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.
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By Jean-Marc Liotier Mon Oct 27, 2025 11:33 am
I mapped MX-1 sliders to track volume. As commonly expected, the sliders send CC values 0 to 127. MIDI Learn maps that to the whole range of track volumes, which do not go up to 0 dB but to +6 dB... So, when the MIDI controller's slider is pushed to its top, volume is +6. It is not what I want: 0dB is the nominal maximum volume I expect (or shouldn't I expect that ?)

I see no way to map a CC values range to a target values range - such as mapping CC values 0-127 to volume values -INF to 0... Am I missing something ? Or is it a commonly desired behaviour for 0 dB not being the slider's top position ?
By Masi Mon Oct 27, 2025 5:37 pm
Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:I see no way to map a CC values range to a target values range

No. MIDI Learn is pretty dumb.

I wish Akai would let us control Q-Link macros (and fader macros as well) with MIDI cc.

Or they drop the current MIDI learn and give as MIDI macros.
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By Jean-Marc Liotier Mon Oct 27, 2025 6:14 pm
Masi wrote:
B-Wise wrote:In the Macro section

OP asked about MIDI learn not about Q-Link macros.
Yes but that Q-Link macro screen has value ranges - absent from the MIDI Learn screen, so I find it intriguing.
B-Wise wrote:In the Macro section there's a arrow looking icon pointing up & if you tap it you'll get more options where you can set the range of each parameter on a macro.
Thanks, gave it a try... More confusion ensued.

By B-Wise Mon Oct 27, 2025 6:52 pm
Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:
B-Wise wrote:In the Macro section there's a arrow looking icon pointing up & if you tap it you'll get more options where you can set the range of each parameter on a macro.
Thanks, gave it a try... More confusion ensued.


That's not how ML works. Did you watch the video link I posted?

It didn't go to 0 because you pressed ML. You have to press ML first then move the mixer fader & set that to 0.
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By Jean-Marc Liotier Mon Oct 27, 2025 7:31 pm
B-Wise wrote:That's not how ML works. Did you watch the video link I posted?

It didn't go to 0 because you pressed ML. You have to press ML first then move the mixer fader & set that to 0.
I watched part of it, and then greedily went to try... I'll watch it more attentively - as soon as I am not juggling the kids simultaneously.
By B-Wise Mon Oct 27, 2025 8:15 pm
Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:
B-Wise wrote:That's not how ML works. Did you watch the video link I posted?

It didn't go to 0 because you pressed ML. You have to press ML first then move the mixer fader & set that to 0.
I watched part of it, and then greedily went to try... I'll watch it more attentively - as soon as I am not juggling the kids simultaneously.

OK, cool. The stuff you may need happened later in the video. I hope you work it out.
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By Jean-Marc Liotier Tue Oct 28, 2025 11:25 pm
B-Wise wrote:That's not how ML works. Did you watch the video link I posted ?
It didn't go to 0 because you pressed ML. You have to press ML first then move the mixer fader & set that to 0.
Please pardon my thickness: I don't get it. I watched the video twice, tried various combinations and orders of inputs in those Qlinks Edit screens, and all have the same results: Parameter Range limits Qlink input only. MIDI input isn't bound by those limits outside of the Qlinks Edit screens. Or am I missing something ?
By surfnsnow Fri Oct 31, 2025 1:00 am
I found a workaround for this using Submixes:

- Route your Track to a Submix.
- Use Midi Learn to map the volume on your track to a volume slider on your midi controller. This will cause the volume on the track to go from -infinity to +6 for the full range of the slider.
- Go to the Submix and lower the volume to -6.
- Now the top of the slider on your midi controller is effectively 0db.
- Adjust volume on the Submix to taste.

There are 8 Submixes available so you can do this for up to 8 Tracks. The midi controller I use has 8 volume sliders so that's not a problem for me.

Good luck!
By Masi Fri Oct 31, 2025 7:58 pm
Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:Please pardon my thickness: I don't get it

You are ok. For some reason B-Wise directs you to Q-Link macros when you ask for MIDI learn.

Q-Link macros are awesome and can actually do what you want to achieve with a MIDI controller.

But MIDI Learn hasn't got any improvements from 2.x to 3.x. So if you cannot limit the CC values on the controller itself you are out of luck with the MPC.
By B-Wise Fri Oct 31, 2025 8:43 pm
Masi wrote:
Jean-Marc Liotier wrote:Please pardon my thickness: I don't get it

You are ok. For some reason B-Wise directs you to Q-Link macros when you ask for MIDI learn.

Q-Link macros are awesome and can actually do what you want to achieve with a MIDI controller.

But MIDI Learn hasn't got any improvements from 2.x to 3.x. So if you cannot limit the CC values on the controller itself you are out of luck with the MPC.


I thought he was talking about the MIDI-Learn that most people use found in the macro section. I never use the MIDI-Learn menu. There's a lack of control there of the parameters there. Sorry for the confusion.
By Masi Fri Oct 31, 2025 9:36 pm
B-Wise wrote:I thought he was talking about the MIDI-Learn that most people use found in the macro section. I never use the MIDI-Learn menu. There's a lack of control there of the parameters there. Sorry for the confusion.

No problem.

The confusion stems IMHO from Akai calling something "MIDI Learn" in the maunal which actualle should be called "Parameter Learn". There is no MIDI involved as far as the user is concerned.

I'd love to see that I can "MIDI learn" a Q-Link. Would be awseome if we could have all 16 (or 32 accounting for both project Q-Link sets) available without fiddling by using an external MIDI controller.
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By Jean-Marc Liotier Fri Oct 31, 2025 9:49 pm
surfnsnow wrote:I found a workaround for this using Submixes:

- Route your Track to a Submix.
- Use Midi Learn to map the volume on your track to a volume slider on your midi controller. This will cause the volume on the track to go from -infinity to +6 for the full range of the slider.
- Go to the Submix and lower the volume to -6.
- Now the top of the slider on your midi controller is effectively 0db.
- Adjust volume on the Submix to taste.

There are 8 Submixes available so you can do this for up to 8 Tracks. The midi controller I use has 8 volume sliders so that's not a problem for me.

Good luck!
Fantastic first post - thank you Sir !

Perfect workaround, it does the job impeccably for me.

Is the internal precision fine enough for this +6/-6 to not result in any sort of dynamic range compression ?

I only needed five tracks (the MX-1's 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5/6 strips - its unused analog section I repurposed as a MIDI controller, and I use the six digital tracks), so no problem with 8 submixes, especially as I seldom use any. For the sake of my lacking intellect, I mapped Tracks 1-5 to Submix 1-5, to these mixer channel strips 1-5... Rest is a bit messier, but that order helps intuitive navigation - and immutable order is necessary for these tracks that use lots MIDI Learn, as we discovered to our dismay.