How do I setup my 2KXL's midi to Ableton 12?

I'm really confused on how I should go about routing my MPC to Ableton. I think for routing audio I understand it, but when it comes to setting up midi in both I find myself getting lost very easily. I've watched numerous videos now with different ways on setting it up but once again I'm really lost.

Currently I'm trying to setup my MPC as a midi controller as I plan on making some house/dance-esque music in Ableton 12. How should I go about it if I want to use the MPC's swing and arranging/sequencing features but also want to keep the full project in Ableton? I swear I've spent more time setting this thing up than I have actually using it :0

What do you have for a Midi interface on your computer?

Broadly though... you can map a lot of your MPC into Ableton... which is fine... you should be able to get BPM and transport controls working... you can send midi over a lot of channels... that's all good...

But I feel like you're kind of going to need to decide if you *want* the MPC to be the brain or just be a controller. If you want Ableton to be the end all be all for your projects, then the MPC is going to add very little to your setup that you couldn't get with a modern controller.

I'm not saying that there isn't value in sequencing your tracks *ON* the MPC, and sure you can record them over to Ableton, but that's going to be a lot of duplicated effort... which is more why it sounds odd to me. You can definitely set things up in a lot of ways, but if you find that the MPC swing and sequencer adds value, I'd consider just using Ableton as a host for plugins/fx... and the various time stretching to warp up loops/clips. Where I think you're probably getting hung up is that it sounds like you "want the best of both worlds", which is absolutely a good place to be, but you're probably better off to decide which one is your primary sequencer to start with, and *then* explore how best different aspects of each can work together. Otherwise my fear is you're going to be stuck ping ponging between two solutions and never really settling on one as "best"

NearTao wrote:What do you have for a Midi interface on your computer?

Broadly though... you can map a lot of your MPC into Ableton... which is fine... you should be able to get BPM and transport controls working... you can send midi over a lot of channels... that's all good...

But I feel like you're kind of going to need to decide if you *want* the MPC to be the brain or just be a controller. If you want Ableton to be the end all be all for your projects, then the MPC is going to add very little to your setup that you couldn't get with a modern controller.

I'm not saying that there isn't value in sequencing your tracks *ON* the MPC, and sure you can record them over to Ableton, but that's going to be a lot of duplicated effort... which is more why it sounds odd to me. You can definitely set things up in a lot of ways, but if you find that the MPC swing and sequencer adds value, I'd consider just using Ableton as a host for plugins/fx... and the various time stretching to warp up loops/clips. Where I think you're probably getting hung up is that it sounds like you "want the best of both worlds", which is absolutely a good place to be, but you're probably better off to decide which one is your primary sequencer to start with, and *then* explore how best different aspects of each can work together. Otherwise my fear is you're going to be stuck ping ponging between two solutions and never really settling on one as "best"

Hey thank you for the reply I appreciate it.

My audio interface is a 2i2 focusrite but it doesn't have a midi feature built-in, so instead I'm directly sending my midi in from the mpc to the Macbook via MIO cable. And I must say that you are right, I'm definitely looking for the best of both worlds type of setup. But after seeing your comment and other various threads I'm starting to realize that it might not be the quickest workflow. I must admit that I have been ping-ponging between the two a lot so I must just commit to one.

I think I'm leaning towards using the MPC as the complete sequencer because I do think it works pretty good, but as someone who is Ableton-heavy, I'm trying to wrap the idea around my head.

Correct me if I'm wrong:
If I stuck to sequencing on the MPC, I would use ableton (sampling-in) for speeding/slowing down samples, vsts/plugins/sounds, making proof of concepts(as in testing out ideas) and such?

I use a lot of synths and keyboard-esque sounds in my music and I plan on using the MPC to make electronic/jungle/footwork music in terms of drum programming. Would that still be possible in terms of bringing in the other elements from my MAC via sampling?

Thank you

The workflow that is best is the one you practice 1000 times. That said, you've clearly got plenty of knowledge of Ableton itself... so make sure to keep leveraging that.

Perhaps instead of worrying about how to marry the two together perfectly, consider the one or two things you'd like to practice by adding the MPC to your setup. You could certainly sample one shots into the MPC, and have content at the go, ready to just record straight into an Ableton Clip when you wanted to, and then go back to warping/fixing it up.

Having gone through all this about two decades ago myself... I really just found for myself... especially when you've got a lot of tools... to use the best tool for the job where it makes sense. It'll absolutely be good for you to learn the MPC, and it'll challenge the way you approach tracks in Ableton even if you bounce off of the MPC... but you also don't need to "eat the whole fish in one go" as it were either

It sounds like you've got a good sense for what you'd *like* to get out of the MPC in your setup... just focus on making subtle adjustments to where you start or finish... and see where it leads you.