Understanding the MPC Workflow as an Ableton / DAW user

[@thepith]

This was so well explained. The visual aids along with the straightforward explanation from the perspective of a DAW user was fantastic. Akai should be paying you for this. Would love to see more videos like this dedicated to the MPC. Good MPC tutorial videos are hard to come by.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thank you! Yeah, I was very frustrated when I started, with how most videos explained things, so I thought I’d make the videos I wanted to see I guess. Hoping to do more as I find the time. Thanks for watching!

[@midi-ocher]

Wow. I needed this for my MPC to finally “click” thanks you!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that 🙌🏼

[@jaleah2306]

This might be the best beginner tutorial on mpc one on KZbin

[@WatermarkHigh]

That’s great to hear, haha. Glad you think so! Thanks for watching 🙌🏼

[@jeremietisby2206]

Great video! I searched the internet for this exact topic and could find so little, I seriously considered making a similar video myself. I appreciate your clear and consise explainations, polished production values, and the fact that you packed it nicely in 10 min. One thing that helped me understand how MPC handled Sequences, was by comparing them to Scenes in Abelton. In this sense, I think the two are closely related, but the analogy isn't particularly useful for non-Ableton users. In any event, I Liked, and Subscribed. BRAVO!

[@WatermarkHigh]

So glad to hear that! I was in the same boat when I started and thought I’d make the video I was hoping to find back then. Haha. Glad you found it hopeful. Comparing sequences to Ableton scenes does make sense too, I never thought about that to be honest. Guess the way I did it made the video a bit more universal 🤷🏻‍♂️ But that’s also a good way to look at it, thank you. And thanks for the like and sub, I really appreciate that 🙌🏼

[@MoreKornflakes]

This is by far the Best beginner's tutorial for the Mpc one Ive found on youtube and trust me i've searched. Thank you.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that! Glad it helped, please spread the word, haha! 🙌

[@damelos4039]

What a GREAT video. Thank you for making this PLAIN and SIMPLE for beginners. I've seen countless videos and none are as straightforward as this. You've earned a subscriber!!

[@WatermarkHigh]

You are so welcome! Thanks for the sub 🙌🏼

[@Drrolfski]

This is actually a solid, well-illustrated explanation if you're coming from Ableton. I ran into the exact same problems getting my head around my MPC Live 2. Goed gedaan!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks dude!

[@ice4278]

thanks keep going with the mpc not many people explain as well as you do.I am new to the mpc.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that. Happy to help! More coming ASAP!

[@TheRhyne91]

No one has made more sense. Best explanation, do know why more put in the way you do

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that it helped! And thanks 🙌🏼

[@Robert13b]

Good explanation video. Alls is told clearly and calmly, without hiccups or mistakes.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for watching, glad you found it helpful!

[@davidc9098]

Best MPC tutorials avaiable in yt by far, thank you so much!! 😇

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that, you’re very welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@Aaronlovescake]

Loving your explanations on this, really helped me understand my MPC so much better!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Glad it helped! Thanks for watching!

[@MOLTEN_IMP]

NEEDED THIS, thank you

[@WatermarkHigh]

Glad it helped 🙌🏼

[@privatetransfer]

Very very well done. Using the context of Ableton really helping me gel my understanding of the MPC workflow, which has otherwise proved a bit confounding.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that! I was in the same boat. Haha! Glad you found it helpful…

[@SclimBeats]

What a great explanation, thank you for time and effort to put this together

[@WatermarkHigh]

You're very welcome. It was difficult to wrap my head around this when I started and I couldn't really find a video that explained it like I understood it, so I thought I'd make it because I couldn't have been the only one. Haha. Glad it helped!

[@Sharon-music]

Fantastic video.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@karl.weaver]

As always, presentation is impeccable.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thank you so much 🙌🏼

[@deanparsons9675]

Thank you! Super helpful!

[@WatermarkHigh]

You're welcome!

[@Aztronouth]

This is great. Thanks!!! ♡

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for watching, glad you found it helpful!

[@SiHargreaves]

Nice one, just what I needed as someone who learned on Ableton too.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Awesome, glad you found it helpful!

[@SimonPhoenix3]

This helped a lot; sequences really feel like scenes in ableton

[@WatermarkHigh]

Yeah I didn’t make that connection initially but you’re not the first to see it that way. That’s rad though, whatever works best for you 🙌🏼

[@katanamek]

Thank you so much for this tutorial. Very useful!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Stoked to hear that, thanks for watching! 🙌

[@PatrickBradshaw215]

Outstanding explanation!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Glad you found it helpful, thanks for watching! 🙌

[@Jaemus21]

Great work on this video! Done very well!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks a lot! Hope it helped 🙌🏼

[@waysiiide]

These MPC one videos are really good, great production value and really well explained. Got my MPC a few weeks ago with hardly any previous DAW/dawless experience and your vids have been really helpful. Bigup and keep them coming! One question noticed you had the legacy expansions (wub etc) listed on the sounds/plugins page. Are you able to use these in standalone? Thought they were only useable in the software?

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks so much, stoked that it helped you to get going! I'll be uploading more regularly from next month (May). I've got a whole bunch of ideas in the pipeline, so stay tuned! As for the legacy stuff, I'm actually not sure. I THINK you're right, I doubt they'd work offline/standalone but I could be wrong...I installed them when I got my device but I've never used them (and honestly don't really plan to). My MPC might have been plugged into my computer on some of those shots in the video, which would explain why you saw The Wub listed.

[@brandonsmith2594]

I wanna see your beat making process I think your music is dope.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thank you. Stay tuned ;)

[@MS7.7]

I don't need a tutorial and I know how to use MPC but I wws very surprised of how well you explain. Because this was very confusing to me last year when I started especially that programs are shared. Thank you Btw I know you know that but you might forgot to mention the keygroups usually contain multisamples like sampler in ableton not necessarily single sample. It can be assigned to zones/velocity/etc even though I use ableton live 11 suite now but I really love the MPC Workflow and the program edit mode is fantastic. Much better than ableton imo because its always the same layout and spread horizontally and large. Abelton device window is very small and feels like a clinic. Piano roll in MPC is the worst offender.

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed the video. It was also hands down the most confusing part of the workflow for me. I’m stoked that people are finding this video helpful. I did not know that there was a way to use multi-samples in keygroup programs. I’ll have to explore that a bit. Thank you!

[@MS7.7]

@@WatermarkHigh its actually pretty advanced. You can set it up to 92 key groups and each key group can contain from 1 - 4 layers. Layers can be triggered by velocity or random or cycling through. Also you can set the polyphony for each keygroup. But make sure to set the root note for first layer instead of SMP. More over you can randomize the pan/pitch/level of each layer, giving you the ultimate I don't know what's the next note gonna sound like! I'm telling you the program edit is insane and once I understood how it works it became my favorite thing.

[@AntonMochalin]

Very good explanation. If I'm going for a hybrid Ableton+MPC approach do I understand that right that I can have MPC playing its resulting audio in one Ableton track but also sending MIDI to other Ableton MIDI tracks to be played by Ableton's instruments or VSTs?

[@WatermarkHigh]

I mostly use my MPC in standalone so I'm not sure to be honest. I would imagine that that'd be doable with some routing though. Maybe check the MPC forums to make sure? Thanks for watching!

[@cadaverkev]

Wish I would have had access to this kind of explanation months ago. I have the MPC ins and outs at present, but coming from Reason Studios, MPC theory was a bit to wrap my head around at first. I'm still using Reason now for most of my composing but want to shift all those compositions , I guess as stems, and perform them live with the MPC one. My question would be; would the MPC One, in clips mode, be the way to go for this type of live application? Thanks!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Glad you (would have) found it helpful! Haha. I don’t have any experience playing live with a MPC but technically, if you stem your tracks out correctly and practice, I don’t see how you can’t do a great performance with it 🤷🏻‍♂️ Especially with clips mode (which at the very least mimics Ableton’s session view) and the X/Y FX. Good luck! 🙌🏼

[@Kinglex-gg6vb]

Great video!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for watching, hope it helped!

