MPC 3 -- Let's GO!!

There are no "(unused)" tracks in MPC3.

Elijah wrote:There are no "(unused)" tracks in MPC3.

I had to start thinking different too.
Had bass on 2, drums on 1 and 9+x was for my midi cc sends to some effect units.
Now those hang in between and occupy space in the mixer, not.to happy about that

Anyone else starting to come around to the linear workflow ? Maybe its just the honeymoon period, but idk.

Even in DAWs I normally build little sequences and cut/copy/paste to effectively use the DAW like an MPC

In this, I'm recording/programming my tracks linearly at a track by track level because it makes that so pleasant. ( I put my drums all on one track of course and think of things at the 'drum kit' level instead of the individual pads. I mix then with pad mixer or routing to the outs on my interface. )

The arrangement tab in Main (not the arranger) is killer.

You have to think of it as a different kind of device that encourages a different approach to composition.

I'm not going to front, a lot of people will understandably hate this.

IvoryBlack589 wrote:The arrangement tab in Main (not the arranger) is killer.

Can you expand on how you are using this arrangement tab, I'm interested to see how people are using it

MPC-Tutor wrote:

IvoryBlack589 wrote:The arrangement tab in Main (not the arranger) is killer.

Can you expand on how you are using this arrangement tab, I'm interested to see how people are using it

I do 1 sequence for the entire composition and adjust the loop points to hone in on specific areas. The arrangement tab (or the audio viewer on audio tracks) allows me to see a small snapshot of what's going on from Main. There is something about this that makes recording variations and changes more palatable. In the past I tried similar workflows but it never quite felt comfortable on 2.x. You could record with the events / audio visible in 2.x but you'd have to be outside of Main. I do not use punch ins yet, it's mainly just for visual feedback. It *feels* like it makes a big difference for whatever reason. Maybe I spoke too highly of it but it feels different.

I noticed that tapping the midi notes takes you to grid view which is fine, but double tapping on the arrangement tab does nothing. It should take you to the arranger. This will free up a space for one more icon in the custom side menu.

Having to use dummy utility tracks would be less bad if it was possible to hide and group/fold tracks.

IvoryBlack589 wrote:Anyone else starting to come around to the linear workflow ? Maybe its just the honeymoon period, but idk.

Even in DAWs I normally build little sequences and cut/copy/paste to effectively use the DAW like an MPC

In this, I'm recording/programming my tracks linearly at a track by track level because it makes that so pleasant. ( I put my drums all on one track of course and think of things at the 'drum kit' level instead of the individual pads. I mix then with pad mixer or routing to the outs on my interface. )

The arrangement tab in Main (not the arranger) is killer.

You have to think of it as a different kind of device that encourages a different approach to composition.

I'm not going to front, a lot of people will understandably hate this.

I can't recall ever starting a song at the beginning. Just not how I function. Could be a bass line chord progression or drum loop that gets it going.

As you said above il have a loop at the start of my track in daw with my clip pool of ideas for different song parts
Exactly the same as I do on my mpc and il drag and drop from this pool to build up an arrangement.

Just feels really difficult to work this way in the beta.

eLuSiVeMiTe wrote:

IvoryBlack589 wrote:Anyone else starting to come around to the linear workflow ? Maybe its just the honeymoon period, but idk.

Even in DAWs I normally build little sequences and cut/copy/paste to effectively use the DAW like an MPC

In this, I'm recording/programming my tracks linearly at a track by track level because it makes that so pleasant. ( I put my drums all on one track of course and think of things at the 'drum kit' level instead of the individual pads. I mix then with pad mixer or routing to the outs on my interface. )

The arrangement tab in Main (not the arranger) is killer.

You have to think of it as a different kind of device that encourages a different approach to composition.

I'm not going to front, a lot of people will understandably hate this.

I can't recall ever starting a song at the beginning. Just not how I function. Could be a bass line chord progression or drum loop that gets it going.

As you said above il have a loop at the start of my track in daw with my clip pool of ideas for different song parts
Exactly the same as I do on my mpc and il drag and drop from this pool to build up an arrangement.

Just feels really difficult to work this way in the beta.

I get what you're saying, there needs to be a better way to move chunks of an arrangement around for this to work

Right now, for reasons unrelated to MPC 3.0, I'm approaching things in a top down way, creating an outline/sketch of the entire song (often as a melodic guide), then laying down my instrumentation with that as a base.

Is anyone using the MPC 3 with an external Audio Interface plugged in via class compliant mode?

I remember I have been able to do this with my Fireface UCXII in MPC 2.0 (although with lots of glitches) and I wanted to try out to see if this improved with MPC 3.0.
The MPC does not detect the interface now.

I Ain't Gon Front...MPC 3 is starting to Grow on me. For the most part, it's everything that's in 2.0 but structured differently, so you can see/use most of the features Fluidly. Some Screens have old features right there in your face without having to Menu Dive. Kinda keeping everything in a Track by Track order like most DAWs. Easier to apply FX to whole Tracks...and Reorder the Slots. Definitely Catering to the New Generation of Sequencing. Oh well Let's go

Since I'm familiar with the OP-1 workflow, I also like the linear arranger in the MPC3. Using markers and loop regions, you can work on non-linear arrangements, and with the Copy Bars editing function, you can copy regions to new sequences and switch to a classic workflow whenever you want.

SoulfulTroublemaker wrote:Is anyone using the MPC 3 with an external Audio Interface plugged in via class compliant mode?

I remember I have been able to do this with my Fireface UCXII in MPC 2.0 (although with lots of glitches) and I wanted to try out to see if this improved with MPC 3.0.
The MPC does not detect the interface now.

Mine is detected but its very glitchy right now. Sometimes there's random noise. Also monitoring multiple inputs at a time is buggy though I'm not sure if that ever worked.

IvoryBlack589 wrote:I get what you're saying, there needs to be a better way to move chunks of an arrangement around for this to work

Right now, for reasons unrelated to MPC 3.0, I'm approaching things in a top down way, creating an outline/sketch of the entire song (often as a melodic guide), then laying down my instrumentation with that as a base.

3.0 lacks the Force clip-matrix. With that you can create your clip bank/pool at the top of the matrix then create a dummy scene of a row of blank clips to act as a clip bank divider so that all the clips above the dummy scene is part of the clip bank & below it is where you'll use make your song copying clips from the bank.

The Force has a cool feature called insert & capture that will copy just the clip that's active & paste them all to a new scene. After you make a bunch of scenes you can record them into the Arranger & add automations & other edits.

Here basic video example. Keep in mind I abbreviated the track names & each track can have its own color. There are also 999 scenes on the Force. Each scene is like 1 sequence on the MPC. They both have a 128 tracks per project. The Force automatically names clips after the track name & scene number. Also, copying & deleting clips is super fast.

One of the few YouTuber's I can stand to listen to.