Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
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By feline1 Sat Jun 18, 2005 1:48 pm
You just program the Drehbank with an auld Windows 3.0 style (yes, 3.0!) GUI interface free download thing.

To be honest, I've been so busy the past fortnight, I still haven't gotten round to setting mine all up yet!

By Altopiano Sun Jun 19, 2005 2:06 pm
hy feline - thanx

feline1 wrote:You just program the Drehbank with an auld Windows 3.0 style (yes, 3.0!) GUI interface free download thing.

lol on the 3.0 os - i noticed and wondered - thatz when you finally get to know why you kept your pc back in 99 ... and dunno - but in a world where users are expecting os updates and new features all the time i kinda like it that they dont give a fukk to update that software ...


To be honest, I've been so busy the past fortnight, I still haven't gotten round to setting mine all up yet!


i hear ya. take ya time. only askin coz a few month back i been interested in exactly the same controller for use with 4k. feel free to report about it in half a year or so once your 4k-drehbank combo is setup ... it were really interesting to hear a real user experience coz the website doesnt answer things like for example how the setup works using sysex, ... another thing i would like to know (and that i couldnt find on their page) can the range be set within drehbank? ... in my setup the drehbank would prolly control my main setup - all destinations in 4k, plus most important hidden ones in my virus ... as ever - on your homepage i seen your setup (which is tha shyt btw - congrats) and i m sure you gonna find lotsa ways to to keep the drehbank busy ...


thanx adrian. yes this looks beatyful ... gonna check it out and i guess its time to start savin money .... meanwhile i ll try to keep gearlust down ... bangin beaz y'all
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By feline1 Sun Jun 19, 2005 6:43 pm
the drehbank has 64 knobs.

The Program Modulation Matrix on the MPC4000 has 50-odd destinations.

To save MIDI bandwidth,
I'm gonna assign those to respond to MIDI continuous controllers, and program 50-odd of the drehbank knobs to match.

Each of my MPC4000 programs, I'll include those same 50-odd MIDI continuous controller mappings in the matrix.
So I can always tweak those settings with the drehbank.

The the remaining dozen or so drehbank knobs, I'll pick a dozen of the remaining program parameters, and stick the SysEx in for them -
these will work on the currently selected program

By Altopiano Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:43 pm
feline1 wrote:... the remaining dozen or so drehbank knobs, I'll pick a dozen of the remaining program parameters, and stick the SysEx in for them -
these will work on the currently selected program


thanx again - this all sounds to dope

sorry that i ask on but i got some more questions - so feel free to bother and answer: hope they make sense at all .... if not, sorry but i never used sysex to control my 4k.

as i understood it using sysex basically also allows one to contol all those parameters not included in the mod matrix like for example filt env l1,l2,l4, the effects and so on - right ?

so: does this also mean ya can record sysex tweaks for ie. filt env l1,l2,l4, effects and so on in step edit?


also: there s at least 2 parameters in our mod matrix which drive me nuts more then all the others: Amplitude and Pitch (this is now related to all those discussions we had in here bout how mod depht affects the program ...)

ok first a basic question 1 to this: i asume almplitude is contolin the parameter in program mode > kg mix > level, whilst pitch is contollin the parameter in program mode > pitch > tune. if ya assign em via sysex ya should be able to prove whether this is correct quite easlily - is it?

question2: if ya assign em via sysex from the drehbank i think this could also finally help to findout how deep those parameters can be controlled. so say if ya set knob 1 and knob 2 from the drehbank to contol amplitude and pitch via sysex and turn them all the way could ya please check how far those parameters can be controlled? maybe for this it is also worth it to doublecheck whether a sysex tweak (i asume they gotta a range from 0-127) on amplitude or pitch has the same effect as a continous controller tweak (a la q-link - ranging from 0-100)? ... dunno hope the question makes sense ... take ya time to answer - its 2 years that i got this last question - so there s no stress at all ... but it were again greatly appreciated if ya could help to answer this question.

forgive if this all doesnt make sense ...
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By feline1 Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:25 am
I think I already know the answers to these -

question 1 - yes, these are the same parameters

Question 2 - the mod matrix is applied as a percentage-scalled offset to the existing value.

If you fire some SysEx in externally, it's not an offset, it replaces the set value.

By Altopiano Tue Jun 21, 2005 5:36 pm
feline1 wrote:Question 2 - the mod matrix is applied as a percentage-scalled offset to the existing value.


dope definition and thanx alot for your quick answer - really much appreciated ... things are gettin a lil bit clearer.

i admit though that the entire picture of the 4k mod matrix is still not 100% clear to me for real and easy logical practical usage. often i m still on the trial and error route, obtaining also nice results but i feel much more comfortable when doin similar things at my virus coz i feel like knowing what i m doin there - feel me? ... if i wanna achieve somethin specific (for example modulating the oscilator volume (or any other parameter)precisely between 2 given values ie. 30 and 70 via ie. lfo (or any other source) i know how to do this and just do it - whilst on the 4k esp. in the case of pitch (mainly coz of its 2 comma +/-36.00 range) and amplitude (coz of its one comma -60.0 to +06.0 range) i feel like foolin around ... lol

... as ever - i m gettin closer and i ll take this definition now for further experiments ... so - if anyone has further insight on the matter or should be up to discuss anythin bout our still beatyful mod matrix (maybe with some real practical examples) it were greatly appreciated and i d be up to discuss it anytime ...