Workflow Logic - Mpc (2500)

M

M-Solo

New member
Hi there,

I would like to know a good workflow for using an MPC with Logic 9.

I normally do my beats and sampling in my MPC and after I record everything in Logic and incorporte other vst instruments into the song without using the MPC anymore..

If somebody has an interesting workflowm, more efficient than this I would to know it.. to exchange on the subject.

Ideally, it would be nice to start directly building beats with Logic and the MPC directly. So Logic should be synchronized to the MPC to have the same tempo and starting point and the MPC should be abble to toggle the plugins inside Logic... I know there is a few ways to do it and I tried but it's difficult to have a perfect synchro between the MPC and Logic.... How do you work it out ???

Thanks for your advices :-)
 
I'll give you a more indepth look at my work flow with MPC 2500 and Logic 8 later tonight, when I have time to go through it. I don't use too many plugins, but I do use a couple of synth modules with MIDI so should be fairly similar. I'm assuming you are familiar with MIDI routing. Have you tried sequencing your Logic plugins on the MPC? If you can get that far, I think you can figure the rest out.


Also check this out. http://www.akaipro.com/synclogic

I know it's for Logic 8, but shouldn't be too far off from what you need.

My advice is to try sequencing EVERYTHING with the MPC first. Then when you're ready to bounce use MTC with Logic as Master and MPC as slave.

Good Luck
 
Ok thx for your link and answer.

You mean to record all the midi inside the MPC and bounce everything at the end.. That's for sure a good workflow, I'll be curious to look at your workflow if you have time to explain it.

My main problem was to be abble to toggle the 16 midi channels independently.. I still try to figure that out right now.

So to resume what you are doing is :

first you have MPC as master building your beats and sequencing the midi and at the end you are bouncing everything with Logic as slave, am I right ??

Do you build all your arrangment inside the Mpc or inside Logic at the end ?

Cheers !
 
Something important to remember with the MPC 2500 is that it can ONLY SEND OUT MULTIPLE MIDI CHANNELS. It can not receive multiple MIDI channels like a muiti-timbral work station. If MIDI is sent to the MPC is will only trigger the currently selected track. Keep this in mind, especially when bouncing.

This is the reason that all MIDI sequences should be done in the MPC and sent out from there.

First you need to make sure that the MPC, MIDI keyboard controller, and Logic can all send MIDI to and from one another. You should be able to send MIDI from your controller, and record the MIDI data in the MPC. The MPC track you record on should be set to "MIDI" and assigned to whatever channel your plugin is set to. And the plugin in Logic should be "Armed" to record or you won't hear any sound from it. Every additional plugin should have it's own MIDI channel in logic and the same MIDI channel in the MPC. You're not concerned about the MPC and Logic syncing at this point. You just want to make sure all your MIDI is routed right and you are getting results that you expect. In addition you should also be able to play the pads on the MPC and have the plugin assigned to that MIDI channel trigger a sound. You should be able to sequence everything in the MPC now. Just make sure you plugins are armed(R) and have their own MIDI channel and that channel should be the same as the channel in the MPC. Make sure all of this is working before moving on.
​
One you have "banged out some heat" and your sequencing is done on the MPC you have to get all that into Logic. Here is when you need to sync the MPC to Logic. Logic will be the Master and MPC the Slave,it works better this way. You can refer to that link now (http://www.akaipro.com/synclogic)it will walk you through it. It's really simple. Make sure your MPC and Logic have the same BPM as well VERY IMPORTANT.

At this point some people go straight to tracking out audio. I would to if I had enough simultaneous audio ins to handle everything, but I don't. And I don't trust MTC timing enough for tracking out individually. So to save having to manually align the audio tracks I put all MIDI from my MPC into Logic. There are a few ways to do this, but Ill show the two fastest.

1. If your Logic project is set up at 44.1khz then you can save you MPC sequence as a MIDI file and use your USB cable to get the MIDI data to your Mac. It will look like one file, but when you open it in Logic it will all seperate out in to the seperate tracks you created on you MPC.

