By MPD MPK RAY
Wed Sep 10, 2025 7:24 pm
What's been good my MPC brethren!
I been away for a year; I built a new studio around the Push 3 Standalone, and just got an offer for the X so it's about to ship pending payment. I love the MPC X but the SOC is cheeks for my heavy handed sampling duties. I can not play chords and glissando like my piano focused peers and Akai went there with NAMM 2025 MPC Producer focus.
So... I responded.
TODAY:
NOTHING beats Expressive Chords and in Standalone mode it is second to none.
The new Ableton Beta
In addition to Stem Separation, Bounce Groups, and the updated devices and Packs – all of which are coming to Push 3 Tethered and Standalone – Live 12.3 gives Push 3 users new ways to play with the instrument’s expressive pads.
With the new XYZ layout, Push’s pads transform into an expressive touchscreen for your racks, instruments, and effects. Slide your finger across Push’s pads to shape the sound in complex ways, and press to trigger punch-in effects – all while playing notes with the other hand. Every device comes with bold, musical pre-mappings to get you started right away, but you can go deeper by creating racks and assigning your own custom macros.
Rhythm Generator is a new Drum Rack layout that makes one of Live’s generative MIDI Tools playable on Push 3. Designed for everything from sparking ideas in the studio to shaking up the rhythmic feel of a live performance, the layout gives you four vertical pad sliders to shape your beat, while the grid above visualizes changes as they happen.
There’s a new, more intuitive way to humanize your beats too: touch sensitive step editing lets you adjust the velocity of notes individually or in bulk, by holding the Accent button and sliding on Push 3’s pads.
Live 12.3 also makes Push Standalone even more flexible as a music making hub – adding support for class compliant audio interfaces (I just copped the Apogee Symphony Desktop for the X)
I skinned it too. Both software AND hardware.
Now that the new MPCs are coming I hope they have more than just static chords and that weak STEMS feature. Logic Pro is the clear BEST STEMS I ever heard or experienced.
Discuss.
I been away for a year; I built a new studio around the Push 3 Standalone, and just got an offer for the X so it's about to ship pending payment. I love the MPC X but the SOC is cheeks for my heavy handed sampling duties. I can not play chords and glissando like my piano focused peers and Akai went there with NAMM 2025 MPC Producer focus.
So... I responded.
TODAY:
NOTHING beats Expressive Chords and in Standalone mode it is second to none.
The new Ableton Beta
In addition to Stem Separation, Bounce Groups, and the updated devices and Packs – all of which are coming to Push 3 Tethered and Standalone – Live 12.3 gives Push 3 users new ways to play with the instrument’s expressive pads.
With the new XYZ layout, Push’s pads transform into an expressive touchscreen for your racks, instruments, and effects. Slide your finger across Push’s pads to shape the sound in complex ways, and press to trigger punch-in effects – all while playing notes with the other hand. Every device comes with bold, musical pre-mappings to get you started right away, but you can go deeper by creating racks and assigning your own custom macros.
Rhythm Generator is a new Drum Rack layout that makes one of Live’s generative MIDI Tools playable on Push 3. Designed for everything from sparking ideas in the studio to shaking up the rhythmic feel of a live performance, the layout gives you four vertical pad sliders to shape your beat, while the grid above visualizes changes as they happen.
There’s a new, more intuitive way to humanize your beats too: touch sensitive step editing lets you adjust the velocity of notes individually or in bulk, by holding the Accent button and sliding on Push 3’s pads.
Live 12.3 also makes Push Standalone even more flexible as a music making hub – adding support for class compliant audio interfaces (I just copped the Apogee Symphony Desktop for the X)
I skinned it too. Both software AND hardware.
Now that the new MPCs are coming I hope they have more than just static chords and that weak STEMS feature. Logic Pro is the clear BEST STEMS I ever heard or experienced.
Discuss.
Last edited by MPD MPK RAY on Wed Sep 10, 2025 8:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
