Hardware Sequencers

I ported some tracker tricks to OT too, for example proper triplet, not that 3/4 clock divider. Or brute force timestretch (sounds harsh though) with slide trigs

  On 12/19/2014 at 1:32 PM, tokn said:

anyone would like to elaborate how to sequence with a mpc? yeah stupid question but never had the time to understand it. or any online ressource recommended?

I can explain quickly, actually it's very simple. you can disable the sampler function of each track and use it as a MIDI track instead, where you specify an output channel (for addressing each unit you want to control with MIDI). the more convenient is to plug a MIDI keyboard to the MPC which you will use for recording MIDI loops into you different track. once you recorded you can use the pads of the MPC to mute / unmute tracks, you can change sequence for different parts of you song, etc..

thanks man, by the way, we should still meet one day. in regards of the mpc, is it possible to adress cc values or more complex midi messages. can you do polyphonic sequences? can you use freetime and a grid? well i guess i should use google heh

  On 12/19/2014 at 1:50 PM, telefunken said:

Yeah, Renoise's LFO is fucking great. At least that you can use your LFO like lookup table for something else (to tune Comb or Delay etc) and navigate this table with another LFO or X/Y — awesome.

 

With OT's LFOs you can do interesting tricks too. You can use your LFO with designed waveform as static lookup table too, but you can't automate navigation, you only can scroll waveform in LFO Designer. But every LFO in Sampler section can use this waveform, so you can do crazy things just by scrolling this 'lookup table'

 

Step probability trick:

Setup LFO as Random, assign it to Vol, set speed to 0, synchronize it to TRIG, set Depth to 0. Then set machine's Vol to -50 for example (or p-lock it to step) then you can p-lock LFO's Depth to ~50 to step and get some kind of step probability.

Yup, the LFO designer is great. It's like having rudimentary automation envelopes built in.

If you want step probability that's totally on/off, you can use a square LFO in HOLD mode applied to volume (or width or delay send or whatever), and then use a random LFO at maximum speed that's modulating the rate of the square LFO. Then the value will either be full high or full low.

  On 12/19/2014 at 1:57 PM, Antape said:

 

  On 12/19/2014 at 1:32 PM, tokn said:

anyone would like to elaborate how to sequence with a mpc? yeah stupid question but never had the time to understand it. or any online ressource recommended?

 

I can explain quickly, actually it's very simple. you can disable the sampler function of each track and use it as a MIDI track instead, where you specify an output channel (for addressing each unit you want to control with MIDI). the more convenient is to plug a MIDI keyboard to the MPC which you will use for recording MIDI loops into you different track. once you recorded you can use the pads of the MPC to mute / unmute tracks, you can change sequence for different parts of you song, etc..

 

In JJOS tracks can be both MIDI and sampler. I rarely use this but it can be nice for layering. Totally agree about the keyboard - I didn't find this helpful with the OT but it's been really valuable with both the MPC and MnM.

  On 12/19/2014 at 3:05 PM, tokn said:

thanks man, by the way, we should still meet one day. in regards of the mpc, is it possible to adress cc values or more complex midi messages. can you do polyphonic sequences? can you use freetime and a grid? well i guess i should use google heh

You can throw whatever MIDI message you want in JJOS, in fact I sometimes use my MPC as a sysex librarian and save dumps as sequences. You can play 2 sequences at once (at least in an older version) but it's awkward. If by polyphonic you just mean multiple notes per track, yeah, no problem. The MPC does a great job of preserving your timing when you record into it but you can also quantize. There's also a step mode but I rarely use it.

what I find frustrating on the MPC500 (don't know how it is on the other models) is that you can't address the "Q-Slider" (that fantastic name Akai gave to those little MPC faders) to CC controls. I can't even remember how you're supposed to use it with samples but when you're just using the sequencing part of the MPC it's quite a shame that it's not available for addressing any parameter you think of on a specific track and record some automations. Recording some MIDI controller action is fine though, you just record it as you would record notes from a keyboard and can then edit it how you want (editing that on the original OS is quite inconvenient though).

  On 12/19/2014 at 3:05 PM, tokn said:

thanks man, by the way, we should still meet one day. in regards of the mpc, is it possible to adress cc values or more complex midi messages. can you do polyphonic sequences? can you use freetime and a grid? well i guess i should use google heh

we could definitely do that but I go to Berlin quite rarely, I could PM if I have the occasion though. just do the same if you happen to be in Leipzig some day!

  On 12/19/2014 at 4:09 PM, Antape said:

what I find frustrating on the MPC500 (don't know how it is on the other models) is that you can't address the "Q-Slider" (that fantastic name Akai gave to those little MPC faders) to CC controls. I can't even remember how you're supposed to use it with samples but when you're just using the sequencing part of the MPC it's quite a shame that it's not available for addressing any parameter you think of on a specific track and record some automations.

Yeah JJOS fixes all these concerns too :)

of course you can do that with the LFO! brain wasnt working last night.

now, if tracks could affect cc's of other tracks that would make it a dream box, like a kick drum gating a pad or whatever.

thanks for the info guys. is the mpc 500 the best / cheapest choice? i think i will read more about these machines, really like the idea of having one in the center and control of my other stuff (microbrute, electribe er-1, volca keys). i should get a proper mixer first i guess but that's so boring hehe.

I would much much rather get an mpc1k with jjos :)

Get the MPC1000, it can run JJOS which improves immensely on the MPC.

  On 12/19/2014 at 3:05 PM, tokn said:

thanks man, by the way, we should still meet one day. in regards of the mpc, is it possible to adress cc values or more complex midi messages. can you do polyphonic sequences? can you use freetime and a grid? well i guess i should use google heh

yes too all with JJOS. i believe the akai os doesnt have a grid/step sequencer. I really love my mpc but some of the little buttons are dying and my soldering iron broke so i tend to swear at it a lot while i mash the buttons. Great sequencer and very solid as a drum machine. It does have a few flaws the mpc but i use mine for live stuff and home in the studio for sequencing pretty much everything i make and i love it. Can see how its not for everyone tho

I think I'll go for a MPC1000 eventually, I just have to check some details first like what are the differences between the blue and the black, why do used MPC1000 cost that much more money in Germany than in France, which JJOS version I need etc...

Black has better pads but you can get replacement pads for the blue. Also the data wheel works differently so when you get JJOS you'll have to adjust it in the menu.

Get the free JJOS for now. You need it to install the non-free ones anyway and it's already way better than the factory OS. You'll probably want JJOS2XL. I played around with 3 a little but I didn't like it. There's only a couple minor things that the older version (can't remember whether it's 1 or 2) has over 2XL.

Sorry if you've seen this already: http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~mpc1000/chart.htm

  On 12/31/2014 at 8:43 AM, sweepstakes said:

Black has better pads but you can get replacement pads for the blue. Also the data wheel works differently so when you get JJOS you'll have to adjust it in the menu.

Get the free JJOS for now. You need it to install the non-free ones anyway and it's already way better than the factory OS. You'll probably want JJOS2XL. I played around with 3 a little but I didn't like it. There's only a couple minor things that the older version (can't remember whether it's 1 or 2) has over 2XL.

Sorry if you've seen this already: http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~mpc1000/chart.htm

yeah I read about that but it seems that even some black ones have bad pads. there's a lot of criticism on the pads for this MPC overall, it seems that it's not that easy to find a second hand one that have good ones or even to find out which one are installed. Regarding the OS, I saw a lot of MPC ads which specify that one of the JJOS is installed (I think I saw a majority with JJOS2XL actually, which is pretty good).

I will order one when I'll be back home anyway so I still have time to look for good offers.

i thought I could find one for say 400/500€ but it seems to lean more towards 600 or something. I'm not too happy with that as I wanted this purchase to be more "reasonable" than the previous ones.

