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.
By Oraakkeli2000 Thu Mar 20, 2025 8:27 am
Hi you all,

First time starting a thread! Couldn't find a good answer anywhere on the web or this forum so let's try this way.


So I wanted to ask around the community of MPC users, if someone has found a proper workaround for the missing clips functionality after the big update?

I play bass guitar in a band project. I also do the drums via MPC and therefore my job is also to trigger drum loops while we play with the guitarist. We have found this kind of aesthetic quite fun (think 80's style machine drums with kind of post-rock grooves). With the clips in MPC 2 this works fine. I just launch a different part (Verse, chorus etc.) while playing the bass at the same time. This might seem complicated but is really not that much effort. Best thing about clips is that you can trigger them whenever you want and the launch is quantized to your preference. This way I can cycle between different drum patterns during a song while still being able to play the bass.

Now with the MPC 3 this workflow is destroyed. I updated just to try it, but noticed that in practical use I just cannot do with the new update. I tried to play with different sequences and switched them the same way I would do with clips. It is just much clunkier that way and if you make a mistake it ruins the flow of playing completely. Also switching sequences in this case only works if I have maximum two loops per song because switching the sequences while playing is feasible only between two so I don't need to skip over sequences. Thus, I need the clips.

Also, I don't like how the tracks and programs are the same thing in the new version, but that's another matter. Still, I would really really benefit from many of the new features, especially the arranger and disk streaming and what not, so it is a shame if I cannot update.

So the question is, can someone come up with a workaround for my use case? How to use MPC 3 as live clip launcher/looper without the clip programs?

Cheers and have a good day
User avatar
By MPC-Tutor Thu Mar 20, 2025 10:19 am
I don't believe there's any way to emulate launch quantize (other than using 'next sequence', which as you say is not really the same thing). I think it's fair to assume 'the the moment' that Akai have no plans to include clip functionality for MPCs, it's one of the clear dividing lines between MPC and Force. That might change, you really never know with Akai but they have not made any public statements about this.

It sounds like you should just stay with MPC 2.15 as it appears to serve all your requirements.
By B-Wise Thu Mar 20, 2025 3:38 pm
You need to stay on 2.0 or get a Force which have clips for all track types as short as 24 ticks up to 12,600 bars & there's 999 clips per 128 tracks. The clips launching can be quantized or not. Plus they can be set to play in Legato mode & you can play different clips from different scenes at once, which is so liberating coming from the MPC sequencer that only lets you play tracks in the same sequence.

They might bring the Force clips style to the MPC as a replacement. Let's what happens in May.
By B-Wise Fri Mar 21, 2025 12:26 am
Masi wrote:
B-Wise wrote: Let's what happens in May.

You think with the software going beta we'll see a new version for the hardware as well?


Maybe, but the current OS is still kinda in beta. Dropping a new hardware seem unlikely for the spring, esp when just a beta is coming out for the desktop. It would make more sense for them use the current gen to test out 3.0 & get user feedback & then drop new hardware. Let's see if they can fix the old & new bugs first. It would be messed up for them to not fix an old bug like the Note-Off thing & release a new gen with that on it. :Sigh:

I know the Force is gonna feel like a new machine when it gets updated. I wonder if the rest of the Force features will make it to the MPC.

Like I tried to say in my last post, Let's see what happens in May.
By Wul Fri Mar 21, 2025 7:18 am
All they have to do is add a trigger option to the drum program, that would go some way to making clips work that have been load into a drum program.
The have added a repeat option + the amount of repeats which is ok until you want to stop it , but I suppose making it part of a mute group will achieve that.
By Wul Fri Mar 21, 2025 5:02 pm
I cannot think for the life in me why they thought it was a good idea to disable clips.
That’s one of the reasons I’m still on 2.15.1
You can easily create a track on the fly like Tim exile does with his flow machine. Using the looper exported into clips
Recording the process in a sequence as you go
By Wanderer Sat Mar 22, 2025 3:59 pm
[quote="Wul"]I cannot think for the life in me why they thought it was a good idea to disable clips.
That’s one of the reasons I’m still on 2.15.1]

And I, for one, will stay on it until I have no choice.
We can only hope that Akai have had a plan i.e. get this v3 track based affair properly working and out of beta - then with a fanfare drop in an extra type of track that hosts clips..... :!: Yay :)
By LeftMono Fri Jun 06, 2025 7:28 am
I just got my MPC yesterday, one of the things I wanted to figure out early on was using track mutes.

I noticed that you can quantize track mutes for multiple timings, eg 1 bar, half a bar etc. Having entered MPC world after clip launching was removed, I'm not sure, but could this achieve a similar result to clip launch?

Note that pad mutes can be configured to 'event' so that you don't lose any effects tails.
By mpc_fan_2022 Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:54 am
LeftMono wrote:I just got my MPC yesterday, one of the things I wanted to figure out early on was using track mutes.

I noticed that you can quantize track mutes for multiple timings, eg 1 bar, half a bar etc. Having entered MPC world after clip launching was removed, I'm not sure, but could this achieve a similar result to clip launch?

Note that pad mutes can be configured to 'event' so that you don't lose any effects tails.


No it isn't an alternative to clip programs. The entire purpose of clip programs is to launch audio loops live in sync with the tempo, quantized, without having to sequence them first.
By djjohnr Wed Jun 18, 2025 2:06 pm
LeftMono wrote:
I noticed that you can quantize track mutes for multiple timings, eg 1 bar, half a bar etc. Having entered MPC world after clip launching was removed, I'm not sure, but could this achieve a similar result to clip launch?

Note that pad mutes can be configured to 'event' so that you don't lose any effects tails.


You could theoretically get a somewhat similar final result, however there are limitations in the way. The biggest one for me is running into the limit on plug-ins. I like using the plug-in synths to augment my out-board synth, and I like to have multiple riffs for each synth that I move between within songs. Since MPC 3 ties together midi-patterns and tracks (ie, you can't have separate midi pattern objects for each track within a sequence) you need to create a new track (and thus a plug-in instance) for each unique separate midi pattern. I could bounce them to audio (which doesn't have a track limit), but that brings it's own workflow limitations (recording new parts with the same sound later means I'd need to save patches to plan for that, which could result in an unwieldy list of patches long term).

Unfortunately I bought the MPC based on videos of MPC 2 functionality (which included clips and a separation of patterns and tracks) not realizing that MPC 3 fundamentally got rid of those workflows. Now I'm considering swapping it for a Force but I fear that may be abandonware long term for Akai.
By B-Wise Thu Jun 19, 2025 11:38 am
djjohnr wrote:Unfortunately I bought the MPC based on videos of MPC 2 functionality (which included clips and a separation of patterns and tracks) not realizing that MPC 3 fundamentally got rid of those workflows. Now I'm considering swapping it for a Force but I fear that may be abandonware long term for Akai.


It just got a public beta so its not being abandoned anytime soon & even before that it was already more powerful in some ways than the MPC. It'd still be powerful even after it's abandoned. Get it used, be happy & sell it if not for you or if they drop a mk2.

The clip matrix & the the fact that it physically designed for that workflow, plus the new 3.5 features makes it a very powerful, well, force :wink: