How to switch between projects during a live set?

On MPC X I want to smoothly uninterruptedly continuosly switch from one project to another. How?
If this is not possible, what is the fast way to load the next project after playback of the first one stopped? Is there a way to create a playlist of projects and then just skip to the next project by pressing a single button?

I'm sure this must've been asked a million times. Basically the question is how to make a one hour (techno) live set of multiple projects without any breaks in playback.

You can:

Import sequences into one project.
Or
Have a huge single project, with your set made up of different sequences
Or
Use another piece of kit to cover your transition whilst you load up your next track.

No quicker way to load new projects, it's definitely been asked a million times (I was one of those millions), and yes it does seem weird that they'd name it the live, when you can't easily play a live set


My set up, for long techno sets is this:


Mpc live mk2, octatrack mk2, and syntakt. Play one track on one device, mix the next track on another device into the one that's playing. Works perfectly. I'm going to put together a new live set of just the mpc and syntakt for a couple of gigs that involve travelling quite a distance, so I have less to worry about.

Scatter gun answer, so the take away is this:

Yes it can be done, it's not straightforward, and you're forced to think about the way that it's going to work best for you.

Never done a long live techno set on stage, but from a technical point of view to keep a show running without interruptions it's a good idea to have a HOT/HOT redundancy setup where both or all devices are running and playing something real all the time. Have all devices play something the whole time, so that if e.g. the MPC locks up or shuts down completely, some music is still running, other devices are still playing the tune and you just have to turn some knobs, push faders, start drum sequences, launch clips or something to increase their existing role. Instead of a "cold" backup/fallback device having to be completely started up, by which time it's already too late. Only while loading a new project you'll have to have a device completely stopped. All other times, all devices are hot and running.

Patientrichard wrote:You can:

Import sequences into one project.
Or
Have a huge single project, with your set made up of different sequences
Or
Use another piece of kit to cover your transition whilst you load up your next track.

No quicker way to load new projects, it's definitely been asked a million times (I was one of those millions), and yes it does seem weird that they'd name it the live, when you can't easily play a live set


My set up, for long techno sets is this:


Mpc live mk2, octatrack mk2, and syntakt. Play one track on one device, mix the next track on another device into the one that's playing. Works perfectly. I'm going to put together a new live set of just the mpc and syntakt for a couple of gigs that involve travelling quite a distance, so I have less to worry about.

Scatter gun answer, so the take away is this:

Yes it can be done, it's not straightforward, and you're forced to think about the way that it's going to work best for you.

Thanks a lot! I'm using all individual 8 (6+2) audio outputs which means that I'll have 8 audio tracks. Is there any limit on their length/duration/size? In a single project, can I have 8 audio (mono) tracks where each is 1 hour long?

I believe the limit per audio track is 5 minutes, regardless of channel count.

BTW, just a quick FYI - this is a topic that has come up before, both in terms of dealing with multiple projects in a live set and the audio track limits, so please do remember to search here and via Google (e.g. your search term site:mpc-forums.com) as there's already a lot of advice in this regard:

https://www.google.com/search?q=mpc+aud ... forums.com

https://www.google.com/search?q=multipl ... forums.com

radoburansky wrote:

Patientrichard wrote:You can:

Import sequences into one project.
Or
Have a huge single project, with your set made up of different sequences
Or
Use another piece of kit to cover your transition whilst you load up your next track.

No quicker way to load new projects, it's definitely been asked a million times (I was one of those millions), and yes it does seem weird that they'd name it the live, when you can't easily play a live set


My set up, for long techno sets is this:


Mpc live mk2, octatrack mk2, and syntakt. Play one track on one device, mix the next track on another device into the one that's playing. Works perfectly. I'm going to put together a new live set of just the mpc and syntakt for a couple of gigs that involve travelling quite a distance, so I have less to worry about.

Scatter gun answer, so the take away is this:

Yes it can be done, it's not straightforward, and you're forced to think about the way that it's going to work best for you.

Thanks a lot! I'm using all individual 8 (6+2) audio outputs which means that I'll have 8 audio tracks. Is there any limit on their length/duration/size? In a single project, can I have 8 audio (mono) tracks where each is 1 hour long?

So as Tutor has suggested, take a look at the previous discussions. Tutor actually got me to understand how importing multiple projects into one works, so it's definitely worth having a gander.

With respect to your comment - when you say audio tracks, do you mean audio tracks as per the mpc parlance, or (as I suspect) you're talking g about audio going out of each output and treating it like a 'track' in the traditional sense? - so kick, hat, etc on separate 'tracks', going to a mixer for manipulation?

Cheers

Thanks guys for now. Sure I've heard about Google but the thing returned topics back from 2008 which I politely ignored. Also even the more recent ones are for other flavors of MPC.

And because I also own MPX8 I can make it play samples while I'm switching MPC X to another project.

radoburansky wrote:Sure I've heard about Google but the thing returned topics back from 2008 which I politely ignored. Also even the more recent ones are for other flavors of MPC.

I wasn't being sarcastic BTW, I'm sure you have heard of Google My point is that this particular topic has a healthy history of responses so there's going to be a lot of useful information already out there that perhaps won't be mentioned here today, so it's worth checking out those older posts in additon to anything posted here today, this forum is a huge archive of knowledge.

It doesn't matter which model you have, it's all the same principles (and all models since 2017 run the same OS), and ultimately this issue (how to fill the gaps in a live set) still needs similar solutions (bridging the gap with another device, or combining projects into a single project).