How does the MPC1000 handle sending a lot of MIDI data? I already noticed that the 500 seems to send a poor MIDI signal (some glitches are occurring from times to times) but now I found out that more serious glitches appear during playback if I start to record some CC automation... I suppose it's better with the 1000? do some of you also get those kind of glitches when playing sequences which have a lot of data recorded? (and in that case what means "a lot"?).

thanks in advance!

PS : yes I use a MIDI thru box and it improved the overall stability but it's still not working great...

It have to admit, I hated the mpc. I got the 1000 years ago and tried so many times to get on with it, even got JJOS and upgraded all that could be and still, I found it as boring as a PC. The screen and the info just looks cramped and Ill thought out. Just a block of text and numbers not looking exciting or appealing. I wanted to like it as many people love it and I know it's a great machine but... It had to go.

Replaced with the Machinedrum and Eventually the Octatrack (which I still need to give time to). I clicked with elektron within minutes.

not to put you off but to put another spin on it.

The analogfour also replaced my future retro mobius and mfb step64

  On 1/17/2015 at 2:10 PM, Antape said:

do some of you also get those kind of glitches when playing sequences which have a lot of data recorded? (and in that case what means "a lot"?).

 

this is true of all midi hardware, not just the mpc. if you try and send/receive too dense of a stream, it will choke, drop data, etc...

this is pretty easy to do with the mpc, as it offers such a large number of tracks. start recording dense realtime cc data on 5-6 tracks and you will run into problems.

it could also be the problem with the receiving hardware as well. the mpc could be sending everything fine but the gear on the other end just can't keep up. either way, you have to learn to work within the limitations of what you have.

Serial data is old school.

  On 1/18/2015 at 3:49 AM, digit said:

 

  On 1/17/2015 at 2:10 PM, Antape said:

do some of you also get those kind of glitches when playing sequences which have a lot of data recorded? (and in that case what means "a lot"?).

 

 

this is true of all midi hardware, not just the mpc. if you try and send/receive too dense of a stream, it will choke, drop data, etc...

 

this is pretty easy to do with the mpc, as it offers such a large number of tracks. start recording dense realtime cc data on 5-6 tracks and you will run into problems.

 

it could also be the problem with the receiving hardware as well. the mpc could be sending everything fine but the gear on the other end just can't keep up. either way, you have to learn to work within the limitations of what you have.

 

thanks for your reply. well I'm ok with working with some limitations but I thought the MPC was exaggerating a bit yesterday : I really wasn't running that much tracks simultaneously (5 maybe?) and I wanted to use one of them to record some filter cutoff action for my Bass Station 2, which resulted most of the time in the Electribe SX1 stopping to play after it played it's loaded pattern once (?). Kind of weird. The more I work with this setup, the more I tend to use separate tracks to send to the same synth (like different notes of a chord, or like in this previous case using one track separately for CC info). I wonder if that can be a source of problems?

I have to take care of what I record exactly on the tracks anyway, I'm especially thinking about aftertouch - I don't have a lot of synths which handle that and it would be cool to find a way to filter this info before it's recorded down to tracks, I'm sure it helps the whole thing to stay stable.

anyway I guess everything will be better with the MPC1000 because of the two MIDI outs and the JJOS interface, which I assume allow you to do those kind of tricks (filtering out the MIDI data for example) more easily

  On 1/17/2015 at 4:40 PM, Chesney said:

It have to admit, I hated the mpc. I got the 1000 years ago and tried so many times to get on with it, even got JJOS and upgraded all that could be and still, I found it as boring as a PC. The screen and the info just looks cramped and Ill thought out. Just a block of text and numbers not looking exciting or appealing. I wanted to like it as many people love it and I know it's a great machine but... It had to go.

Replaced with the Machinedrum and Eventually the Octatrack (which I still need to give time to). I clicked with elektron within minutes.

