Hello! Couple things I forgot to mention in the video....templates and preset recall. It's actually pretty simple. Both Ableton and MPC have templates setup to recall all the tracks so a new session starts with a couple clicks and everything is on, being 'monitored' and ready to trigger midi. For preset recall, once I've got a jam that I want to save, I duplicate the Sequence on the MPC and make a copy called 'Preset Recall'. From here I go to each synth track set the Program Change and MSB LSB data accordingly for the synth and patch. Reason I do it on a separate sequence is because the MPC sends the PG info every time I hit play. This can be weird for some synths, so I find it best to recall presets on a dedicated Sequence. If there's enough interest on this subject, I could do a separate video on it. Thanks for watching!
I want to thank you for making this and the other MPC videos. These have been extremely informative and just purchased a second hand MPC One to jump in! I was looking for an external sequencing platform that is more substantial than a keyboard workstation sequencer and I think the MPC will handle this perfectly!
Funny, I've landed on the same basic setup, but I think this is the first I've heard anyone else talk about it. Finding DAW-first workflow really uninspiring, I knew I wanted the creative part of the workflow to be hardware-first and hands-on as much as possible and reserve DAW for final production tasks. Landed on Fanom-06 as the centerpiece. It's a fantastic synth (maybe not easiest to program) that covers pretty much all the bases sound-wise and has good hands-on control. And it's an incredible midi controller that makes it pretty transparent to work with internal sounds, external gear and DAW all in a unified way. I actually like the sequencer as a quick scratch pad to capture and remember ideas without ever taking my focus off the instrument. The workflow is nice, but it is pretty limited. The sampler is functional, but also very basic. And those two areas are where the MPC pretty much crushes everything else. It's a very complimentary and extremely capable combo for both the core of a home studio and a live setup. Or at least the Fantom-0 is, I can't imagine lugging your monster flagship Fantom to a gig. Anyway, love your vids - always very practical, useful and motivating.
So inspiring man. After years of not making music I’m considering an mpc and ableton configuration. Slightly off subject to this vid I knw but I can see now that it’s going to work for me. Great content brother, I’m enjoying your channel. Cheers frm London
Dude,u got my subscription!!! Ur workflow is REMARKABLE,and ur I.Q for These Samplers,Synths and Just all around RECORDING The "EFFORTLESS" TALENT FOR Producing and Tutorials! I purchased the MPC ONE+ And im grateful for this Masterpiece,but i wanted the MPC Live 2 from the start,but it was sold out!! I settled for the One+ and i honestly want to send it back,or sell it and get what I wanted from the start. With the one+,I had to buy a Bluetooth receiver for a portable Bluetooth speaker, because I had a "Inexpensive" speaker bar from best buy,but the MPC one+ says "Bluetooth" and I couldn't link it for ANYTHING!! I just was disappointed with the pads positioning,"Bluetooth-LESS" Pairing and Internal Power supply thats missing from the one+,But The speaker on the MPC live 2 Just was an amazing add to the model and as a N.I MASCHINE long time user, I literally tried to find a live 2 ANYWHERE I CAN, But they were either USED,SOLD OUT or On Back Order for 3-4 weeks! SMH,So i settled for the one +,And honestly everytime I trade in or sell studio equipment,I immediately tell myself,"That was a mistake!" But if i get rid of the +,IM 10000% Waiting if needed for the MPC LIVE 2 If still on backorder or not. I like the workflow for akai, But im still a Native Instruments enthusiast. Lol,But thank you for the beautiful sounds in that FANTOM and understanding the capability of these Instruments, Samplers, Sequencers/Synthesizers..etc. I also learned a valuable lesson..."Never Settle for ANYTHING other than your first choice. Thank you
beside Kobol I think you were able to do the all this in Fantom, honestly the synth engines of Fantom are so versatile, also the effects sounds so good and sequencer its a breeze to use, even song song is very intuitive but agree a final mixing in Ableton with custom plugins can add more to the final sound
I find it very useful that you first have to go under the hood to set the reverb for a specific zone, since in a composition one zone needs more reverb and the other needs less. However, if you press and hold the shift key and move the left modwheel, look at the screen where you can see all the parameters that you can now put on the left modwheel. Scroll down until you see reverb and set the reverb to the left modwheel. Now you can seamlessly increase or decrease the reverb for the entire scene and for each zone in the scene on the fly. But I get your point, there is a lot of preperation to be done to get to the sweetspot of ones workflow
You make this look so easy to work with the Fantom, MPC and a DAW. I have the most trouble with the MPC, Akia made it difficult using the MPC Live for some reason when routing MIDI, and it stomps me every time. I would appreciate your expertise to show me an easy way to understand so I can track in to Logic Pro.
