Long Midi Notes Past End of Loop Boundary?

What settings, or how can I, record/playback long held down midi notes/chords so they don’t get cut-off past end of loop boundary (when switching seqs or in song mode)?

Like say I want to start/play a long chord or pad at the 3rd or 4th beat at the end of a seq/loop, so it really plays a little earlier into the start of the seq/loop (an early played chord/pad basically... not just an intro though, still a rhythmic progression).
(my old MPC 60 always did this with no problem... I hope these modern MPCs can too without any complexities/work-arounds like extending seq length, etc.)


I’ve already tried Pref > Sequencer > Playback > Note Length > As Recorded.
And, also set Sequencer > Recording > Note Length > As Played.

It definitely worked; but, Only if I were to loop the same exact Seq over and over, and never change/next it to a diff seq.

But, if I try Next Seq, even of the same copied/duplicate original seq (or stack them in Song Mode or Seq Pad Perform), the long held down midi notes/chords still get cut off at the end.

Not possible currently... It's an unfathomable omission from Akai.
I've reported this to Akai last 2-3 firmwares.

Also see first post of bug reports for 3.6.

horisonten wrote:- I still cannot hold notes over sequence changes… If I hold a chord it will cut out when the sequence changes.

The current workaround is to convert all seqs to song then convert that in to a seq.

horisonten wrote:Not possible currently... It's an unfathomable omission from Akai.
I've reported this to Akai last 2-3 firmwares.

Also see first post of bug reports for 3.6.

horisonten wrote:- I still cannot hold notes over sequence changes… If I hold a chord it will cut out when the sequence changes.

Dang... that sucks and is unfortunate. That really limits keyboard playing, compositions & phrasing ideas, etc.

Was it always like this with the modern MPCs? Even with the older 2.xx or <3.5 FWs?

B-Wise wrote:The current around is to convert all seqs to song then convert that in to a seq.

Ah, cool! I was actually thinking about that this morning (if converting Song Mode into one Seq would work... as I routinely did w/ my old 60 too).

Yesterday, I've only tested Next-Seq, Song-Mode and Seq Pad Perform (which all cut off midi notes at end).
I'll try converting Song Mode into one Seq.


I also guess another workaround would be to use Arranger (which is also one sequence, just super long) and just use/copy&paste track's loop-regions here & there or even use mutes (instead of working with a bunch of separate smaller seqs). But, not really used to that workflow, as I've always been using a bunch of 8bar or 16bar seqs in the 60.

Using the Arranger would work also. You can use multiple arranger seqs, one for each section like intro, hook.. or Just one but use the loop range & or the 6 Locators to only work within sections as you go. I wouldn't want to work like that, especially when there's a clip-matrix, but Akai gives us options. It's up to us to find our own way(s) of working.

fooddude wrote:Was it always like this with the modern MPCs? Even with the older 2.xx or <3.5 FWs?

From what I've gathered it was possible to hold chords over sequence changes on firmware 2.X.
But haven't tested it myself since I'm too invested in the 3.X firmware at this stage...

B-Wise wrote:The current workaround is to convert all seqs to song then convert that in to a seq.

Yeah, unfortunately... And this surely works as long as you see your MPC songs/projects as linear "from start to finish" songs.

But as soon as you want to actually utilize the live part in the "MPC Live", as the name suggests, this workaround is not suitable.

Many of us do not see our live songs/performances as a "start to finish" thing. Many of us want to be able to stay in different parts of the song for longer or shorter periods of time, from day to day.

And also in combination with external gear which needs to be synced with the MPC and follow what happens on the MPC. For example what part of the song/composition the MPC is at needs to be synced with external gear. And historically Program Changes has solved this.

But the serious program change limitations of the MPC Live's in their current state also hinders this from being reality...
- You can only have one program change per track in a project. (without using list editor with its "forced program change at event 0", which does not solve it for many of us).
- Clips cannot be controlled with program changes.
- Locators in sequences cannot be accessed with program changes (and also, if locators would actually be possible to change with program changes, then 6 locators is simply not enough for longer/more complex songs).
- You cannot change plugin presets with program changes (this alone would obliterate most Gen 1 resource limitations...)

Again, since these things/limitations are not raged about more, I make the conclusion that people are actually not utilizing the MPC Live for "organic" live use, and also without external gear.

Not sure how these things are flying under the radar

horisonten wrote:

B-Wise wrote:The current workaround is to convert all seqs to song then convert that in to a seq.

Yeah, unfortunately... And this surely works as long as you see your MPC songs/projects as linear "from start to finish" songs.

But as soon as you want to actually utilize the live part in the "MPC Live", as the name suggests, this workaround is not suitable.

Many of us do not see our live songs/performances as a "start to finish" thing. Many of us want to be able to stay in different parts of the song for longer or shorter periods of time, from day to day.

And also in combination with external gear which needs to be synced with the MPC and follow what happens on the MPC. For example what part of the song/composition the MPC is at needs to be synced with external gear. And historically Program Changes has solved this.

But the serious program change limitations of the MPC Live's in their current state also hinders this from being reality...
- You can only have one program change per track in a project. (without using list editor with its "forced program change at event 0", which does not solve it for many of us).
- Clips cannot be controlled with program changes.
- Locators in sequences cannot be accessed with program changes (and also, if locators would actually be possible to change with program changes, then 6 locators is simply not enough for longer/more complex songs).
- You cannot change plugin presets with program changes (this alone would obliterate most Gen 1 resource limitations...)

Again, since these things/limitations are not raged about more, I make the conclusion that people are actually not utilizing the MPC Live for "organic" live use, and also without external gear.

Not sure how these things are flying under the radar

I agree with you Akai needs to address these limitations, but currently, most of none of them gets in the way on how use the device.

I think, since Akai combined the 2 platforms & more specifically added the clip-matrix workflow to the MPC, more focus will be on the sequencing side things & hopefully these problems can be get the attention they deserve & if that doesn't work, I'm sure they'll drop another Lofi plugin to keep us distracted.

B-Wise wrote:I agree with you Akai needs to address these limitations, but currently, most of none of them gets in the way on how use the device.

I disagree with this.
These limitations 100% gets in the way in my use case...
My MPC is utilized perhaps 20-30% of its potential since I cannot use it properly currently.
It can never be the center piece in my setup with this in mind.
Currently it is only used as a simple drum machine for me with my Octatrack as the actual brains.

horisonten wrote:

B-Wise wrote:I agree with you Akai needs to address these limitations, but currently, most of none of them gets in the way on how use the device.

I disagree with this.
These limitations 100% gets in the way in my use case...
My MPC is utilized perhaps 20-30% of its potential since I cannot use it properly currently.
It can never be the center piece in my setup with this in mind.
Currently it is only used as a simple drum machine for me with my Octatrack as the actual brains.

Sorry, I meant to put, "but currently, most of none of them gets in the way on how *I use the device".

horisonten wrote:My MPC is utilized perhaps 20-30% of its potential since I cannot use it properly currently.
It can never be the center piece in my setup with this in mind.
Currently it is only used as a simple drum machine for me with my Octatrack as the actual brains.

MPC is suprisingly limited when it comes to live performance. So many things are there where a few odd missing bits cripple the whole system.

Seems the biggest part of its user base are beat makers who could in theory use a DAW but like the form factor or whatever.