 

not to put you off but to put another spin on it.

 

The analogfour also replaced my future retro mobius and mfb step64

I'd also love to have a nice more step-like sequencer but my priority right now is to get something versatile. I needed some time to get used to it but I like what the MPC500 allows you to do. It just seems quite limited and sometimes over complicated, hence my decision to find something else. MPC1000 looks great for my needs to be honest. I'm sure I could make nice babies with the Elektron gear but it would eat all my money and then I would starve or something.

The new FH-1 module from Expert Sleepers looks pretty flexible.

  On 1/18/2015 at 10:57 AM, Antape said:

 

  On 1/18/2015 at 3:49 AM, digit said:

 

  On 1/17/2015 at 2:10 PM, Antape said:

do some of you also get those kind of glitches when playing sequences which have a lot of data recorded? (and in that case what means "a lot"?).

 

 

this is true of all midi hardware, not just the mpc. if you try and send/receive too dense of a stream, it will choke, drop data, etc...

 

this is pretty easy to do with the mpc, as it offers such a large number of tracks. start recording dense realtime cc data on 5-6 tracks and you will run into problems.

 

it could also be the problem with the receiving hardware as well. the mpc could be sending everything fine but the gear on the other end just can't keep up. either way, you have to learn to work within the limitations of what you have.

 

 

thanks for your reply. well I'm ok with working with some limitations but I thought the MPC was exaggerating a bit yesterday : I really wasn't running that much tracks simultaneously (5 maybe?) and I wanted to use one of them to record some filter cutoff action for my Bass Station 2, which resulted most of the time in the Electribe SX1 stopping to play after it played it's loaded pattern once (?). Kind of weird. The more I work with this setup, the more I tend to use separate tracks to send to the same synth (like different notes of a chord, or like in this previous case using one track separately for CC info). I wonder if that can be a source of problems?

 

I have to take care of what I record exactly on the tracks anyway, I'm especially thinking about aftertouch - I don't have a lot of synths which handle that and it would be cool to find a way to filter this info before it's recorded down to tracks, I'm sure it helps the whole thing to stay stable.

 

anyway I guess everything will be better with the MPC1000 because of the two MIDI outs and the JJOS interface, which I assume allow you to do those kind of tricks (filtering out the MIDI data for example) more easily

 

  On 1/17/2015 at 4:40 PM, Chesney said:

It have to admit, I hated the mpc. I got the 1000 years ago and tried so many times to get on with it, even got JJOS and upgraded all that could be and still, I found it as boring as a PC. The screen and the info just looks cramped and Ill thought out. Just a block of text and numbers not looking exciting or appealing. I wanted to like it as many people love it and I know it's a great machine but... It had to go.

Replaced with the Machinedrum and Eventually the Octatrack (which I still need to give time to). I clicked with elektron within minutes.

 

not to put you off but to put another spin on it.

 

The analogfour also replaced my future retro mobius and mfb step64

 

I'd also love to have a nice more step-like sequencer but my priority right now is to get something versatile. I needed some time to get used to it but I like what the MPC500 allows you to do. It just seems quite limited and sometimes over complicated, hence my decision to find something else. MPC1000 looks great for my needs to be honest. I'm sure I could make nice babies with the Elektron gear but it would eat all my money and then I would starve or something.

 

hey man, getting an MPC1000 as well now, forgetting about new software sequencers for a moment since I just fixed my sammichSID.. really excited to see how I can fit this with the rest of the boxes.

my interest was piqued after I heard this, made on an mpc2500 only: https://fahtunes.bandcamp.com/album/datman-h-ya

also:

finally on the cirklon waiting list. woop

http://www.synthforum.nl/forums/showthread.php?t=184274

havent got the money right now (and need the cv I/O option) some money that was coming to me has been pulled from under my nose.. damn. and i was interested in getting a new poly as well :grumble:

anyway isnt that a bit expensive? or is he thinking people will pay full price because they are a rarity?