Love your workflow. Looking to do the same thing with Ableton, Fantom, Push 3 and two hardware synths. Do you mind sharing the USB hub you’re using? I understand the host/main Fantom USB is going to computer. Is the other Fantom USB going into USB hub or directly connected to MPC? Definitely subscribing to this channel. Thx 🙏🏿
Great demo. Thanks! Do you think AKAI will ever address the omni midi note off issue on the MPC range soon? I was a AKAI S2000 user years ago and it was a true multi timbral midi module / sampler that was embedded in my studio setup. I was really disappointed that such a simple/fundamental (bug) was in one of my recent MPC ONE+ purchase after watching one of your demos. Do you have this issue? If not, how did you get round it?
Thanks! Concerning the midi note off issue, I'm sure they're aware of it and working on it but bugs take time to figure out in complex systems. Personally, I haven't experienced any problems with it, BUT I mostly use USB midi and by the sounds of it's focused on a 'per device' issue. In the vid I mentioned the monitor off bug and it could be related to the MIDI 'In' port on the hardware. But again, I haven't had any direct issues with that bug specifically.
You seem very knowledgeable with this topic. I have my MPC X SE connected to my Roland Fantom EX 8. My goal is to play all my Roland sounds while combining the sounds from my MPC and saving the entire project on my MPC. I have my TRS quarter inch cables coming out the Roland going into the inputs of my MPC. I’m also connecting the MPC & Roland via USB. My issue is my MPC is not displaying the Fantom EX 8 in the “Input ports & output ports” of the midi section. I decided to order the midi din cables because maybe this was the missing component . Do you have any other tips on where I am going wrong?
Yup, pretty sure you need to set the USB type to generic on the Fantom to get the MPC to recognize it. But honestly, if you do that then the computer/DAW support won't work. So you might just want to stick with standard MIDI ports for your templates. If you never plan on using the DAW features of the Fantom, then yeah change the USB settings to generic on the Roland and you should be good to go.
@@teftymusictech Thank you for your response. I set the USB driver to the Generic but my MPC still doesn't recognize my Roland. I just ordered midi dins to connect from MPC to Roland along with the USB and TRS cables. Currently my MPC and Roland are connected via USB and the TRS cables. Maybe the midi dins are the missing component I need but I am not sure. My midi dins will be delivered tomorrow.
Did you figure it out by chance? Just saw the response on this and wish I could help. I remember I had to change the USB settings (and save it in the global settings) for the MPC to talk with my Fantom over USB-Midi properly.
I would love to see the same setup but with the MPC Key being the center of this hybrid setup. Will it be able to act as a midi sequencer, audio generator(synths/drums) and daw controller all at the same time? Very nice video and quality content in general 😊
Thank you! On the Key 37 it won't be able to control ableton the same way as of right now. This could change down the road, but as of now it's not an Ableton controller. It'll do all the other things though. I've got a review coming out real soon!
Tefty thank you, another great video. I’m curious as to the audio routing aspect. I have similar setup available - X at heart of synths with patch bay and USB hub for audio and midi and have Ableton and a montage. Totally get the montage tracks into Ableton but trying to work out how you do the MPC tracks into Ableton, track by track! Thanks! Scott
Thank you! Essentially the MPC One is handling all the Midi info, no audio, from the synths. Ableton is handling all the audio like a digital mixer. If I had the X instead of the One, the only thing different is I'd hook up the additional outputs on the back for my audio interface so I could have several separated outputs of drums/atmosphere/samples etc. Also I'd run an additional output from Ableton into the X so I could sample anything, along with having access to the guitar inputs on the X.
Thanks! I have and I don't prefer it. Some basic things like a visual EQ and good reverbs are missing in the MPC standalone environment. Also you can only have 4 plugins per channel. Not a deal breaker, but for vocals it'd be difficult.
I want to invest in the Fantom 7, but I'm hearing a lot of bad things bout the polyphony in the machine- what are your thoughts? Is it easy to work around the shortcomings of the machine?
Thanks! I actually did a whole video on the build on our music channel here: th-cam.com/video/vC7lBPfjal4/w-d-xo.html And then did a follow up 1 year later thoughts here: th-cam.com/video/R8xu-XLPfYk/w-d-xo.html
I think I know the answer, but are you not using the MPCs Ableton Live remote control mode over Fantom's so you still have easy access to MPC sequencer? I feel like MPCs Live control mode is way better than the Fantom's.
