How to Use MPC Song Mode

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[@manatee_flips6811]

Always start with a template, stay consistent with what’s on what track. AND, keep it simple.

[@micindir4213]

One creative use for jungle / footwork / break core would be creating super short sequences and then combined into segments of 4/8 bars. Meaning you could do 1 bar fills and 3 bar main sections and combine them in different ways. I love the way you actually use your ears when playing back song. It's time-consuming, but its actually more productive than usual visual score of DAWs/ force arranger. Most of the time I end up with unrepeating segments, whereas in DAWs copy>paste is a default choice for building tracks.

[@CygnusOrb]

I've found one of the causes of a crash is having a delay tail and using the audio tail setting to let it play out. A tail of 5 seconds is a 50% chance to crash on some tracks. So as a solution I insert a blank sequence at the end, at the same bpm. It has however many bars I need to let the delay or reverb play out at the end. Then I can set audio tail to 0 and it helps prevent crashes.

[@TUBEDIGGA]

Good workaround, it’s these simple things you can do rather than get frustrated and stop working. Much better attitude to have rather letting the machine and it’s bugs defeat you.

[@Noise-Conductor]

@@TUBEDIGGA If you don't like to use work-arounds then don't even use Akai devices LOL

[@somatamusic]

I've made a few albums worth of music with thus workflow and still learned a few tricks from this video. Thanks Tubedigga.

[@yodab.at1746]

Just when you thought you knew the mpc, the Digga comes and shows another depth... Booyaksha 💥💥💥💥💥 Its a shame we can't automate tempo within a sequence. In fact, coming from a dub reggae production perspective, the automation capabilities are leaving a lot to be desired. But I still love my mpc one.

[@reneliebregt6319]

Song mode would mean for me that you can choose and play the songs you have created. A song is collection of audio and midi tracks, audio and midi loops or sequences. But I don't think this is the case in the MPC world. I would like to use the MPC for playing backing tracks = songs that can consist of both wav files and midi sequences. I tried to find a tutorial on that but until so far not found one. 🙂

[@acronimnimitz1095]

Nice idea to cover song mode again. Actually after having an MPC for over a year I still didn't know you could use the pads to easily insert an arrangement. I've always only used insert seq. Doh, nice one T

[@JrMackThaPimp]

Always giving us str8 game for the MPC! Thanks!

[@Paul_Y_T]

Great video - thanks! There is another issue with convert>seq: if a sequence has a track set to a shorter length than its parent sequence, it loops fine in song mode, but covert>seq won't loop that shorter track until the parent sequence loops again, resulting in silence between the end of the shorter track and the end of the parent sequence. It worked fine before Akai broke it in 2.10, and it was reported and acknowledged back in August 2021 but no sign they'll ever get around to fixing it.

[@enjoixander]

Thank you!!! Your tutorials are so easy to understand. You are an excellent teacher!

[@kchapman1145]

Cheers for another helpful video. Answered my question straight away about exporting from song mode. Appreciated 🙏👊

[@davidcooke779]

Great tutorial as always! Funny, I always try to save a song preview for anything I do. It makes it so much easier to find tracks you worked on later.

[@audiolego]

Tube is the man who taught me my X❤❤❤.. still using it to this day

[@glitterballz101]

great video. i got this machine a while back but tbh from sp404 and/or ableton, very different. i'm medicated for adhd now and bck on it. thanks for the tutes, very good technique for my brain

[@elMaxx5]

Another video filled with excellent content. Thanks for the info. I am more proficient now.

[@user-rv8wb1nl1b]

nice simple explanation . dropping knowledge bombs for the community !!

[@dustyaudio]

Thank you for the refresher!

[@moniak59000]

Many thanks for this very helpful video!

[@teashea1]

An articulate and organized presentation with nice production values. Can you recommend a video for an absolute beginner who is interested in purchasing a MPC X SE?

[@TUBEDIGGA]

You don’t need to watch a specific video on that subject. The original MPC X already has enough and to some degree too much power and options as it is. Not in a bad way but so many people complain about what it can’t do rather than focus on what it can do. The SE has an extra 2gb of ram but so what? I’ve produced and released 6 records with my X and every single project had a ram usage of no more than 30%. That extra 2gb is just an invitation to be less organised, less economical and throw more shit at the machine and make it freeze up just like the original unit. It looks lovely so if you’re mostly interested in the aesthetics then go for it but for the money and the ram/instruments I don’t think it’s worth it. Get the OG for cheap or the Key 61

[@teashea1]

@@TUBEDIGGA Thanks for the information ------ Yeah, I am interested in aesthetics.

[@MasterIvo]

Export to sequence has another mayor flow. Audio recordings are messed up in length. I record my hardware syths, bass and guitar parts, and cut parts out in the audio tracks. after convert to sequence the recordings all differ in length and I need to re adjust them again. very annoying. For me this is like an 8-track recorder, and I really love the song mode. I use it a lot.

[@davidcooke779]

I often feel that audio mode was an afterthought on mpc. Like they marketing team told them to build something. It just feels so clunky.

[@jamessherburn]

Many thanks. I've just gotten my MPC Live ii. Song mode was doing my head in. Why can't we just change the order of the pads on the screen?? I've subscribed in the hope that you'll make more clear and informative MPC videos.

