By jabberwalky
Wed Aug 31, 2022 9:36 pm
I haven't seen anyone mention this before, so I thought I'd share a weird "hack" that makes it possible to have your MPC running a sort of, pseudo, song mode, while giving you the freedom to not use the shitty song mode at all. Allowing you to tweak, and change anything in your sequences while it runs.
This isn't the easiest thing to setup, and would require a bit of setup in your projects ahead of time, but for those who play live and hate song mode, this could very well be the answer.
All you need is 1 short midi cable & time!
1. Plug your midi cable from one of your outputs (I use B), plug the other side into Midi Input (I use 1).
2. Preferences -> Under Midi/Sync, scroll to bottom and in the PROGRAM CHANGE pulldown, select SEQUENCE. Also scroll up to the output ports and be sure MPC B is has track enabled, and MPC 1 Input has TRACK DISABLED. (This is to be safe to prevent midi feedback)
3. Load up a song with a few parts to test (I used a project with Verse, Chorus, Bridge).
4. In each sequence, create a midi track (I usually make one far back from other instruments). Make the midi track output port be MPC B on channel 1.
5. Now, for each sequence, what you do is open the step sequencer tab. At some point in each sequence (I usually go to the first step of the last bar) Double tap the parameter -> Add new -> Track -> Program Change
6. Using the qlink for the step you have picked, turn it up. You will see the numbers to the side. NOW, here is one small annoyance. Sequences in MPC begin at 1, while program change begins at 0. So in reality, Program Change 0 will call up Sequence 1....Program Change 1 will call up Sequence 2, and so on. So set that step to the sequence number you want to play following the current sequence. (For instance, I place a box on step 1 of bar 4 of Seq 1. I turn that number with the q-link to "1" (You can hold shift while turning qlinks for more accuracy).
THIS IS IMPORTANT Because this is definitely a hacky way to do it You have to scroll back to the very beginning of your sequence, in the step sequencer tab still, on step 1, bar 1 you may notice it has a box as well, this is because it has to have a Program Change in the beginning as well, for whatever reason, how midi works. So...YOU MUST turn up the q-link here to the # of the sequence you are currently on. If this isn't done, you will break your project, and be unable to navigate to your sequences.
This is all possible using the LIST VIEW window as well (it is easier to pick the numbers here). I just prefer the step sequencer.
Now that each sequence has these programmed in, you can hit play, and let it roll. I had mine go from Verse, Chorus, Bridge, then back to Verse. So it's an endless loop essentially.
Now with this method, you can tweak around your MPC like normal, edit programs, tweak synths,whatever! And the sequences will play in the order you choose! Now get this! You can combine this method with other automations even! Yep, you can mute the midi track and it will not change the sequence, then unmute it and it will change next time around. So you could do crazy shit with track mutes + this (in theory lol).
CAVEATS:
• If you navigate the playhead to the point where you set your program change, it will instantly jump to wheere you set it. Not sure why, but it just does. In normal playback, the sequence change will wait until the right time to switch.
• You can't really have it repeat the same sequence again, so you have to just double the length of the sequence instead. (might be a workaround for this, idk).
• If you have your song go back to previous parts again, it will still have the changes from before, so you would have to work out how to mute the midi track, or just duplicate the sequences (i.e. Chorus1, Chorus2, Chorus3, Verse A1, Verse A2, Verse A3, etc.)
• I'm sure this could cause issues with heavily midi based projects (I haven't really done a ton of testing).
I plan to create a video soon about this method & the process. I hope all of it made sense.
This isn't the easiest thing to setup, and would require a bit of setup in your projects ahead of time, but for those who play live and hate song mode, this could very well be the answer.
All you need is 1 short midi cable & time!
1. Plug your midi cable from one of your outputs (I use B), plug the other side into Midi Input (I use 1).
2. Preferences -> Under Midi/Sync, scroll to bottom and in the PROGRAM CHANGE pulldown, select SEQUENCE. Also scroll up to the output ports and be sure MPC B is has track enabled, and MPC 1 Input has TRACK DISABLED. (This is to be safe to prevent midi feedback)
3. Load up a song with a few parts to test (I used a project with Verse, Chorus, Bridge).
4. In each sequence, create a midi track (I usually make one far back from other instruments). Make the midi track output port be MPC B on channel 1.
5. Now, for each sequence, what you do is open the step sequencer tab. At some point in each sequence (I usually go to the first step of the last bar) Double tap the parameter -> Add new -> Track -> Program Change
6. Using the qlink for the step you have picked, turn it up. You will see the numbers to the side. NOW, here is one small annoyance. Sequences in MPC begin at 1, while program change begins at 0. So in reality, Program Change 0 will call up Sequence 1....Program Change 1 will call up Sequence 2, and so on. So set that step to the sequence number you want to play following the current sequence. (For instance, I place a box on step 1 of bar 4 of Seq 1. I turn that number with the q-link to "1" (You can hold shift while turning qlinks for more accuracy).
THIS IS IMPORTANT Because this is definitely a hacky way to do it You have to scroll back to the very beginning of your sequence, in the step sequencer tab still, on step 1, bar 1 you may notice it has a box as well, this is because it has to have a Program Change in the beginning as well, for whatever reason, how midi works. So...YOU MUST turn up the q-link here to the # of the sequence you are currently on. If this isn't done, you will break your project, and be unable to navigate to your sequences.
This is all possible using the LIST VIEW window as well (it is easier to pick the numbers here). I just prefer the step sequencer.
Now that each sequence has these programmed in, you can hit play, and let it roll. I had mine go from Verse, Chorus, Bridge, then back to Verse. So it's an endless loop essentially.
Now with this method, you can tweak around your MPC like normal, edit programs, tweak synths,whatever! And the sequences will play in the order you choose! Now get this! You can combine this method with other automations even! Yep, you can mute the midi track and it will not change the sequence, then unmute it and it will change next time around. So you could do crazy shit with track mutes + this (in theory lol).
CAVEATS:
• If you navigate the playhead to the point where you set your program change, it will instantly jump to wheere you set it. Not sure why, but it just does. In normal playback, the sequence change will wait until the right time to switch.
• You can't really have it repeat the same sequence again, so you have to just double the length of the sequence instead. (might be a workaround for this, idk).
• If you have your song go back to previous parts again, it will still have the changes from before, so you would have to work out how to mute the midi track, or just duplicate the sequences (i.e. Chorus1, Chorus2, Chorus3, Verse A1, Verse A2, Verse A3, etc.)
• I'm sure this could cause issues with heavily midi based projects (I haven't really done a ton of testing).
I plan to create a video soon about this method & the process. I hope all of it made sense.