Using the USB hub to connect up all the MIDI ports. It's worked out pretty well ever since they've introduced it in the firmware a couple years back. It also saves me a fair bit on traditional midi cables (side benefit).
Pretty low. I haven't measured it specifically, but I don't feel the latency. I have Ableton set to 64 samples as well, so the audio latency is pretty minimal.
Could you achieve these results simply using the Fantom as the sequencer hub, and directly connected to all of the other synths via USB or MIDI, rather than use the MPC as the hub? Sorry I'm struggling to see the need for the MPC to be fair... 🤔
In a basic sense, yes, but I've found the Fantom sequencer to be rudimentary. It's great for quick sketches, but falls short as soon as you want to develop ideas further. For instance, lets say you record a 16 bar piano clip and want to redo the last half. Super simple on the MPC (go to measure 9, hit record, hit play... click starts for lead in and you're recording). How about probability stuff? Easy on the MPC. Want to edit a chord on measure 25? Easy on the MPC. How about 200 measures of a piano improv? MPC. Also I didn't talk about sampling in the video, but I can easily hookup a lead from Ableton to sample anything back into the MPC One for chopping. Sampling on the Fantom is limited. Honestly the only thing better than the MPC sequencer is your preferred DAW. In my opinion! Cheers.
@@teftymusictech Appreciate the response thanks 🙏 I don’t have an MPC myself, but I do have a Fantom-0 and I was curious about the strengths and weaknesses of each approach! I may have to extend the budget to an MPC now, cheers 👋
Hello! Couple things I forgot to mention in the video....templates and preset recall. It's actually pretty simple. Both Ableton and MPC have templates setup to recall all the tracks so a new session starts with a couple clicks and everything is on, being 'monitored' and ready to trigger midi.
For preset recall, once I've got a jam that I want to save, I duplicate the Sequence on the MPC and make a copy called 'Preset Recall'. From here I go to each synth track set the Program Change and MSB LSB data accordingly for the synth and patch. Reason I do it on a separate sequence is because the MPC sends the PG info every time I hit play. This can be weird for some synths, so I find it best to recall presets on a dedicated Sequence.
If there's enough interest on this subject, I could do a separate video on it.
Thanks for watching!
Yes please.
I want to thank you for making this and the other MPC videos. These have been extremely informative and just purchased a second hand MPC One to jump in!
I was looking for an external sequencing platform that is more substantial than a keyboard workstation sequencer and I think the MPC will handle this perfectly!
Omg this is literally my set up thank you! Your videos are so easy to follow and cover the technical hurdles I face so comprehensively.
Absolutely fantastic. Love the way you made music and usage of sounds. It sounds very airy. Love it! ❤️
Funny, I've landed on the same basic setup, but I think this is the first I've heard anyone else talk about it. Finding DAW-first workflow really uninspiring, I knew I wanted the creative part of the workflow to be hardware-first and hands-on as much as possible and reserve DAW for final production tasks. Landed on Fanom-06 as the centerpiece. It's a fantastic synth (maybe not easiest to program) that covers pretty much all the bases sound-wise and has good hands-on control. And it's an incredible midi controller that makes it pretty transparent to work with internal sounds, external gear and DAW all in a unified way. I actually like the sequencer as a quick scratch pad to capture and remember ideas without ever taking my focus off the instrument. The workflow is nice, but it is pretty limited. The sampler is functional, but also very basic. And those two areas are where the MPC pretty much crushes everything else. It's a very complimentary and extremely capable combo for both the core of a home studio and a live setup. Or at least the Fantom-0 is, I can't imagine lugging your monster flagship Fantom to a gig. Anyway, love your vids - always very practical, useful and motivating.
Thank you! And yes, the 0 series is great. I'd prefer the 06 for a live situation.
So inspiring man. After years of not making music I’m considering an mpc and ableton configuration. Slightly off subject to this vid I knw but I can see now that it’s going to work for me. Great content brother, I’m enjoying your channel. Cheers frm London
Thank you!
