MPC 3 -- Let's GO!!

eLuSiVeMiTe wrote:Very easy to sit there on your throne when the changes don't impact your core workflow isn't it.

I quoted you last night with my methods. You tell me how il replicate that.

Oh. And would you be happy with choosing to lose support for your devices?
Or would you put money on Akai supporting both 2.0 and 3.0

2.0 is now end of life so no more support obviously;

just like the 4K, the 1K, 25K, 2KXL, etc none of those legacy units have any support, yet people use them as is.

if ur content with MPC as is and u think the new 3.0 make it a DAW, then u have to just accept 2.X is the final stop and enjoy.

Far as workflow suggestions thats for u to figure out what works best for u; I think Akai will address this issue; as it seems very simple to do.

I sit smugly on the throne because I was one of the few people on this forum who spoke on 3.0 being in the works for this year.

Many people got very triggered; and attacked me personally for speculating on 3.0

But I stood my ground and was proven correct.

But 3.0 is still an MPC that whole narrative that its a DAW now and not an MPC is flawed as it still has all of the MPC features.

I am not an oldschool Akai user. I switched to MPC One pretty exactly 2 years ago.
First two hours I didnt get anything because of that misnomer "sequence".
Then it clicked.
And I had been as productive as never before, I guess I made 200+ Tracks in that time,
most prolific person here and on GS on that machine. Made several albums in that time, too.
I think at least five or more, dont even know the number.

The observation that there are users and people who stash new stuff but hardly use it
comes from my time working as a DSP guy in the industry, and decades on forums.

And its fine. As long as these guys dont try to tell the users how they should use it.

As for not upgrading, means, no option on bugfixes and updates, no new plugins, most likely.
Also, trying and downgrading isnt so easy for those who deliberately work without a PC.

When I switched, many people warned me cause I dont do club music or beat oriented stuff.
In fact besides of my more song structure like stuff I made two impro albums on the MPC also.
Both were done on two days each.

Never did anything alike in a DAW. It was due to the workflow.
This is a thing of the past, I guess.

Might I suggest it’s the overused word WORKFLOW that is the problem.

Just one word on that: if you think that things needed a change for your personal workflow, than you didnt have a real workflow on that machine before. Thats kind of logic.

One thing that I don't quite get with 3.0 is that if all the tracks are now the same across sequences and say you have drums on track 1, does that kit have to be the same across all the sequences or could you have say 808s on track 1 seq 1 and 909s on track 1 seq 2?

One thing that was missing with 2.0 was the ability to change synth patches across sequences so if they implemented that in 3.0 it might be good?

jpeg wrote:seem like the legacy MPC users are the main ones with reservations; those who who come from the 2500, 2000xl, era.

The people who got on the akai bandwagon in this current live2, mpc one era are not complaining at all.

I perceive it like that also by reading the reactions here.
I for one had an MV for drumming and sequencing tasks for years. Never had an MPC 'till 2019 when I got the Studio with MPC 2.0 since it was as fast as my computer...

But i still missed the linear DAWish mode of arranging songs very much. Plus the human friendly mixer, mastering effects and disk streaming..
I ended up using the Studio and later the 37 as instruments and the MV as sequencer/arranger.

Now with MPC 3, looks like it can finally put the MV in the closet for a while (well, not totally but we don't wanna get into that)

moonlake wrote:Just one word on that: if you think that things needed a change for your personal workflow, than you didnt have a real workflow on that machine before.

^^^

This is really jumping out at me atm, there's a lot of "oh, if the box just worked in a completely different way I might like it this is the best update ever", which in a lot of cases I'm reading as "I never put in the hard yards to understand how the current box actually works and how it could work for me". And I suspect that a lot of these same people aren't going to approach 3.0 much differently, so will still be complaining in a year's time - this is a lot of where I'm coming from when I wonder about Akai potentially walking themselves into a no-win situation here.

ceeprm wrote:JOne thing that I don't quite get with 3.0 is that if all the tracks are now the same across sequences and say you have drums on track 1, does that kit have to be the same across all the sequences.

From what I've seen and how I understand it, yes there would just be one program on a track across the entire project. So you won't be able to have a different kit on the same track across sequences in the normal way.

jpeg wrote:But 3.0 is still an MPC that whole narrative that its a DAW now and not an MPC is flawed as it still has all of the MPC features.

I mean, it's still an MPC, it's just that they're going to completely rip up the basic structure of how MPCs have worked for decades. If the criteria are only having "MPC features" like a sequencer and a sampler with slicing, etc., then most DAWs also fit.

