Get a Dremel or generic rotory tool mate… cheap tool and very handy for stuff like that, I did the same to mine, you’ll easily be able to tidy it up👍
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yeah could definitely do with one. Literally butchered it with a rusty coping saw from the back of the toolbox and filed the edge off so it won’t scratch. you can see I did the SD slot more carefully but by halfway through the long cut I went a bit off track and thought F this. Works fine though. feels solid! Good because there are very limited options for X stands. Just for others to take into account if they get ikea stands, think the one has an SD slot on the front like that
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I did the same for the Force.
I’ve just released Kit Creator which is an app for Windows/Mac that creates MPC Drum Programs/Ableton Live Drum Rack Presets from folders of existing samples you have. You can assign up to 16 folders to any Pads. It can Randomise Volume, Pan & Release within specified min max parameters per Pad, generates some interesting Random Names. It has a Preset system & a Theme system for switching Colours.
it’s currently a beta as I still have some features to add, such as editing folders of existing files to ie randomise the pan etc… as well as some basic conversion between MPC/Live. Whilst in beta it’s $19.99, usual price $34.99.
I’ve made a Video with Whispering Jane who really likes it.
More info here:
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This set has been mentioned a few times in this thread. I was wondering, what are the ways to replicate this kind of setup using the newer MPCs like the Live? MIDI controller mapped to the internal mixer channels? USB mixer like the Tascams? USB Interface routed to an analogue mixer? How would you do it?
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I’ve been thinking about this recently, and I think the key is to use the Submixes within the MPC.
So, rather than have to keep your tracks consistent for every project/sequence you work on, you can use the 8 Submixes and allocate certain elements and group mixes consistently to the same Submixes.
As you can go into individual pads within Drum Programs, this means you can send everything to the correct place. As an example, you could do this;
Submix 1- Kick drums
Submix 2- Snares
Submix 3- Hats
Submix 4- All other drum elements
Submix 5- Basses
Submix 6- Pads/Keys
Submix 7- Leads
Submix 8- All other melodic content
I would use something like the Novation Launch Control XL or Akai Midi Mix to have constant fader control of these groups, and also have Aux/Send 1&2 control for each Submix channel.
That would give a LOT of consistent hands on performance power, something akin to what Mr G does, but with just one USB lead to connect.
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Great idea. That seems the way to go.
I’ve had a quick look and it seems the midimix and the launch control are the 2 midi controllers that come up all the time. Do you know if there’s anything a bit more ‘high end’? I guess the ideal controller would have access to 8 submix faders, 4 sends per fader and maybe some faders for the master.
I don’t think its a case of ‘high end’, it’s more a case of ‘more’, as in it’s easy to just add more knobs.
A Novation Launch Control XL has multiple banks don’t forget, so it’s easy to map all your faders, pans, send’s 1 and 2 on bank 1 (as discussed above), then switch to bank 2 and have that access send’s 3, 4 and 5.
But, if you add something like a FaderFox EC4, or the Midi Twister Fighter, alongside the Novation LC-XL, you suddenly open up a world of instant control without having to shift banks. The EC4 is particularly good as you can name/display the parameters you assign it to control, and it’s shifting banks is VERY slick and intuitive… you have access to 16 banks of 16 controls that feels really seamless. Then you have fast access to 16 programs of these 16x16 banks… that’s a LOT of control. FaderFox units are great, well worth checking out.
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Thanks. I didn’t realise you could have banks on the novation - a handy feature.
What are everyone’s’ opinions on the quality of the effects in the mpc live etc.?
I am really enjoying the workflow and actually think it could take the place of my computer for a lot of things. If I could get the big six working as a usb interface with it I would pretty much be set. But I’m not convinced of the quality of the effects, maybe I just have not used the right ones yet? I could always just stick with my outboard stuff I guess, but having some decent software filters, compressors, eq, etc. is pretty much a necessity.
Thoughts?
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I think most of the effects are great. I love Tube Drive, it just does something with the sounds that I enjoy (well, it’s obviously saturation, but it’s a good form of it). The Air Compressor is great and very transparent. I don’t like the other compressors, or I haven’t found good uses for them. I especially avoid the Master Compressor, just use Air Compressor. 
Granulator is great and in combination with a chain of other effects like Air Reverb, it can create some really interesting reverb effects. On a Return channel, put a Granulator, an Air Delay, an Air Reverb and finally a Para EQ to shape the sound and you have a pretty great atmospheric reverb for some fat or subtle synths.
The area where I think the effects are weak are in the pure Reverb department. Air Reverb on its own just doesn’t sound lush to me, there’s no real sizzle. Hence me experimenting with the effects chain above.
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I was not a huge fan of the overall sound of effects or the unit itself, which ultimately led to me selling after a year and a half of use. (plus the feature creep, Envelopes, and convoluted UI)
Hated the gain staging as well, and how it was pretty much default clipping all the time.
MotherDucker is awesome and one of the more intuitive Sidechain effects I have used on any device. Air Transient, Sample Delay, Lofi, Granulator were the stand out effects i liked. Most of the air stuff was decent.
Hated all the reverbs, delays, Vintage effects IE MPC 60, SP -1200.
It honestly could just be that I am more partial to the SP lines effects, which in IMO have much more character and better overall sound. Ultimately, I feel like i couldn’t reach the experimental sound design territory that i enjoy as easily as as my current sampling setup DIGITAKT + SP-404 MKII, and SP 303.
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Hah, I have started to notice this as well.
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I think the Air FX are (approx) 15 year old DSP code.
(They appeared in ProTools around 2005/6)
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I was going to say that the fx sounded like early 2000s pro tools, now I know why!
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considering the prices of vintage FXs today, we should be happy to have them for free 
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I’d agree reverb is the hardest effect to get a happy result with on the MPC. It’s frustrating compared to the A4, or the MC-707, or even just the plate reverb on my Behringer mixer. You do have the advantage of being able to chain it with EQ etc, it’d just be great to have a reliable reverb you could drop in and already be 90% of the way there.
But other than that, I think the MPC effects are a great bunch, and even the seemingly blandest can find a place in a chain, or on a submix or send, or directly applied to a single pad. It’s not so much the quality of the effects, though some are very nice, it’s the flexibility and generosity of the effects system.
But yeah, just pop the Clouds reverb in there and I’d be happy.
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- print/freeze to taste… lovely feature… sculpt til happy
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Oh I’m sure the code isn’t the most cutting edge, it’s clear that they have optimized for CPU efficiency given that the processor inside of the unit is fairly slow and it runs off of a battery. I get almost twice the battery life when running MPC 2 compared to Reason 10 on my laptop.
To my ears, the effects are more than good enough though, if you treat them appropriately in a suitable effect chain - except for the reverb, which arguably is the most important one for me to sound “modern”. It’s perfectly fine for drums and other elements that are less in the spotlight, but for my leads recorded on the Hydrasynth or Minilogue XD, I tend to record the signal wet to keep the reverb of the original synth just because I find that sounds better. I still process it through Tube Drive, Air Compressor and Para EQ on the MPC side and to my ears, it sounds great.
Pad mutes. That is how most perform on MPC’s new or old. Pad mutes. Yes, since the newer MPC’s dont have the outs like Mr. G’s, you could use one of the tascam or another USB compliant mixer to have that ability to mix off the MPC and turn up down stuff. But pad mutes on the MPC are your friend. A big project with lots of bits. Some i know will spread a song across a few sequences and have many songs ready in one project, so you could do pad mutes for improv and also have a few sequences ready for each song with fills, breaks etc.
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