I can't use this method because I record at 88.2khz. I tried it before and everything was off between the MIDI file and my logic project and I got a sync error. This is because the MPC only records at 44.1khz. So here's what I do

2. I create external MIDI tracks in logic and assign MIDI channels that match the tracks on my MPC. ALL TRACKS (including the channels for the plugins). Keep in mind that Logic is Master and the MPC is slave. In Logic I go to Project Settings>Recording and check "auto demix by channel if multitrack recording". What that does is automatically separates the MIDI data per channel, similar to the first method. It's all done in one pass. Let the loop repeat a couple of times before stopping the recording. This makes sure Logic and the MPC are locked in on the timing sync. Now, out of the MIDI data recorded, select a portion a few loops in to set your loop markers.
​
Double check the MIDI and make sure everything looks lined up. With the MIDI data in Logic you can now move the MIDI regions to the appropriate plugin and it will play as it did in the MPC. But remember, the MPC will only play the track that is selected on the MPC screen. If you hit play in logic your Plugins will play fine , but the MPC will sound like a mess. So you must bounce 1 track at a time from the MPC.

Solo the MPC MIDI track in Logic and make sure the same track is on the screen of your MPC. Arm an Audio track for recording and press record. Proceed to record 1 track at a time.
​
And this is how I do it. I'm sure there may be tons of other ways to get this done, and it's a bit of a process so I would love to hear any other methods. The only reason I was willing to type all of this out is because when I was researching this I was unable to find a complete walk through.

A couple of things to mention is that at some point during the process you may need to go into your sync mode menu on the MPC and set active track from all to 16 (or some other track not being used). I can't remember exactly the case for doing this, but if you hit a wall and things are acting funny try that. I beleive it's during the tracking out process. Also I didn't go through the whole setting up of MIDI instruments in Logic. If you just have an MPC it may not be necessary though. Hopefully this will point you in the right direction.

This is the main reason I've been looking at Maschine over the past couple of months. I don't know what I'm waiting on. lol
 
Thanks a lot for your answer and the time you took writing this good explanation..

For the first part I am ok, I now can trigger logic sounds from my MP using midi channels and the midi tracks inside my MPC.
After, I make the arrangement inside my MPC in song mode and I use the midi settings with my MP as a slave - I succeed doing this... When I press play inside Logic it controls my MPC so that's all good.

My questions are now about the process of bouncing (I did not really understand the way you are doing it with external midi tracks) :

- If I have like 10 midi channels and 4 audio tracks with samples in my MPC.
How do you correctly bounce each midi track inside Logic ? I have all my midi tracks armed to record ready to trigger each channel from my MPC (and keyboard) but when I press record inside logic it won't record properly my MPC midi tracks inside Logic. Do yu have a simple way to do this ?

For the Audio tracks inside my MP, that's ok I can use an audio track or more to record it inside Logic.. I am just struggling bouncing those midi tracks (I recorded inside the MP) to Logic.

Thx a lot for your help !
 
Last edited:
M-Solo said:
- If I have like 10 midi channels and 4 audio tracks with samples in my MPC.
How do you correctly bounce each midi track inside Logic ? I have all my midi tracks armed to record ready to trigger each channel from my MPC (and keyboard) but when I press record inside logic it won't record properly my MPC midi tracks inside Logic. Do yu have a simple way to do this ?
Click to expand...

You say it's not recording properly. Is any MIDI data getting recorded? and what isn't proper about it?

Make sure you have checked the "auto demix by channel if multitrack recording". Also, this may be where you need to go into the MPC Mode+sync and select the active track option to an unused MIDI track, I usually use 16. Then it will need to be switched back as well. I'm not in front of the MP right now so it may be called something slightly different. Like I said, I know at some point I have to do this, and I think it's during the bouncing stage. This is all from memory so if you get stuck I may need to go through it myself to give you the exact point this should be done and why it should be done.