Dude,u got my subscription!!! Ur workflow is REMARKABLE,and ur I.Q for These Samplers,Synths and Just all around RECORDING The "EFFORTLESS" TALENT FOR Producing and Tutorials! I purchased the MPC ONE+ And im grateful for this Masterpiece,but i wanted the MPC Live 2 from the start,but it was sold out!! I settled for the One+ and i honestly want to send it back,or sell it and get what I wanted from the start. With the one+,I had to buy a Bluetooth receiver for a portable Bluetooth speaker, because I had a "Inexpensive" speaker bar from best buy,but the MPC one+ says "Bluetooth" and I couldn't link it for ANYTHING!! I just was disappointed with the pads positioning,"Bluetooth-LESS" Pairing and Internal Power supply thats missing from the one+,But The speaker on the MPC live 2 Just was an amazing add to the model and as a N.I MASCHINE long time user, I literally tried to find a live 2 ANYWHERE I CAN, But they were either USED,SOLD OUT or On Back Order for 3-4 weeks! SMH,So i settled for the one +,And honestly everytime I trade in or sell studio equipment,I immediately tell myself,"That was a mistake!" But if i get rid of the +,IM 10000% Waiting if needed for the MPC LIVE 2 If still on backorder or not. I like the workflow for akai, But im still a Native Instruments enthusiast. Lol,But thank you for the beautiful sounds in that FANTOM and understanding the capability of these Instruments, Samplers, Sequencers/Synthesizers..etc. I also learned a valuable lesson..."Never Settle for ANYTHING other than your first choice. Thank you
beside Kobol I think you were able to do the all this in Fantom, honestly the synth engines of Fantom are so versatile, also the effects sounds so good and sequencer its a breeze to use, even song song is very intuitive but agree a final mixing in Ableton with custom plugins can add more to the final sound
I find it very useful that you first have to go under the hood to set the reverb for a specific zone, since in a composition one zone needs more reverb and the other needs less. However, if you press and hold the shift key and move the left modwheel, look at the screen where you can see all the parameters that you can now put on the left modwheel. Scroll down until you see reverb and set the reverb to the left modwheel. Now you can seamlessly increase or decrease the reverb for the entire scene and for each zone in the scene on the fly.
But I get your point, there is a lot of preperation to be done to get to the sweetspot of ones workflow
You make this look so easy to work with the Fantom, MPC and a DAW. I have the most trouble with the MPC, Akia made it difficult using the MPC Live for some reason when routing MIDI, and it stomps me every time. I would appreciate your expertise to show me an easy way to understand so I can track in to Logic Pro.
Oh! Your channel is here now!
Subscribed.
Love your workflow. Looking to do the same thing with Ableton, Fantom, Push 3 and two hardware synths. Do you mind sharing the USB hub you’re using? I understand the host/main Fantom USB is going to computer. Is the other Fantom USB going into USB hub or directly connected to MPC? Definitely subscribing to this channel. Thx 🙏🏿
Great demo. Thanks! Do you think AKAI will ever address the omni midi note off issue on the MPC range soon? I was a AKAI S2000 user years ago and it was a true multi timbral midi module / sampler that was embedded in my studio setup. I was really disappointed that such a simple/fundamental (bug) was in one of my recent MPC ONE+ purchase after watching one of your demos. Do you have this issue? If not, how did you get round it?
Thanks! Concerning the midi note off issue, I'm sure they're aware of it and working on it but bugs take time to figure out in complex systems. Personally, I haven't experienced any problems with it, BUT I mostly use USB midi and by the sounds of it's focused on a 'per device' issue. In the vid I mentioned the monitor off bug and it could be related to the MIDI 'In' port on the hardware. But again, I haven't had any direct issues with that bug specifically.
You seem very knowledgeable with this topic. I have my MPC X SE connected to my Roland Fantom EX 8. My goal is to play all my Roland sounds while combining the sounds from my MPC and saving the entire project on my MPC. I have my TRS quarter inch cables coming out the Roland going into the inputs of my MPC. I’m also connecting the MPC & Roland via USB. My issue is my MPC is not displaying the Fantom EX 8 in the “Input ports & output ports” of the midi section. I decided to order the midi din cables because maybe this was the missing component . Do you have any other tips on where I am going wrong?
Yup, pretty sure you need to set the USB type to generic on the Fantom to get the MPC to recognize it. But honestly, if you do that then the computer/DAW support won't work. So you might just want to stick with standard MIDI ports for your templates. If you never plan on using the DAW features of the Fantom, then yeah change the USB settings to generic on the Roland and you should be good to go.
@@teftymusictech Thank you for your response. I set the USB driver to the Generic but my MPC still doesn't recognize my Roland. I just ordered midi dins to connect from MPC to Roland along with the USB and TRS cables. Currently my MPC and Roland are connected via USB and the TRS cables. Maybe the midi dins are the missing component I need but I am not sure. My midi dins will be delivered tomorrow.
Did you figure it out by chance? Just saw the response on this and wish I could help. I remember I had to change the USB settings (and save it in the global settings) for the MPC to talk with my Fantom over USB-Midi properly.