Plus, it's also not going to have the program editor independently from a particular track, which for me is a big loss in terms of "MPC features" considering that's where I spend probably most of my time when I'm using it.

I'm not saying that I think it's all necessarily going to be bad, but for better or worse it's clearly going to be an entirely different device at base level.

just my 0.001 cents:
you buy a device for what it is at purchase time, there is no sticker on the box that promise you future updates (free nor paid) - plugins or additional functionalities are extra. The only thing I expect from them is to provide bugfixes for stuff that doesn't work as it should or as it was advertised.
Having said that, I'd be pissed if for example I didn't liked the 3.x workflow which break my habbits but that is the only way to fix for example a midi bug. In that scenario I'd feel that my mpc was missold to me as it force me to use it in a completely different manner that it was advertised.

See that's the joy of have more than one MPC. We can Update one and Stay in 2.xx Land on the other MPC's. Haven't updated yet. Busy weekend. But I'll check it out

Elijah wrote:I think it would be great if the MPC3 could use markers and a loop region in the arranger as new "scenes." It's similar to Teenage Engineering's OP-1, which allows you to perform while moving the loop region.

I believe exploring new workflows would be even more interesting.

I hate the OP-1, but scenes would be a welcome addition. They added locators that can be named in MPC3 so Ill definitely be making use of those.

40Beatz wrote:See that's the joy of have more than one MPC. We can Update one and Stay in 2.xx Land on the other MPC's. Haven't updated yet. Busy weekend. But I'll check it out

3.x will be easily downgradeable, people need to understand that this system is not a total rewrite which format your internal emmc and create completely different directory structure. It's 90% same buildroot linux with pretty much same dependencies but with slightly different main executable. If you're able to run Force on it and reflash it to original factory firmware "just like that", then there is no reason to cry about dowgradeability.

dustyslices wrote:just my 0.001 cents:
you buy a device for what it is at purchase time, there is no sticker on the box that promise you future updates (free nor paid) - plugins or additional functionalities are extra. The only thing I expect from them is to provide bugfixes for stuff that doesn't work as it should or as it was advertised.
Having said that, I'd be pissed if for example I didn't liked the 3.x workflow which break my habbits but that is the only way to fix for example a midi bug. In that scenario I'd feel that my mpc was missold to me as it force me to use it in a completely different manner that it was advertised.

true. but when I got the box there still had been some stability issues, some were fixed, and some additional plugins I dont want to miss came with that - for free, unexpected.
But at that time the box was also sold with the unofficial promise that they are expanding on it.
And I bought 3 AIR plugins in the meantime.
When I mention future plugins, thats a hint to Akai they might lose a sale or two.
Also follow up sales cause I can not recommend the new box to people when I dont know it.

I personally can make music without upgradeing, thats fine with me. Its stable enough for me now.
Probably I should just check I have the latest 2x version before the official switch.

And then seal the ethernet port with glue...

Its not that I am against any changes, the current OS is a bit click heavy and can be improved in various ways.
Long disk streaming recordings is something I could use, and actually thought it had when I bought.
But I can also live without that.

DcBeats212 wrote:Will someone check if there is an option to reverse the midi note sequence of a track?
Like you take a piano, record some notes, then reverse the midi, bounce it, then reverse the audio.
Right now, I export the midi from MPC, import into Reason, reverse it, export, import into MPC, bounce to audio, then reverse audio. Would love to cut out the middle man.

this is where the MPC has lost lots of it's features/past possibilities/opportunities i think

as MIDI production center (later Music production center) a lot of MIDI handling/conversions/
in the realms of MIDI mirroring/scale (percentage of)/convolve/imprint/copyboard/re-use etc etc it is beaten by other devices (often with a much smaller footprint)

the fact that AKAI refuses to publish a MIDI implementation chart for these devices says a lot i think

Will MPC 3.0 be available for PC to use with my MPC Studio MKll?

cocosushi wrote:

moonlake wrote:If Iam wrong you need to tells whats right then.
So, what are the grey cases?

I give you 4 examples:
some are using it for just sequencing hardware synths and euro rack systems
some are using it just as a drum machine
some are using it as keygroup /sample host for live playing
some are using it as a controller only

For me (And Im sure for other users), its a combination of the above. I make all different genres, so sometimes the MPC is just for live performance finger drumming, other times its a sequencer for my synths, and other times (rarely for me, but still) its a controller. Theres no pidgeonholing MPC users, we are multi-faceted and each use the MPC in whatever way makes sense for the musical idea.