MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginning

Support and discussion for all of Akai’s modern standalone MPCs including the MPC X / X SE, MPC Live 1, 2 & 3, MPC One / One+, MPC Key 37/61.
 Reply Share on Facebook

MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginning

By lordradish Tue Jan 21, 2025 1:22 pm
Some strange behavior on my Live (ver 1) last night. I am setting up some sequences on some hardware synths. I have a pad triggered, but when I have the note at the very beginning, it won't trigger. It will only trigger if I nudge it a bit to the right on the grid. I need the pad to start right at the beginning of the sequence. Any ideas why?

There is a program change on it to pull up the patch, initially... could that have something to do with it?

Re: MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginni

By B-Wise Tue Jan 21, 2025 6:47 pm
I always nudge all my first notes over a tick. The List editor is great for this. Sometime no matter what when press there still some sort choppy start, but last night I learned if you hold Shift then press Play it start fine. I'm using the Force but it should work on the MPC. Let me know if that helps.
User avatar

Re: MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginni

By Logrinn Tue Jan 21, 2025 7:05 pm
lordradish wrote:There is a program change on it to pull up the patch, initially... could that have something to do with it?


Yes, a program change will do this. If this is first - as it should be - it can take anywhere from a few millisecond to perhaps a second for the receiving synth to change the program/patch, after which it will then sound the notes that are being sent.
That’s why it’s a good idea to place the program change well in advance before any notes being sent. Perhaps by adding a bar of silence before and placing the program change in that bar.

Re: MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginni

By lordradish Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:12 pm
Logrinn wrote:
lordradish wrote:There is a program change on it to pull up the patch, initially... could that have something to do with it?


Yes, a program change will do this. If this is first - as it should be - it can take anywhere from a few millisecond to perhaps a second for the receiving synth to change the program/patch, after which it will then sound the notes that are being sent.
That’s why it’s a good idea to place the program change well in advance before any notes being sent. Perhaps by adding a bar of silence before and placing the program change in that bar.


Thank you. I suspected this. I guess my question is (I haven't done a lot with program changes) will the program stay when I go to the next sequence or will it revert to something else?

Re: MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginni

By B-Wise Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:20 pm
They will stay the same, unless you there's a another PC. If you manually change the patch on the synth, it will revert back to what whatever the PC# is when it plays it back. This also works the same for CC# ad well.

You can have one or more seqs with each track PC/CC messages to lock them in & other seqs without them to edit new MIDI data without it reverting to the locked parameters settings.

Re: MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginni

By lordradish Tue Jan 21, 2025 8:39 pm
B-Wise wrote:They will stay the same, unless you there's a another PC. If you manually change the patch on the synth, it will revert back to what whatever the PC# is when it plays it back. This also works the same for CC# ad well.

You can have one or more seqs with each track PC/CC messages to lock them in & other seqs without them to edit new MIDI data without it reverting to the locked parameters settings.

This is all very helpful. Thank you so much.

Re: MPC won't start midi note unless it's a bit past beginni

By B-Wise Wed Jan 22, 2025 12:40 am
lordradish wrote:
B-Wise wrote:They will stay the same, unless you there's a another PC. If you manually change the patch on the synth, it will revert back to what whatever the PC# is when it plays it back. This also works the same for CC# ad well.

You can have one or more seqs with each track PC/CC messages to lock them in & other seqs without them to edit new MIDI data without it reverting to the locked parameters settings.

This is all very helpful. Thank you so much.

Thank you & excuse the typos I was on my phone & I type like sh*t on it.
If you take the time you can edit MPC/Force MIDI tracks by giving each of the 128 parameters a name & order them how you want & even reuse the same CC# on different knobs. You most likely will neveuse all 128 parameters, but they are there. There's 8 pages of 16 MIDI CC parameter.

On the track macros you can put 128 of these edit CC# on the same knob or whatever. This is how you can assign NPNR MIDI CC# messages for devices that use those like the Boss DR-202 Cutoff knob, to then be controlled by an external MIDI controller like a knob on the MPC or the crossfader on the Force. The cool thing about this is that you can record this data as MIDI automation. I'll make a video on it since most don't how to set up NPNR, but it's powerful & not that hard to get once you know some basic facts.
 Reply
Return to MPC X, MPC One, MPC Live & MPC Key