[@InkyDaCaT]

Thank you Jedi😉

[@ceciliafbrown373]

Thanks bud!

[@charlescowper]

I'm still having trouble with song mode. I stitched two sequences together, the first has no drums. they come in with the second sequence but the track is still present. My drum track doesn't play even though all the tracks are in the same order. I can also see the pads light up I just can't hear them. when I hot the pads I can hear them. weird! any tips would be appreciated.

[@freejazzbone]

also, since a pattern or a (sequence?) can be 999 bars maximum in length, one may not even have to use song mode in some compositions? thanks for all your informative videos on... MPC

[@TUBEDIGGA]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2i4lqdpr7iIp5o

[@freejazzbone]

@@TUBEDIGGA thanks again, yes, I had seen your attached video a while back, forgot about that one! saved and will watch again, always informative Tubedigga!

[@ricardomanzo]

I have an issue that I can't figure out in Song mode: when I "Convert to Sequence" a Song, all my mutes are wrong, regardless if I use Ignore or Include Muted Tracks. All the Sequences contain the same info on every track and are the same length. For the life of me, I can't figure out what I am doing wrong. The only solution that I have not tried yet, is to delete all the muted tracks on every sequence, unmute all the muted tracks (even if it doesn't have any note information), and then rebuild the song so I can "Convert to Sequence." By any chance have you come up with this issue? Thank you for your help and I love your videos, DjG

[@pakmaan15]

I used to be able to explode tracks in song mode now i cant, did they remove that feature?

[@didierbouville4335]

Impossible to use pad mix mode in song mode... You have to copy the sequence by removing the track(s) to vary the composition. Did I understand well ?

[@TUBEDIGGA]

If you’re playing back your sequence playlist in song mode and go to any other mode, the currently playing sequence will continue but the playlist will not. I’ve mentioned this many times before and it’s a well known fact. As stated in this video, the workflow is: Create a sequence Name all your tracks and the programs assigned to them Once your sequence is mostly together and you want to expand, make multiple copies. Make variations of the copies Go to song mode and arrange the sequences. Convert the song to a new self contained sequence so you can use the other modes and have the song (the new longer sequence) play from start to finish.

[@user-fm3xr9yz3i]

DIGGA 🍷 THANKS

[@Ancaja123]

Am I crazy, or (on the 60/3000) were you not able to exit song mode and have arrangement of sequences still play through in the background? Basically acted like a Next Sequence function where it would in real time, show you what the next sequence would be so you could sort of follow along with your song

[@cheodelpino581]

Why do one press rec button and then what press stop when everything is arrange?

[@e-conrecords4665]

Sage advice! Thanks mate! Legend!

[@johnnylawrence]

Im struggling because i convert my song to a sequence, then when i check and listen to the sequence, it leaves out some samples. Any suggestions?

[@TUBEDIGGA]

Like I said in the video, you have to maintain consistency between your sequences when assigning programs to tracks. So each program assigned to each track should be the same for each sequence. Otherwise the MPC will just use the assignments from the first sequence in your song for each sequence.

[@johnnylawrence]

@@TUBEDIGGA makes perfect sense thank you for the response! Much appreciated 🙏🏼

[@lloyd1693]

Another issue is that, we can't copy a song to another song... Only we can convert the song. Also we cant play any pad tone while we are in song mode.

[@TUBEDIGGA]

Yes but you can convert to sequence and just copy the sequence, and once that is done you can play your pads, edit your sounds, effects and everything else in between. So this is why again song mode does exactly what it should do, and as long as you stick to the workflow I suggest (keep your track program assignments consistent throughout your sequences and stick to the same tempo), convert song to a new sequence works perfectly.

[@mungewell]

When setting 'HOLD' how does someone trigger transition to next part, ie when playing live? I know MPC will take Midi Play/Stop MMC messages, is there a 'Next part' which could be sent from a midi pedal?

[@TUBEDIGGA]

There’s a multitude of ways you can transition but the simplest way would be creating a specific outro / transition sequence for this purpose. MPC can switch sequences via a midi controller or footswitch.

[@TUBEDIGGA]

So to elaborate on that, you could use a midi foot switch to send a cc to change mode (from song mode to main mode or next sequence mode) and another message to trigger your transition sequence

[@SonicVibe]

I just use the pad mutes live

[@TUBEDIGGA]

Well this video was wasted on you then 😂

[@SonicVibe]

@@TUBEDIGGA no it’s cool many ways to do it I just am lazy lol and this the way to go you showed if ya just want to press play and free up hands for fx

[@Syntox]

MPC 3.0 is allegedly around the corner...will any of the limitations be improved upon? Time will tell...

[@mont-doggBeats]

They need a damn arrangement/playlist section like a DAW. Song mode is ancient. I’m not saying get rid of it. It is a classic Mpc feature

[@88keyz]

👍🏾

[@Manilow-si2bv]

Song mode is a pain in the ass to use🤣 Akai needs better arrangement tools.

[@TUBEDIGGA]

The arrangement and complexity happens in the sequences. Song mode is a simple way to stitch those arrangements together. It’s very easy to use as a result.

[@Mar.Escobar24]

@@TUBEDIGGAit worked well for me for a while, but then I tried to switch the drum program on my 2nd and 3rd sequences and it worked flawlessly on the 2nd one, but I could never get it to stick on the 3rd. It kept going back to the 1st program.