Aksys and 4k and synthesis

I have been on a synthesis mission as of late in order to combine keyboard and sample based production styles. I was just wondering how many users are working with their 4k along with the Aksys with my apple monitor together in multis and programs controlling the parameters?

Do you find it easier by screen or on the 4k monitor itself.

As for me I starting to use the Aksys more and more.

Renegade, Reveal, Ice, AWW, Christ, feline Altopiano, One, others with experience this is mainly for the newcomers.

Me too.

Personally, I haven't really done much "synthesis" with the MPC4000 -
whilst the features are intriging on paper,
I have half a dozen real synths with real knobs sitting in the same room,
and they're much more fun to play with.
When I do synthesis, I PLAY the knobs in real time, I don't sit programming a sound, and then play it from the keyboard later...

One of these days, I might get a BIG midi knob box (like a Doepfer Drehbank or sthg) so that I could control loads of Program parameters with knobs via SysEx, that might be better.......)

feline1 wrote:Personally, I haven't really done much "synthesis" with the MPC4000 -
whilst the features are intriging on paper,
I have half a dozen real synths with real knobs sitting in the same room,
and they're much more fun to play with.
When I do synthesis, I PLAY the knobs in real time, I don't sit programming a sound, and then play it from the keyboard later...

One of these days, I might get a BIG midi knob box (like a Doepfer Drehbank or sthg) so that I could control loads of Program parameters with knobs via SysEx, that might be better.......)

I used be have alot of gear too until I decided to cut down my gear and I had a chance to see the aksys used live with at an presentation. Have you or the others tried it yet?????

I can go big or small I like to stay fresh with both neverknow whats the next peace of gear is goin to go out on you
the 4k was my big brake in to getting more into synthesis still got along way to go. the hard part is staying focused with out drifting of into other things that I combine with other things to krank out track

I have used Ak.Sys "live" with a mouse,
but I wouldn't exactly call that live!

feline1 wrote:I have used Ak.Sys "live" with a mouse,
but I wouldn't exactly call that live!

What I mean is watching someone creating a program or patch some call it and combinating with another program made from multsamples laid out on keyspan which sounded like a Nord, or similar to a Wurly piano? And then playing the program live with a midi keyboard or pads. Or loading a motif multisample and tweaking it in your 4k? Like in that way.

i use aksys little ... reason is not coz its wack or so but coz i dont like to sit in front of a pc when doin music ... i dont like to sit at all when doin music. main reason is probably coz i spent alot of time in my dayjob in front of a pc and a pc simply doesnt inspire me to make music - it rather blows away all my creativity ... another reason maybe is coz i started doin music on real instruments ... so i guess i need somethin i can touch. and even though aksys might be or is defacto useful for some stuff i prefer not to switch to pc and sit down ... but thats me and no advice for others - everyone must work as he wants to and find his own way or workin imo ...

for example: sample editors ... i do all work in 4k and will continue doin so even if everyone is doin it on another waveeditor. most say that pc-waveeditors are better, faster, grafically easier to use, ... probably they are even right but i dont give a ****. example trimin: there are lotsa ways you can trim your sample ... quickest imo is stil to learn how to sample right in the first place ... for example - to get a feel how to setup you presample time - if ya use trshhold ... hardly no work afterwards if ya seti it up nice before ... and then when trimin i observe how long a sample is guess where the start point could be insert a number and make 3 turns with the jog (or now with the funky sliders) ... if ya do it once you ll surely be faster on a waveeditor but start doin it every day and you might do it that way too ... one thing is fo sure - if ya never do it on the 4k you ll never become good at guessing, zoomin to right size on the 4k and using what the 4k offers to trim ... besides i think if time is that much of an important factor in your music makin i think you got the wrong job or hobby or whateva ... i make music coz i like it to do it in the way i like to do it and not to save time ... besides that i prefer trimin a sample by ear rather then by seein ... music is one of the little auditive things in life and i prefer a sample trimmed too early or too late that sounds tight then a sample thats trimmed accordin to a graphical interface ... question: what does it mean a sample is trimmed to early or too late at all? imo it either sounds tight or not and thats all that counts (and probably its tight coz ya listened to it whilst trimmin) ... same discussion to me is apllyable to all those cc changes - i dont give a fukk to make it look nice ... the sweep has to sound nice .... so i play with my cutoff til i find the right sweep and then record it til it sounds as it should and dont really look at it ...