@@teftymusictech I am still at a stand still with this. I have checked several vids online to know avail. Thanks for following up
I would love to see the same setup but with the MPC Key being the center of this hybrid setup. Will it be able to act as a midi sequencer, audio generator(synths/drums) and daw controller all at the same time?
Very nice video and quality content in general 😊
Thank you! On the Key 37 it won't be able to control ableton the same way as of right now. This could change down the road, but as of now it's not an Ableton controller. It'll do all the other things though. I've got a review coming out real soon!
Hey, the sub outs from the Fantom, where are they routed? To an audio interface? How is it all getting into Live?
Tefty thank you, another great video. I’m curious as to the audio routing aspect. I have similar setup available - X at heart of synths with patch bay and USB hub for audio and midi and have Ableton and a montage.
Totally get the montage tracks into Ableton but trying to work out how you do the MPC tracks into Ableton, track by track! Thanks! Scott
Thank you! Essentially the MPC One is handling all the Midi info, no audio, from the synths. Ableton is handling all the audio like a digital mixer.
If I had the X instead of the One, the only thing different is I'd hook up the additional outputs on the back for my audio interface so I could have several separated outputs of drums/atmosphere/samples etc.
Also I'd run an additional output from Ableton into the X so I could sample anything, along with having access to the guitar inputs on the X.
@@teftymusictech got it! That’s great thank you Tefty! Really appreciate the knowledge you share.
Great video. love it. have you ever tried to mix in the mpc in standalone?
Thanks! I have and I don't prefer it. Some basic things like a visual EQ and good reverbs are missing in the MPC standalone environment. Also you can only have 4 plugins per channel. Not a deal breaker, but for vocals it'd be difficult.
Can you record the filter cut-offs this way? I know in another video you couldn't do it on the fantom sequencer.
I want to invest in the Fantom 7, but I'm hearing a lot of bad things bout the polyphony in the machine- what are your thoughts? Is it easy to work around the shortcomings of the machine?
Hey, just wondering, what brand slat wall system are you using to mount your keyboards? I really like your setup. Thanks
Thanks! I actually did a whole video on the build on our music channel here: th-cam.com/video/vC7lBPfjal4/w-d-xo.html
And then did a follow up 1 year later thoughts here: th-cam.com/video/R8xu-XLPfYk/w-d-xo.html
@@teftymusictech Awesome! Thanks man, I’ll check those out.
I think I know the answer, but are you not using the MPCs Ableton Live remote control mode over Fantom's so you still have easy access to MPC sequencer? I feel like MPCs Live control mode is way better than the Fantom's.
what is your midi box you used to connect everything. im trying to find something to connect my mpc, maschine and my verselab.
Using the USB hub to connect up all the MIDI ports. It's worked out pretty well ever since they've introduced it in the firmware a couple years back. It also saves me a fair bit on traditional midi cables (side benefit).
What’s the MIDI latency like when you route all those synths to the MPC one and play on trigger them from the Fantom?
Pretty low. I haven't measured it specifically, but I don't feel the latency. I have Ableton set to 64 samples as well, so the audio latency is pretty minimal.
USB MIDI with the MPC makes a world of difference compared to old-school MIDI sequencing. Unfortunately most of my synths are old-school 5-pin! 🙄
Gotta love vintage gear!
Could you achieve these results simply using the Fantom as the sequencer hub, and directly connected to all of the other synths via USB or MIDI, rather than use the MPC as the hub? Sorry I'm struggling to see the need for the MPC to be fair... 🤔
In a basic sense, yes, but I've found the Fantom sequencer to be rudimentary. It's great for quick sketches, but falls short as soon as you want to develop ideas further. For instance, lets say you record a 16 bar piano clip and want to redo the last half. Super simple on the MPC (go to measure 9, hit record, hit play... click starts for lead in and you're recording).
How about probability stuff? Easy on the MPC. Want to edit a chord on measure 25? Easy on the MPC. How about 200 measures of a piano improv? MPC.
Also I didn't talk about sampling in the video, but I can easily hookup a lead from Ableton to sample anything back into the MPC One for chopping. Sampling on the Fantom is limited.
Honestly the only thing better than the MPC sequencer is your preferred DAW. In my opinion! Cheers.
@@teftymusictech Appreciate the response thanks 🙏 I don’t have an MPC myself, but I do have a Fantom-0 and I was curious about the strengths and weaknesses of each approach! I may have to extend the budget to an MPC now, cheers 👋
So would it make sense to connect external synths to the Fantom via the Fantom external channels into a DAW?