[@necrotictrust]

thank you

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for watching. Glad you found it helpful!

[@LilHoss]

Very good explanation. I'm struggling right now. I want to use the MPC ONE as my main sequencer. I have several keyboards and a drum machine. I want to be able to sync my computer DAW Mixcraft with the MPC ONE, I want to use vsts like Scaler 2, Melody Sauce 2 and others to out to MPC ONE. I sort of want the computer DAW to be used likean external keyboard. I just can't figure it out. I want the computer DAW to be in sync with MPC ONE as well.... I don't want to have to learn Ableton or the MPC software. This is a super-high learning curve...😢

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for watching! I am not familiar with Mixcraft at all so it's hard to recommend anything based on that. Not sure if it's possible to sync with that DAW? Maybe contact Akai's support and ask? Explain your setup/situation to them and see if they can help? But it almost sounds like you might have been better off with a MPC Studio, which is just a MPC controller and not a standalone sampler. That would give you good MPC control, while still also being able to work with your DAW in a big way. Almost feels like you need to choose to either use the MPC or the DAW as your main "hub". I think you might be overcomplicating it? If you try to get your head wrapped around the MPC workflow (it's a bit confusing but not that bad in my opinion), you could totally use that as a great hub for your external hardware, while still being able to sequence and sample etc. If you want to use Scaler, possibly get your chords and stuff and export the MIDI from your DAW to then use in the MPC or just use the MPC's "Note" (chord and scale) features. They're not as deep as Scaler but they're very useful. Might be a good compromise? It's hard to say because I'm not really familiar with everything in your setup but I hope this was at least a little bit helpful, haha. Good luck, hope you manage to figure it out!

[@hvhvgitaar]

Thanks for this helpful explanation. One thing is confusing me though. You describe sequences as comparable to groups in Ableton, or buses in other DAWs. Aren’t sequences more like scenes in Ableton?

[@WatermarkHigh]

That's an interesting question. I never thought about it like that. I guess you could see it that way but I'd still probably say it's closer to a group or a buss. In my mind, at least. But if it makes more sense to your brain to see it horizontally like that, and it makes sense/works, then why not? Just mentioned this in another comment as well...if the sequences are confusing you, you could also just use a single big sequence for it to feel more like a traditional DAW where you can write chronologically - intro, verse, chorus etc. all in one timeline basically. I'm considering making a video about this...

[@rbsenpai]

Thanks for this video! I'd like to go dawless and wonder if there is any use in choosing an Akai MPC with its peculiar workflow over an Akai Force which is more like a standalone Ableton apparently. On the MPC, does the sequences workflow mean that you should "group" all the tracks containing the same instruments together in order to stay organized? For example, Seq 1 = guitars, Seq 2 = basses, Seq 3 = synths, etc. ? Otherwise, if a sequence contains a bit of everything it can get really messy... And if a track is exclusive to a sequence, can you move a track to another sequence? Also, it seems that recording a project with very long sequences is quite similar to a DAW basic linear recording workflow. Am I right? Thanks!

[@WatermarkHigh]

Glad you found it helpful, thanks for watching! I know next to nothing about the Force to be honest, but it probably has a different workflow I'm not sure. No, I wouldn't use a sequence as a group for a particular instrument. To "group" things, I recommend using the sub-groups. Just busses you can send your different outputs to essentially. You can definitely prevent things from getting messy, buy you have to make a conscious effort like I've mentioned in my videos, because the MPC does make it quite hard to keep things as tidy as they would be in a DAW for instance. Sequences are more like mini projects of the different sections of your song (that's how I use it anyway). And you are correct, using just one sequence per song would make it more like a traditional DAW in a sense. If sequences confuse you, I recommend using it like that actually. Then it's a lot more like a DAW because the sequence is merely a container for all your tracks. Tracks are easy to duplicate or copy between sequences so that's not a problem. Compared to other standalone samplers on the market, the modern MPCs very much feel like a DAW in a box. Especially with the amount of plugins and effects etc. they're releasing lately. Hope all this helps, haha!