back to aksys - its not totally useless to me ... its a great backup facility and lately i discovered that its real nice to setup large multisampled stuff ... but then i mostly do it befor startin to make music or whilst i should work for my dayjob

regardin subtractiv synthesis ... i dont use aksys for settin up my stuff and i dont really do a lot of synth emulating stuff on the 4k ... i love my virus for that - its much more fun to use to me ...

anyways everyone should work as he prefers - but imo one should adapt to the functionality of any gear you have ... every gear has its pros and cons - the aim imo is to use the good stuff of every gear and to workaround the less good things - and up til now i havent found any gear thats good in eveything. thats also why i never participate in any all in one unit or mpc vs mv discussions coz who the fukk wants an all in one unit? ... as long mr. akai doesn't startout a cooperation with mr. avalon, mr. dbx, mr. mesaboogie, mr. fender, mr. moog, mr. lexicon and the like and built it - the MPC Everest - that all doesnt make sense anyways ...

enjoy your 4k ... peace out and bangin beaz

if your not running anythinmg else the then akasys can be handy to use like say a mixer,

just by having the laptop sitting next to the mpc with akasys running the Multi Mixer allows one to quickly mute or solo and adjust level and pan ect, without diving into menues within the MPC (diving into menues = press the "Mixer button" ) .. err, yhea saves time and is convineint when it comes workflow, ..

For the $2,799 asking price for a new MPC 4000 I think its a waste of money not to use the MPC 4000 for all that it's worth. The thing not only handles regular drum and one shot samples like other MPC models it is also a full fledged sampler.I have come up with some nice multi-sampled keygroup programs using just the MPC 4000 and sample sources.No aksys,no wav editing software, no computer at all for that matter.I personally view the sampler as an instrument and as such it's the only instrument I truly want to master.The MPC 4000 alone with no other keyboards or synths is a awesome beast and I have yet to hear someone really use it by itself to it's full potential(although I am trying).

Altopiano wrote:i use aksys little ... reason is not coz its wack or so but coz i dont like to sit in front of a pc when doin music ... i dont like to sit at all when doin music. main reason is probably coz i spent alot of time in my dayjob in front of a pc and a pc simply doesnt inspire me to make music - it rather blows away all my creativity ... another reason maybe is coz i started doin music on real instruments ... so i guess i need somethin i can touch. and even though aksys might be or is defacto useful for some stuff i prefer not to switch to pc and sit down ... but thats me and no advice for others - everyone must work as he wants to and find his own way or workin imo ...

for example: sample editors ... i do all work in 4k and will continue doin so even if everyone is doin it on another waveeditor. most say that pc-waveeditors are better, faster, grafically easier to use, ... probably they are even right but i dont give a ****. example trimin: there are lotsa ways you can trim your sample ... quickest imo is stil to learn how to sample right in the first place ... for example - to get a feel how to setup you presample time - if ya use trshhold ... hardly no work afterwards if ya seti it up nice before ... and then when trimin i observe how long a sample is guess where the start point could be insert a number and make 3 turns with the jog (or now with the funky sliders) ... if ya do it once you ll surely be faster on a waveeditor but start doin it every day and you might do it that way too ... one thing is fo sure - if ya never do it on the 4k you ll never become good at guessing, zoomin to right size on the 4k and using what the 4k offers to trim ... besides i think if time is that much of an important factor in your music makin i think you got the wrong job or hobby or whateva ... i make music coz i like it to do it in the way i like to do it and not to save time ... besides that i prefer trimin a sample by ear rather then by seein ... music is one of the little auditive things in life and i prefer a sample trimmed too early or too late that sounds tight then a sample thats trimmed accordin to a graphical interface ... question: what does it mean a sample is trimmed to early or too late at all? imo it either sounds tight or not and thats all that counts (and probably its tight coz ya listened to it whilst trimmin) ... same discussion to me is apllyable to all those cc changes - i dont give a **** to make it look nice ... the sweep has to sound nice .... so i play with my cutoff til i find the right sweep and then record it til it sounds as it should and dont really look at it ...

back to aksys - its not totally useless to me ... its a great backup facility and lately i discovered that its real nice to setup large multisampled stuff ... but then i mostly do it befor startin to make music or whilst i should work for my dayjob

regardin subtractiv synthesis ... i dont use aksys for settin up my stuff and i dont really do a lot of synth emulating stuff on the 4k ... i love my virus for that - its much more fun to use to me ...

anyways everyone should work as he prefers - but imo one should adapt to the functionality of any gear you have ... every gear has its pros and cons - the aim imo is to use the good stuff of every gear and to workaround the less good things - and up til now i havent found any gear thats good in eveything. thats also why i never participate in any all in one unit or mpc vs mv discussions coz who the **** wants an all in one unit? ... as long mr. akai doesn't startout a cooperation with mr. avalon, mr. dbx, mr. mesaboogie, mr. fender, mr. moog, mr. lexicon and the like and built it - the MPC Everest - that all doesnt make sense anyways ...

enjoy your 4k ... peace out and bangin beaz

yeah .. me too. I do every sample/program edit on the 4k. Thats why I bought it ..... to get away from the darn pc screens

..... I want a real all-in-one unit any day!

glide wrote:if your not running anythinmg else the then akasys can be handy to use like say a mixer,

....

...........

I just want to go on record as saying I would like to climb this "MPC Everest" you speak of. I don't care how old this thread is.

Altopiano wrote:i use aksys little ... reason is not coz its wack or so but coz i dont like to sit in front of a pc when doin music ... i dont like to sit at all when doin music. main reason is probably coz i spent alot of time in my dayjob in front of a pc and a pc simply doesnt inspire me to make music - it rather blows away all my creativity ... another reason maybe is coz i started doin music on real instruments ... so i guess i need somethin i can touch. and even though aksys might be or is defacto useful for some stuff i prefer not to switch to pc and sit down ... but thats me and no advice for others - everyone must work as he wants to and find his own way or workin imo ...

for example: sample editors ... i do all work in 4k and will continue doin so even if everyone is doin it on another waveeditor. most say that pc-waveeditors are better, faster, grafically easier to use, ... probably they are even right but i dont give a ****. example trimin: there are lotsa ways you can trim your sample ... quickest imo is stil to learn how to sample right in the first place ... for example - to get a feel how to setup you presample time - if ya use trshhold ... hardly no work afterwards if ya seti it up nice before ... and then when trimin i observe how long a sample is guess where the start point could be insert a number and make 3 turns with the jog (or now with the funky sliders) ... if ya do it once you ll surely be faster on a waveeditor but start doin it every day and you might do it that way too ... one thing is fo sure - if ya never do it on the 4k you ll never become good at guessing, zoomin to right size on the 4k and using what the 4k offers to trim ... besides i think if time is that much of an important factor in your music makin i think you got the wrong job or hobby or whateva ... i make music coz i like it to do it in the way i like to do it and not to save time ... besides that i prefer trimin a sample by ear rather then by seein ... music is one of the little auditive things in life and i prefer a sample trimmed too early or too late that sounds tight then a sample thats trimmed accordin to a graphical interface ... question: what does it mean a sample is trimmed to early or too late at all? imo it either sounds tight or not and thats all that counts (and probably its tight coz ya listened to it whilst trimmin) ... same discussion to me is apllyable to all those cc changes - i dont give a **** to make it look nice ... the sweep has to sound nice .... so i play with my cutoff til i find the right sweep and then record it til it sounds as it should and dont really look at it ...

back to aksys - its not totally useless to me ... its a great backup facility and lately i discovered that its real nice to setup large multisampled stuff ... but then i mostly do it befor startin to make music or whilst i should work for my dayjob

regardin subtractiv synthesis ... i dont use aksys for settin up my stuff and i dont really do a lot of synth emulating stuff on the 4k ... i love my virus for that - its much more fun to use to me ...

anyways everyone should work as he prefers - but imo one should adapt to the functionality of any gear you have ... every gear has its pros and cons - the aim imo is to use the good stuff of every gear and to workaround the less good things - and up til now i havent found any gear thats good in eveything. thats also why i never participate in any all in one unit or mpc vs mv discussions coz who the **** wants an all in one unit? ... as long mr. akai doesn't startout a cooperation with mr. avalon, mr. dbx, mr. mesaboogie, mr. fender, mr. moog, mr. lexicon and the like and built it - the MPC Everest - that all doesnt make sense anyways ...

enjoy your 4k ... peace out and bangin beaz

I highly recommend this threads video it is dead on concerning the 4k's key group programs to make our own synths. All full samplers operate on the same principle.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=154148


P.S . Make sure you have a midi keyboard hooked up to your 4k.