Some progress on MPC Instrument Definition

Hapax
1

Ok, after some thinking I have a thought on an MPC instrument definition. I’m working this up on my github project so I’ll include a link of the current version below.

Basically there are some standard things I would like to control on every track. I want to control common track parameters on every track like Volume, Pan, Mute, Send 1, Send 2, Send 3, Send 4. I setup a default track definition with these track parameters mapped in the instrument definition.

On non-standard tracks I may need to take the default track instrument definition and create a track specific instrument definition. For instance I have an Air filter effect on one of my drum tracks. For that drum track I can add to the instrument definition the CC’s for that effect unit, or pads, etc. And that would certainly allow me to import an instrument definition for the track and instantly get to play and work on automation that is pre-programmed. I also setup the pots to correspond to Volume, Pan and the 4 sends which gives me 2 pots to play with.

On the MPC side I have a default project I call HAPAX. The way I see it I can have 16 channels of midi going to the MPC (perhaps more with a USB connector now) and that gives me a lot of drum samples, maybe a couple instruments, etc to play with. A lot of different sound options. For example I’ll fill out a single track with 7 different 16 pad drum kits. That is a lot of different drum kits. If I repeated that over 16 tracks that is 1,792 different drum pads I can use. I use my sends to create some common efx racks I like. I’ll probably create some similar instrument definitions for each “return” track so I can automate them via the hapax as well.

The MPC doesn’t assign CC values up front and that’s why MIDI learn exists. However MIDI learn won’t allow you to actually just edit the CC assignment (I hate this btw). You have to tweak a knob or something to get MIDI Learn to pick up on the cc number you want to change. I find it is easier to setup tracks and samples on my computer (my workflow) so I’m using a pretty simple app on an ipad and will set the MIDI learn by changing the CC numbers and sending that to the MPC software.

So here is my process. First I’ll setup a default hapax track definition that I can use on any track with the default settings. I’ll use MIDI Learn to assign the cc number of my choice to Track 1 Volume (for example). Then as I load up a track with different assignments for efx, pad tweaks, etc I can save that track as a separate instrument definition.

I’m curious if any other MPC users have ideas?

Hope this is helpful. Here is a copy of the instrument definition so far:

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Hapax and MPC (One, Live, X)
2

I hate my MPC Live 2, bough it years ago thinking it will be “the brains” of my dawless setup but the thing never stood up to the task, its software is so buggy, its workflow its outdated and not intended to be used in live situations and it just got worse over time, it breaks my flow, the thing tries too hard to do so many things it doesn’t do anything half right. I just hate it, its a waste of time and money. sorry for the rant OP

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i have a Launchcontrol XL 3 sitting on my desk waiting for me to take the time to figure out how to map its controls to my MPC One, which I typically dedicated six MIDI channels to on my Deluge as an external sequencer (one track for all my samples – vocals, percussion, beats, and the other tracks distributed among plugins, keygroups, drumsynth.). so i think some basic mapping that i feel like would be universal across all the different plugins and expansions is for (1) faders control the track volume for a given track; (2) not sure if the DAW Mode mute/solo functions for the bottom two buttons would translate 1:1 for a given MIDI track in the MPC but that would be a good control to have.

The real trick is mapping plugin functions/parameters.

4

Agreed @chrisroland . So I created a default set of CC parameters per track:

[CC_PAIR]
1:90 Volume
2:64 Pan
3:127 Mute
4:0 Send1
5:0 Send2
6:0 Send3
7:0 Send4
8:64 GlobalSemiTune
[/CC_PAIR]

Then on one of my tracks I have the Air Filter effect and so for that track I added the following mapping:

[CC_PAIR]
1:90 Volume
2:64 Pan
3:127 Mute
4:0 Send1
5:0 Send2
6:0 Send3
7:0 Send4
8:64 GlobalSemiTune
# These are specific to AAA Kit
12:0 lpfEnabled
13:0 FilterMode
14:0 FilterType
15:0 SaturationType
16:0 CutoffFrequency
17:0 Resonance
18:127 lpfOutputGain
[/CC_PAIR]

So the trick is that I need to treat different “instrument definitions” as different MPC tracks. I can rack my own efx for the track and if I want to control automations beyond the standard set I’ll have to set it up as a seperate instrument definition for that track.

Some extra work but probably more efficient when I just want to sit down and create.

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5

I just want to put a bow on this work. I hit some dead ends with my MPC.

  1. The MIDI learn functionality is atrocious on the MPC. I didn’t want to believe it but very simple things like the ability to sort the list of midi assignments is missing. When I created a midi map via midi learn I’d come back to the mpc interface and it would be a total scramble of information. In a scenario where I have 4 mpc tracks each with 20 cc mappings it becomes unusable. A nightmare of data that just some small interface fixes would be very useful. Such as list sorting or the ability to just edit the mapping data.

  2. USB Midi Transport Issues. With the upgraded Hapax OS I wanted to use the USB Midi to send and receive data from my MPC. This would give me 16 cables x 16 channels of information flowing between my hapax and the MPC. A very powerful way to send data. However the MPC USB implementation is really bad. Very buggy where cable 1 only routed messages to channel 1. The only way I could get another track to respond to midi messages was to switch to cable 2. So what is the point if I’m really just back at 16 virtual cables. Also I read a lot of issues with note off values being sent to the wrong place.

So frustrating. Two issues that really kill the value of the MPC in my setup. I could neither get the CC’s mapped effectively and managed nor could I maximize the amount of information going back and forth between the two systems via a standard USB. @squarpadmin I trust because they are always updating their software. But Akai, I don’t trust them at all. These features have been in place for a while, people have complained for years about the bugs and fixes are very slow. I don’t know what they care about but it isn’t me.

So I did the most expensive thing possible. I bought an Ableton Push 3 standalone and I couldn’t be happier. It took me a bit to transfer over my drum programs / tracks, tweak effects to where I like them, and get used to the new system. But once I had things transferred over it was amazing. It solved my two big bugs. 1) CC mappings are easy to make, easy to see, although I would ask for a better editing interface in the future from Ableton. 2) All USB Device cables and channels are available to use which is epic.

And one other super nice feature on the Push that I could never get to work on the MPC. I setup a custom Max for Push script. The script can be added to a Track. The script will receive a custom NPRN value over CC that resets the BPM value according to an NPRN value I send from the Hapax. This is amazing because the Push will autowarp loops for me based upon the NPRN value BPM that I wanted. Epic way to switch BPM’s from the hapax to the Ableton so that my loops stretch in near real time.

Also the Push 3 is an MPE device which I’ve kind of been itching for.

Anyways… Anyone want to buy and MPC One+ because I’m done with it. It’s so sad really, I loved my 2000xl, wished they had a new version of an S6000, but in the end wound up with a better tool.

2 Likes
6

thanks for your efforts. i get PTSD just thinking of trying to map like six tracks to my Launch Control XL 3 to use it in a live setting. i think it’s common knowledge that MPC is terrible responding to incoming clock/sync (rock solid sending, but obviously not ideal in this use case scenario). i’m skeptical Akai will ever take the time and trouble to implement the MIDI CC system for drum programs, plugins, keygroups that they need to make life easier for midi mapping but hope springs eternal

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7

yeah modern MPCs are trash, I feel you @DiscoSoundSystem the MIDI mapping UI is the worst its unnusable… and they are hard to sell too =/

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