By
Dunewar
Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:57 am
I use it live all the time.
I use a mixture of both song mode and next SEQ mode. I play jazz, so improvising is pretty important. I usually set up a couple of sequences, for example one for the intro, one for outro, and a couple to improvise over. When the structure is really clear, I can put them in order in song mode and use the LOOP feature to make the sequence loop untill I push the NEXT button. Because i'm a piano player, I use a foot pedal for that. There is a major bug in the song mode though (that I've signalled to JJ a few times, but no response) : when the cursor is on the song name, the next button doesn't work, so you are stuck in the current loop (unless you use the sudden button).
I also use the NEXT SEQ mode when the order of sequences isn't that clear. I trigger the next sequence by pads, but I allways use the play till end mode, so the next sequence only starts when the one currently playing is finished. If I were only operating the MPC while performing, I might use another mode, but I'm also playing the piano at the same time...
I usually make a couple of sequences that are variations of eachother, so I can make a solo more interesting. I'm also exploring the track mute function so I can mute and solo tracks on the fly.
In a nutshell : playing live requires a lot of preparation. I'm still exploring every possibility of this machine after a year of use!!! I haven't used the Q-link sliders yet while playing live (maybe to alter the decay times of my drumsamples while playing, or the filter, or...), and i'm still struggling to make my beats more experimental (it all sounds too nice). After all, i'm a piano player in a nice jazz trio playing standard jazz tunes, and we mainly got the mpc for it's sequencer so we could trigger walking bass lines from my XV-3080. Beatmaking came later.
"Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny"