MPC 3.0 live looping tutorial!

[@jellewils3974]

Dude, your channel is a relief for live musicians looking for a one man band setup, for drums, bass and looping + layering. None of that technical stuff producers are talking about, that's basically just more confusion for me. Sure, I get that a lot of people want to flip beats, use sample kits and more of that for Lofi, Hiphop, Techno, whatever. But that's not what I need as an instrumentalist, This is.

[@tjguardino]

Thanks so much :) I’m glad you’re enjoying it.. I don’t think enough guitarists are using grooveboxes for live looping stuff and I want to spread the word!

[@stormbournemusic]

Great tutorial and even better music!

[@jimbrowncreates]

Great Video! I have been using my MPC One to Improvise over just like you did. That was before 3.0 now it’s just right for looping thanks for outlining this it was so smooth. Now I’m gonna go looping

[@tjguardino]

So glad you found it helpful! I’m enjoying using it for looping too :)

[@Kevinschart]

Hey, I know you always ask what we want to see in future videos. For me I'd just like to see videos on the things you work on naturally. Don't force it. You are the soulful, live loop, hardware, drum machine, guitar guy on KZbin😂. That's why people are here.

[@tjguardino]

Thank you, you’re right! I’ll try to just keep doing what I love and just keep the camera running :)

[@hvhvgitaar]

Thanks for this very useful demonstration! I am mainly a guitar player and recently got myself an MPC Key 37, mainly because I saw how MPC 3 now has a full arranger. I have a lot to learn, though….

[@tjguardino]

Glad it was helpful! I think you’ll really enjoy MPC 3.0!

[@sharkbitespite]

0:40 youre just so smooth w the solo n dynamic control

[@tjguardino]

Ahhhh thanks so much I appreciate that :)

[@phoenixflyz_]

Fire video bro

[@tjguardino]

Appreciate you 🙌 Thanks for watching!

[@ClarenceJrRoss]

love the intro man.

[@tjguardino]

Thanks so much 🙌🙏

[@mujinzomusic]

Thanks for the short and sweet informative video. This is awesome. Have been thinking to add an MPC to set up again for this exact reason. Confirming 3.0 a great way to go for groove box guitar fun! 🙏⚡️

[@tjguardino]

Thank you!! Yeah, the 3.0 is a great option for this stuff!

[@CelphJus]

When you said you didn't like to touch the screen I felt that 😂🤣🤘 had my live II retro for 2 years and still has the factory plastic over the screen

[@dsovrin]

same!

[@tjguardino]

Right?!? I don’t know what it is 😅😅😅 I avoid that thing at all costs lol

[@ReinhardtBuhr]

nice!

[@tjguardino]

Ahh thank you!! Means quite a lot coming from a looping legend!! 🙌

[@ReinhardtBuhr]

@ haha thanks! Love watching other people’s work flows, always learning new stuff ☺️ keep going!

[@dannydrivr]

great video, thanks for showing your workflow :)

[@tjguardino]

Thanks for watching!!

[@EncounterCaneCorso]

Awesome. Love your workflow.

[@tjguardino]

Thanks! I’m still figuring it all out but it's pretty fun!

[@KenithCopeland]

alright, by the looks of it we need a studio tour, piece by piece demos with that lovely suhr

[@tjguardino]

Hahaha good idea 😅 I think at this point I’ve shown all the gear I have, no more surprise grooveboxes hiding in my closet!

[@RLBSOUND]

Nice work

[@OrganicSoundTextures]

Super Interesting!

[@tjguardino]

Glad you think so! Thanks for watching 🙌

[@JoelCardinal]

Here you've shown one loop segment. How would you work on a whole song section by section? I assume you'd increase the sequence length then create a time range loop selection so recording stays in the section you are working on?

[@tjguardino]

That’s right, you double your sequence, remove what you don’t want, and then double the loop length and keep working that way, but in a live context I don’t think it’d be a great way to go. I’ll mostly use it as a looper for writing part-by-part :)

[@Dichotomos]

Thanks for making this video, as a guitar player I was hoping to find something that works like a looper on the MPC live. The actual looper on the MPC live is pretty simple and is broken in someways compared to the functionality of the looper on the 404mk2. The MPC live looper doesn’t even allow you to use the pads while looping. Your example is exactly what I was looking for.

[@tjguardino]

Awesome thank you! This is way smoother than using the looper for me too, glad it’s helpful :)

[@Lynx33PL]

Damn, this is a great video, and it also makes me slightly angry... Let me explain. If you ever wondered if you're bringing something new to the table with your videos, let me tell you a short story. Inspired by your channel, I finally ditched DAWs for music creation (other than mixing/mastering step). That said, I wanted to avoid elaborate setup (I'm not a big fan of cables) so instead of going with like a Blackbox + another grovebox + potentially a synth I got Maschine+ so I can do everything with one piece of gear + my guitar and pedalbaord. I picked Maschine+ because the demo videos made it very clear that live looping songs with multiple parts was clearly possible. Naturally. I also considered MPC One and Live, but despite watching hours upon hours of demos, none of those I managed to find showcased what you just did. I had no idea if MPC could do this. The "looper" feature seemed weirdly disconnected from the midi recording (especially before the 3.0 update). I'm happy with Maschine+ so it's all good, but now I see that I could've gotten an MPC One, and it would likely also work. I know this was meant to be a short demo (which I very much appreciate because now I know I can do what I do with MPC as well), but one thing I feel is missing from your live loop tutorials is the showcase of verse/chorus arrangements. Maschine+ has "scenes" (kinda like Ableton) which make smooth, quantized switches between two parts possible (you can queue "Chorus" scene while "Verse" is still playing). Can MPC do that as well? Track mute can be a workaround (for example, you can just record Chorus parts in the next 4 tracks and mute groups of 4 when you want to switch) but I wonder if MPC has something simpler/more elegant. Sorry for the wall of text, but I just can't believe dozens if not hundreds MPC demos I watched couldn't answer the question your 7-minute video just provided me with an answer to.

[@tjguardino]

Wow that’s great perspective! Thank you for this :) I absolutely want to do more videos on a verse/chorus arrangements in the future, main issue is finding the time :) I’ve heard Maschine + is really great for looping! How do you like it?

[@Lynx33PL]

@@tjguardino I like it a lot. It's a bit more of a DAW in a box than a groovebox (it's kinda similar to the MPC in that way) but still a lot more hands on than a DAW, especially because, unlike the MPC, it doesn't have a touch screen which I also wanted to avoid using. It's still early days, but it allows me to live loop with my guitar and move most of my music production away from a computer, which is all I wanted.

[@neptunesgold1216]

Great video just liked and Subbed thanks. I second that I was thinking the excact same thing then I saw this comment. Please when you get a chance it would be awesome to see more than a 8 bar loop. If you could show 8 bars then transition to the next 8 the the next ect. So you could potentially loop an entire song. Intro verse bridge chorus ect. Thank you for you quick clear to the point awesome demo I will keep my eye out for your upcoming mpc looping videos....Thanks!!

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

I think about building a more complex setup for looping, and that looks so good! What about the length of the layers? I'm asking myself if it is possible to have a layer the multiple length of the first track. , like 2x 4x...?

[@tjguardino]

That’s awesome, this might be a good fit! Oh yeah you can double the length really easily to create arrangements. I haven’t doubling my arrangement during a live performance but it’s super easy to do when sketching out ideas!

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@tjguardino That sounds pretty good to me!!! Thanks for the answer!!!

[@tjguardino]

@@Andreas_tropicalwinter for sure! I don’t know if you loop 2 bars over a 1 bar drum loop, but you can definitely just double that 1 bar loop and then record if that makes sense!

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@tjguardino Yeah, I usually record a the first layer as long as I like and then double the length of the second track with my looper to give it more variety.

[@stunami979]

Great! Thx

[@tjguardino]

No problem! Thanks for watching!

[@CargoShorts7]

This is so cool! Does it work with Logic, or is it more of a DAWless setup? And does this replace something like the TE KO II? I'm a complete noob when it comes to this kind of gear, but I'm a guitarist looking to get into live looping. Thanks!

[@tjguardino]

I’d say in a lot of ways this is like a DAW in a box. It’s a bit complicated but super powerful! The KO II is really fun but won’t work for guitar looping

[@CargoShorts7]

@@tjguardino Interesting! Thanks for the feedback man. I have managed to avoid actually getting good in a DAW for years and while I know I should just bite the bullet and put in the time... I definitely prefer physical knobs/buttons/pads and what not. I'm sure the MPC Live 2 has a decent learning curve, but would you still recommend it for hashing out song ideas and live looping/solo performing? I've also hear great things about the Elektron Octatrack Mk II but that could be a completely different lane of devices for all I know lol

[@dicefall9]

Do you happen to know if it's possible to record loops of different length and stack them together, even if they don't necessarly restart at the same time?🎄❄☕

[@tjguardino]

I don’t think this can happen automatically in the arrange window, I believe your loops need to be the same length and you’ll need to make them fit manually

[@zipporaid]

Can you output the metronome to headphones? I've been thinking of getting the mpc keys to do some ambient ish pads and such and then switching to guitar live

[@tjguardino]

Hmm I *think* the headphone out always mirrors output 1-2 but you can route it separately through output 3-4 which is what I did in the intro!

[@LeonardoDaSidci]

*sigh* opens wallet

[@tjguardino]

😅😅😅 I hear you 😂

[@p____ramos]

super cool! How do you like the MPC’s live looping compared to the Blackbox workflow for looping?

[@tjguardino]

It really gives the blackbox a run for its money to be honest!! Blackbox is soooo much more portable though, even with a battery pack attached to it it’s a fraction of the size 😅

[@p____ramos]

@ I thought so. I really enjoy the Blackbox as a live looping station. The MPC seems powerful, though, but its size and all the menu-diving… 😮‍💨

[@tjguardino]

@ ahh yes the menu diving 😅

[@edjefferson9175]

Arm record with a foot switch?

[@MushyBrainBeats]

Its basicly like live-looping with the current software. I am a live looping artist myself and still afraid to update because I dont beieve it works flawlessly. Did you run into any issues while performing live?

[@tjguardino]

I honestly expected a lot more bugs because I had read about them beforehand.. but for me it’s been SUPER stable. Hasn’t crashed or stalled once in several weeks of use.

[@Wenneguen]

Is this compatible with MPC One+? 🧐

[@tjguardino]

Yes it is!

[@marcrohrer7130]

interesting! Thanx! I have never used an MPC, so terminology might differ... But I have several times looked at it, always resulting in being unsure, if it could do what I wanted 😞 Questions that come to mind: Can you build more complex arrangements out of this, like in arranged live loping? Can the loops have different lenghts? Can you copy parts and exchange loops there? For reference, what I want to do: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fnyaiJapjsZ-sKc Making Of: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZ2Wf6yPltxmfLc I am desprately searhing for smething that puts me in the same ballpark. I would very much prefer hardware over Loopy Pro... The used sofware is not "available" anymore, also alk2 and had very little success with Ableton and BinkLooper...

[@tjguardino]

I think this would get you close to what you’re after but not exactly. You can definitely create complex arrangements but it will require copying/pasting into the arranger.. not really meant for live looping an entire performance with multiple parts of that makes sense

[@marcrohrer7130]

@@tjguardino thanx!

[@alvisreidmusic]

Great!! ❤