I am sequencing my MD as a slave and want to enter a live record standby mode so that it will begin recording on input. I can’t find this in the manual. Thanks very much
Are you asking about recording data into patterns or recording audio into a RAM machine?
Recording data into patterns
OK. There is no such live record standby mode.
Press record and play.
This is “Live Record” mode, A standby mode will wait for input to begin recording.
That is a shame, I guess I will have to manually record everything into the machine 
This seems like basic functionality as well… Since it is legacy hardware I wont expect anything to be implemented here.
In case I misunderstood your question, do you know of another hardware instrument that has this feature?
mpc 1000, korg esx , in my studio. im sure there are many others that take midi data and behave as sequencers.
From what I remember from my old Korg EMX (which agrees with the description in the manual for the ESX), the record-ready function is REC, then PLAY. I don’t remember it starting in record-ready mode on receipt of external MIDI notes. I’m curious to know, does the ESX really start playing in record-ready mode on receipt of external MIDI notes? Is that what you’re saying or am I misunderstanding completely?
I think that’s exactly what he’s saying. I am too searching for a way to do this. I have the EMX which, when armed for recording (without pressing play) will start recording as soon as I press play on whatever it is that’s controlling it via midi (ableton, logic, analog four, etc).
However, the MD does not seem to have this function, which is a bummer. I basically have to create 4 bar loops, wait for each to finish and quickly press the record button on the machinedrum before the next cycle begins.
What are you recording ?