Live and MPC - what's your flow?

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:57 pm

what's your workflow with these two? I never got it right.

from finding a loop, transferring it to the mpc, playing with it, bouncing or transferring it back...

I think I loaded too much crap on mine, it's a little overwhelming finding a beat to start on.

I'm on mpc1k w/JJOS, L7 and no talent (haven't found the crack for that yet.)

Grifter · Post by **Grifter** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:00 pm

Dumb Cunt

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:12 pm

I know, that's why I'm asking.

doc holiday · Post by **doc holiday** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:03 pm

my flow with live and MPC 2000 goes like this.

unplug it, move it aside, sell it.

Jekblad · Post by **Jekblad** » Thu Jul 17, 2008 8:12 pm

those are some hilarious answers. I'm sorry Deft, no one deserves that...

Wait, I mean.... ZING!!!

If i knew anything about that machine i'd love to help ya.

arctic ranger · Post by **arctic ranger** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:05 am

load some sounds, tweak em out, HIT DEM PADS AND BANG OUT SOME LOOPS!!!

record

also, the 16 levels are good for bass lines and other backing shit.

filter loops, compress, chop, extract, 16 levels for filter on any sound... the list goes on. the point is that you have another method of banging out beats and bass. go out and hit them pads and hit them hard. just make sure that you record your components of your beats to separate tracks so you can mute and mix em up in different ways.

cheers!! cause im drunk!

Sleep Tyght · Post by **Sleep Tyght** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:19 am

Trying to sync Live with the MPC fucking SUCKS. At first it seems that everything is sync'd correctly and then Live's timing starts to drift. It's sooo funny because when I attempt to add that "famous MPC swing and groove" to a drum loop, it just REFUSES to sync with a sample loop I might have thrown in a Live cell. Trust me...I know how to use warp markers and I just can't get this shit to sync AT ALL when using the MPC's swing.

These days I've resorted to mostly using the MPC as a midi controller unless I'm either...

A. Using it with Logic

B. Using it to sync to Pro Tools in the studio.

C. Just switching gears and banging out the beat before the melody.

I just don't get it. Life with Live would be PHENOMENAL if they Ableton could work out the fucking sync issues. Sometimes I just prefer composing in live over Logic. Sometimes I prefer opening a VSTI in Live with chord and arp plugs, but shit...I wanna use it all with my MPC's too ya know?

sans soleil · Post by **sans soleil** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:42 pm

i haven't had any problems with sync...?
...anyway: i like running an 8-bar loop on the mpc along with my arrangement in live and banging in fills/riffs, building up a variety of patterns that way.

i also have an evolver and microkorg midied directly from the mpc, which i sometimes use to stepsequence arrangements (one thing that i really miss in live is a proper step sequencer...great for those old-school chugga-chugga plinky-plink mechanical riffs).

eisnein · Post by **eisnein** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 2:58 pm

i gots a 3000 and i love making sounds in Live and then using the digital out on my sound card to record samples over to the mpc.

depending on my mood and whether or not i want to sequence in the MPC ill sync Live to the Mpc or the MPC to live. sometimes ill be grooving on the MPC sequence and then just record that whole thing (multi tracked) into Live and play with that in there.

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:04 pm

doc holiday wrote:my flow with live and MPC 2000 goes like this.

unplug it, move it aside, sell it.

Basically same here. I haven't sold mine yet. It's taken me about 4 months but I am finally working at the same speed or faster than I used to with an MPC and I don't really miss it.

I still need to get all of my sounds of my old zip disks. I also plan on creating a pattern of straight 1/16ths and making clips of every swing percentage from 50-75 to use as a template to emulate the MPC swing in Live.

I would have done it already but I am able to get good swing by just leaving quantize off for everything other than the kick and snare on 1, 3, 2 and 4 respectively. I also use a lot of volume changes to get a swing feel, I did that on the MPC too though.

Like I said, I don't really miss it. I have an MPD and that gives me pads and is straight plug and play. What I do miss a bit though is how the MPC made all of my samples sound slightly compressed, punchy, and slightly colored. It was easy to get a good drum feel but at this point I feel like I have overcome.

starving student · Post by **starving student** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:23 pm

swing templates thats sounds like a good idea i'd like to know how it works out for you when you're done.

i guess the best analogy for me is my mpc is like a fender rhodes and Live is like Loungelizard (which i love and use to death) they are both really great but one does not replace the other there just different experiences for me

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:26 pm

thanks for the replies. I do know the basics on how to use it with Live, I just failed when it came to loading it up and organizing it and I never felt like I got a good flow down with Live.

I'm gonna try pointing it to the 'processed' directory and see how that works out. TBH it's not in my setup that often because I never got off on the good foot with it.

just looking for tips on how people pass files back and forth, stuff like that.

Lux Libra · Post by **Lux Libra** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:30 pm

sold mine - bought Machinedrum - happy time

what i mostly did was to tweak some sounds and patterns on the 1000 without
the computer. then, if i was happy with some stuff i went into Live and expanded
the idea with add. synths and recorded the 1000.

syncing MPC to Live NEVER EVER was a problem to me. I don't get it why people still
complaining about that........

but as i said. Machinedrum is happytime for me......

contakt321 · Post by **contakt321** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 7:43 pm

starving student wrote:swing templates thats sounds like a good idea i'd like to know how it works out for you when you're done.

i guess the best analogy for me is my mpc is like a fender rhodes and Live is like Loungelizard (which i love and use to death) they are both really great but one does not replace the other there just different experiences for me

I will. I plan on doing the same with the SP1200 too. The problem is whenever I turn on Live I just end up making music and not stressing.

Interesting analogy with Rhodes and Lounge Lizard. I hear you - I guess I don't plug my shit in because I want to make music as quickly and simply as possible, no zip disks, no midi and audio cables, no waiting for the samples to draw in the MPC, etc, etc, etc. I am lazy - I totally admit it.

starving student · Post by **starving student** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:01 pm

yeah i probably would do the same if i had that model, but thats one of the reason s i picked up the 1000, I guess that makes me lazier than you

cause the 1000 boots up and i'm goin faster than Live, i got a flash card, and 80gig hard drive full of samples synths and beats and its nothin as well to just throw it in a bag with some headphones and coffee shopit. my macbook has turned into my desktop and the mpc is my laptop.
but don't get me wrong i love live, it is where everything ends up, i'll never let live leave the clutches of my grubby little hands, simply the most inspiring software i've ever used.