About to buy mpc live 2, Need One Question Answered plz

Hey gang, im excited to pick up an mpc live 2 after gawking over them for too long

I've been reading through the manual but i have poo-brain. so i apologize if this is a dumb question.

Regarding "looping", can you sequence in live loops so you don't have to press record or anything in the moment?

I like to jam/perform live and right now i use a groovebox to send CC to a midi loop pedal, that way the tempo is synced and i dont have to touch the loop pedal at all. All the start, stop, & clear points are sequenced in ahead of time.

I'm still getting my head around the workflow of mpc live as its very different from what im used to.

Thank you

Overdub will keep it recording midi events even after the loop point. Need to enter it first, but it will stay in overdub mode afterwards.

The correct answer is "no".

When you say "midi loop pedal", is it a looper which records and plays back MIDI events, or a MIDI-controllable audio looper? What's the actual product name?

In any case, why not keep the looper if it's working for you? What problem do you have with your current setup and are you hoping to fix it with an MPC?

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:When you say "midi loop pedal", is it a looper which records and plays back MIDI events, or a MIDI-controllable audio looper? What's the actual product name?

In any case, why not keep the looper if it's working for you? What problem do you have with your current setup and are you hoping to fix it with an MPC?

thanks for the reply, i mean a typical loop pedal that is controllable with midi CC messages. It a boss rc- 5

The main goal of the MPC is to eliminate at least half of the gear on my table. Because right now i have like 9 pieces of gear in order to make/perform the music i like. Hopefully if the MPC fits the bill, it will end up being 4.

The main problem with using this loop pedal is that it is only able to record a loop from 1 source at a time and when controlled via midi can only do one loop. No overdub at all. So like i can't record myself playing an instrument AND my buddy playing guitar at the same time and have them separate. Also i can only have one live loop going, no overdub via midi.

basically my workflow is: Get a beat going on my groovebox, program in loop start and stop and clear points that coincide with different patterns on the groovebox. Then while jaming/performing i can play some synth/keys which can easily be recorded live into the groovebox, but while thats all going the loop pedal is automatically starting and stopping the loop, recording new etc. So either im on an instrument or a buddy is and no one has to even touch the loop pedal at all while jamming.

idk maybe this is crazy to explain. Maybe i can just link a video of a jam that shows what im talking about? is that allowed here?

You needs almost sound like they could be fulfilled by a midi controlled, multitrack loop recorder with effects like the boss rc505 mkii https://www.boss.info/global/products/rc-505mk2/

The new line of mpcs have no way of being midi controlled for it's start stop overdub. They only listen to mmc messages.

Baqca Sanke wrote:i can't record myself playing an instrument AND my buddy playing guitar at the same time and have them separate.

How about if you separate you and your buddy to left and right sides? The RC-5 records in stereo, and you could then split the L+R outputs. If that's what you meant?

Anyway. Whichever device you buy, it will most likely NOT do EXACTLY what you want. Unless you're a programmer and can make the devices do what you want, you'll have to adapt to whatever the devices offer, which is whatever their programmers had in mind. Even the most expensive looper units, with the most buttons and inputs and outputs, they were made for a very specific use-case, and chances are that it's different from what you had in mind.

So if you're not a programmer, which means you're completely at the mercy of those who ARE programmers, but you have nevertheless been able to get a working setup with only 9 devices, consider yourself lucky.

MGoolas wrote:You needs almost sound like they could be fulfilled by a midi controlled, multitrack loop recorder with effects like the boss rc505 mkii https://www.boss.info/global/products/rc-505mk2/

The new line of mpcs have no way of being midi controlled for it's start stop overdub. They only listen to mmc messages.

Thanks for reading my long post.
Ah yes this seems to be the conclusion i'm coming to. That i would need to use my existing loop pedal or use the better model and control it via midi with the MPC.

I'm assuming the MPC can sequence midi CC messages

HouseWithoutMouse wrote:How about if you separate you and your buddy to left and right sides? The RC-5 records in stereo, and you could then split the L+R outputs. If that's what you meant?

Thanks for reading my long *ss post haha. Nah i mean i cant be recording into the loop pedal what i'm playing and NOT what he's playing if we're playing at the same time. I would need the bigger loop station with multiple tracks.

HouseWithoutMouse wrote: Anyway. Whichever device you buy, it will most likely NOT do EXACTLY what you want. Unless you're a programmer and can make the devices do what you want, you'll have to adapt to whatever the devices offer, which is whatever their programmers had in mind. Even the most expensive looper units, with the most buttons and inputs and outputs, they were made for a very specific use-case, and chances are that it's different from what you had in mind.

I actually program a little but only little arduino things. Doubt i could take on a task like that

HouseWithoutMouse wrote: So if you're not a programmer, which means you're completely at the mercy of those who ARE programmers, but you have nevertheless been able to get a working setup with only 9 devices, consider yourself lucky.

The loop pedal i have works great (for a single instrument/track) with my OPZ which itself makes sequencing midi CC a breeze. I was just hoping to be able to get rid of both from my work flow. But it looks like i'll have to keep some sort of loop pedal or loop station and just sequence it via the MPC