Make sure these are in fact "External MIDI" tracks and not "Software Instrument" tracks

It sounds like you're almost there, I 'm pretty sure at this point that "active track" option in the MPC is going to be your only variable to figuring this out. Nothing else should need to be changed. Answer my questions above and we'll get you there.

---------- Post added at 09:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 AM ----------

I'm about 80% sure that the "active track" setting in the MPC will only need to be set to an inactive track (16) for the recording of MIDI from the MPC to Logic. After the MIDI is recorded you'll need to set it back to "ALL".

Don't forget about the MIDI export option on the MPC. As long as you're recording in 44.1khz, this will be a simple process. In your MPC go to Mode+Save>Sequence>select MID. And just save that file in your project folder then access it via USB. Import that file into Logic. This method doesn't even require MTC sync.

Also it should be noted that once you get all the MIDI data transfered in to Logic you will no longer need the MTC sync.
 
Last edited:
Thanks a lot for your time forwerd.

I will try bouncing with the inactive track setting tonight. I will let you know straight away if it worked. It's strange that the 16 midi track is considered as inactive.. I struggle understanding this concept.. It's inactive only if you don't use it no ?

Do you bounce the Midi tracks one by one or just bounce everything (MIDI) at one time with record ready on every external midi tracks inside Logic.

Thx again !
 
M-Solo said:
Thanks a lot for your time forwerd.

I will try bouncing with the inactive track setting tonight. I will let you know straight away if it worked. It's strange that the 16 midi track is considered as inactive.. I struggle understanding this concept.. It's inactive only if you don't use it no ?

Do you bounce the Midi tracks one by one or just bounce everything (MIDI) at one time with record ready on every external midi tracks inside Logic.

Thx again !
Click to expand...

That's correct, just set any channel that you are not using to the "active track". For me it's always 16, just because I never have needed that many.

QUOTE=M-Solo;48880273]
Do you bounce the Midi tracks one by one or just bounce everything (MIDI) at one time with record ready on every external midi tracks inside Logic.
![/QUOTE]

With the settings I've given you, You'll be able to record all the MIDI at once. Just have the external MIDI tracks all "Armed", set to the correct MIDI channel, and hit record in Logic. As long as you have that setting "auto demix by channel if multitrack recording" they will all separate to their respective MIDI track. If "auto demix by channel if multitrack recording" isn't checked you will have to track MIDI one at a time or all your MIDI will go to one MIDI track, and it's just not necessary. It's the recording of the audio from the MPC that will need to be done one at a time, unless you are using multiple outs on the MPC.

Your Welcome
 
Last edited:
That's correct, just set any channel that you are not using to the "active track". For me it's always 16, just because I never have needed that many.
Click to expand...
OK cool I understand now, I try this right away tonight (I am in Montreal)

---------- Post added at 05:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:22 AM ----------

So the subject can be closed coz everything works good for me. I can now bounce my Midi tracks from the Mp perfectly in Logic ! What was making me struggling was the count in option inside settings/recording in Logic.. You need to disable the count in to have perfect bouncing of your midi from the MP to Logic.

I bounced straight in the software instruments tracks and I did not need any external midi track. With the autodemix option it separates all the midi tracks when recorded. And I left the active track at ALL it was ok for me :-)
The only thing I have done once the midi bounced inside Logic, I just set the midi tracks inside the MP at off so that the software intruments inside Logic will not be triggered twice..

A big thx to ForWerd who helped me a lot on this, now is the time to create !!!!
 
Last edited:
Awesome! That's music to my ears, I'm glad you got it going. I bought a Roland MKS-80 w/Programmer from a guy in Montreal a couple of months back. I live in Nashville, TN ....small world. Have fun!
 
As you say small world.. Originally I am from France but now proud to be in North America, good vibes here and nice music festivals...

Funny that you also went on the other forum to help me on the same subject - by the way one of the guy that gave some answer wasn't really comprehensive.

Have a good one !
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top