[@mikoajczeski1272]

How do you rate working at DAW versus working at MPC?

[@WatermarkHigh]

I think mainly for me, having the constraints of the MPC and no distractions (when working standalone) are great. I get music done quicker because of it. And it’s just a different, more focused workflow in my opinion. I still love working in Ableton though. A lot of things are much easier on the computer but I get bogged down with option paralysis (too many plugins and rabbit holes to go down etc). It differs from person to person. I enjoy them both for different reasons. I’m hoping to do a review of the MPC One that will go into all this a bit more deeply in the near future… Are you looking at getting a MPC?

[@AceArty23]

Thank you so much for the breakdown, would you consider the sequence to be similar to sequencing in a daw? For example sequence 1 is the intro, sequence 2 is the hook and so on?

[@WatermarkHigh]

Yeah, that's more or less how I roll. Although I write instrumental music, I start with my main loop and then I arrange or structure the track based on subtraction into different sequences or song parts (I'd duplicate this main loop into a new sequence and just delete stuff or write additional parts so that I end up with multiple sequences of "varied intensity" let's say). So you can absolutely have an Intro sequence, then do a Verse sequence, a Chorus sequence and then structure the track from there using the MPC's Song Mode. I'm actually considering doing a video about this but if the sequences confuse you too much, you can also just do everything in one big sequence which would make it a lot more like a DAW. Hope that helps!

[@AceArty23]

@@WatermarkHigh definitely helps, I’m looking to buy my first mpc (mpc one plus) to work in conjunction with Logic Pro X. Looking forward to the video explanation, thank you

[@WatermarkHigh]

That's awesome. You're going to have a blast. Enjoy! @@AceArty23

[@eman0828]

To be honest I don't really see much of a difference between the modern MPC and a DAW due to the fact the modern MPCs are basically an iPad with a DAW firmware. They can run plug-ins like any other DAW but runs on fixed hardware. The real MPCs from the 90s esp the 3000 that Roger Linn designed are nothing like the modern MPCs today the work flow was entirely different. The MPC 5000 that I've own for 10 years workflow was similar to the 90s MPCS. They didn't run plug-ins or anything. It was just a midi sequencer/Sampler. I stopped buying MPCs due to the decline of quality control given that Akai Professional as a company doesn't exist anymore. Is the not the same company of what you think from the 80s and 90s when it was the Real Japanese Akai company that Roger Linn worked for. Akai Professional went out of business on 2005 while is assets and brand name was sold to Numark aka InMusic today. InMusic is the name of the company that makes products that makes the modern MPCs. They are American products with the Akai brand stamped on them that shares nothing in common with the real Japanese Akai company of the 90s. Alesis and Akai product's are more of the same that's both made by InMusic.

[@WatermarkHigh]

I don't have any experience with the old machines unfortunately. But yeah, the new MPCs are transparent / digital / clean in sound, just like a DAW. You get the vintage emulators (MPC60, SP1200, MPC3000 etch) and plugins like Flavor Pro though, which enables you to emulate and tweak what you want your modern machine to "sound" like (hoping to do a video on this soon!), but I think that's what makes the older MPCs still appealing today...they have a unique, natural sound which these new ones lack. I'm with you on the stability too. Again, I don't know the old machines but my experience on the One generally has been pretty unstable (even after numerous firmware and software updates), which is a real bummer and something I hope they take seriously because it's my biggest gripe at the moment. These crashes ruin flow. Anyway, thanks for the thoughtful comment 🙌

[@eman0828]

