad perform and manually re-configure.

Thanks everybody.

Is there any work around for this? Like saving one main project with single note base line and some drums. Then exporting multiple different pad performs pianos to a daw, or software MPC 2.0 . and multiple different samples that I can control with the MPC? That all have different pad perform settings?

Just trying to figure out how to save a "sound" chord or chord progression that I like, without destroying it when I work on other stuff.

Any suggestions? NI Maschine?

I'm not entirely sure what it is you are trying to do, perhaps you've not quite understood the purpose of pad perform. It's just a temporary state that you put the MPC pads into to allow you to perform chords and notes on the pads within a specified key and scale. When you are finished performing you can switch it off or leave it on.

What do you mean by 'saving a chord progression'? Ultimately you record your performances to a sequencer track to 'save' then as a MIDI performance. In turn you can convert a nice progression into a pad perform progression to use in pad perform mode (MAIN > TRACK pencil > Convert to progression) which can be used whenever you select pad perform mode.

Any suggestions? NI Maschine?

Sit down with the manual and become a bit more comfortable with the MPC terminology and general workflow, especially regarding sequencing in general.

A work around could be to use an external midi controller that can save chords. I think the Novation sl line can do this.

@MPC tutor, In reality, when I'm walking in my house and I turn on a light, I don't want to start the car in the garage, I just want to turn on a light. I dim a light in another room, I don't want to dim the lights outside. I pick up the phone, I don't want to broadcast the conversation on a megaphone outside the house

you say: "I'm not entirely sure what it is you are trying to do." Well, I'm glad you ask. My intentions are exactly the same in the real world of my house as they are in the virtual world of the MPC LIVE 2.

I'm simply trying to compartmentalize my sound design without making global changes to all the sounds within a program, and I'm not sure the MPC can do this. I'm trying to SAVE THE ABILITY to work with sounds that I have designed. For example, a certain synth, in a certain key, set up to perform in an octave range, ready to execute a PROGRESSION that I selected within the Pad perform screen.

Synth CHORDS, YES tutor, follow closely, I mean to say the word CHORDS, not Single Notes, and those can be arranged on the PAD PERFORM SCREEN with a menu button call PROGRESSIONS, those are called CHORD PROGRESSIONS in music theory (On the pad perform screen if you look it is labeled PROGRESSIONS, it is composed of chords). They are ready to execute, but are not on a track.

Here is the problem for me, and for you and for everyone, you have the synth set up as I've described above. You found bass that sounds great, that using PAD PERFORM is composed of SINGLE NOTES, that in the Key of C, Octave 2, Scale Major, etc etc

BUT HERE IS THE PROBLEM. When I go back the CHORDS, Listen to me the chords that you designed from before they are gone, it is now changed back to single notes, like the bass tweaks. Because this MPC is limited. I'm so surprised that they haven't fixed this.

I've been at this 2 weeks, and despite my obvious need to "Sit down with the manual and become a bit more comfortable with the MPC terminology and general workflow, especially regarding sequencing in general." @ tutor you don't see that this is limiting?

If you don't see it as limiting, please re-wire the electrical in your house to work exactly the same way as the MPC. One light on, all lights on. Refrigerator door open, front door open also. One window open, all windows one.


"Have I not quite understood the purpose of pad perform?" I think I have, and I think its garbage.

Love the website, keep up the good work.

To put it bluntly you cannot do what you want to. It has no parameter retention. Pad Perform while having the possibility to be amazing, wasn't really fully fleshed out by Akai. Its kind of a red headed step child. I thought there would be massive improvements to it by now, but honestly there hasn't been a whole lot of feedback from users since inception. Akai likely will never touch pad perform mode unless there is a mass of feedback requesting more features. But unfortunately the user base on a whole doesn't seem to have a vested interest in it like they have had for other features that were perceived to be missing or lacking. Your best bet is to put the name of the progression or settings in the track or program name so you can manually recall when needed.

The Pad perform doesn't belong to the program. Similarly, on any other systems, when you change the sound program, the octave range of the external keyboard does not change in sync.

Anyway, to summarize:

Desire: You want to assign specific pad perform settings to each program (or track)

Reality: This is not possible, there is no workaround as pad perform is a global, project-wide setting. Pad perform doesn't change any of the sounds in a program, the program itself is untouched. It's basically temporarily rewiring the pads across the entire project to only play specific notes from a scale, no matter what program is selected.

However, when changing tracks the MPC does remember your chosen scale and key, so you just have to hit SHIFT & 16 LEVEL and select type as 'notes' or 'progressions'. The progression you set previously is always remembered. It will take 2 seconds to do this. I agree having it automatically recall specific settings for each track would be cool, so
send a feature request to Akai, perhaps they will work something out.