@@WatermarkHigh Yes which is why I see no value buying modern MPCs today as they are more closer to a DAW now in terms of both sonics and workflow is similar. Its basically an ipad now. My Presonus atom drum pad controller replaced my MPC 5000 given that modern computers and DAWs are a lot more powerful these days. It was the other way around back in the 90s and early 2000s when computing was limited and latency was an issue. No so much anymore. When I was using the MPC 5000 i felt that the workflow of piecing a whole track together was much slower as you have to dive through tedious menus and small buttons on a small screen just copy each section that took over 10 mins to do each part. another thing I didn't like coming off the MPC was the lack of naming your project files proper names since there was no qwerty keyboard. There was no search feature, that took hours to screen through sounds and project files nor i could name my midi tracks of each instrument i used. with studio one I can see the notes on the screen and all my midi tracks as I can copy and paste the chours, bridge, verse intro.. with in the matter of seconds wit a click of a mouse and keyboard short cuts. It took too long to do that on the older MPCS.

[@WatermarkHigh]

​@@eman0828 Yeah, I mean I still love the tactile nature and it still feels like hardware to me over screen + mouse + keyboard + DAW. And it's usable away from the computer although it's a different kind of computer technically. I enjoy the workflow and I think what you get for the price is good value. But yeah, to each their own, basically. Haha. Glad you figured out what works for you...

[@eman0828]

@@WatermarkHigh which is why I have the Presonus Atom drum pad controller that still has 16 MPC like pads. It's more of the same really by today's standards since the modern MPC is DAW that runs on a tablet like PC like an iPad, runs virtual instruments... It's just the DAW on conventional computer is way more powerful and flexible since I incorporate my hardware sound modules synths in Studio One making my setup Hybrid using both hardware and soft synths simultaneously together. I own the E-MU Proteus 2000, E-MU MO Phatt moduel, Yamaha MOTIF-RACK-ES, Roland Fantom-XR, Roland Integra-7 essentially modern XV5080 plus Jupiter 80 as my legacy hardware synth collection along with my modern soft synths. My two Roland Midi controllers the A-88 and the PCR-800 relaced my workstation keyboards now that I moved entirely away from hardware sequencing all together. I notice very little to mo diffences in latency. I own all MOTU hardware both the MOTU MIDI for my hardware synths and the MOTU 828es as my studio interface. The latency is near zero.

[@jjbing3]

This is why I sold my three mpcs. I kept wanting one, got it, couldn’t use it and sold it. 😑. 2005-mpc 1000 2012-mpc2kl 2020- mpc live 1

[@boomboombaby9140]

I got my mpc live 2 and figured out how to structure a beat within 10 minutes. I use daws and the mpc and the mpc is far easier than a day .

[@larrytan73]

for 35year hiphop has used this work-flow minus the new graphics..The world just caught up! Now the modern "Trap" hiphop producers step writes!

[@WatermarkHigh]

To each their own, I just want people to learn and enjoy making music...how doesn't matter to me. Thanks for watching 🙌

[@larrytan73]

@@WatermarkHigh no homie! im praising the mpc history! and hiphop! because we were looked down upon for using drum samplers and samples to make music..now tits cool to do!

[@WatermarkHigh]

@@larrytan73 Oh I see! I misunderstood, thanks for clarifying. I'm with you! Sampling FTW!

[@unclemick-synths]

​@@larrytan73I wish I'd tried an MPC long ago. The tape paradigm was so limiting. When I bought my Korg D1600 digital multitracker years ago, I should have opened my mind to other possibilities and bought an MPC instead. I was familiar with programming drum machines since forever so when I finally bought the MPC it was a real face-palm moment!

[@ickekiecke]

Akai Force is like Ableton..

[@WatermarkHigh]

Yeah, I know of the Force, but not much about it. I think it is indeed intended to be a lot more like a standalone DAW compared to the MPCs.

[@thebrunoserge]

The more MPC tutorials I devour the more I realize holy shit, what a horrible workflow

[@MaterialMike]

MOC UI IS TERRIBLE, so glad I sold mine

[@miss.antidote]

great video

[@WatermarkHigh]

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed.