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Syncing an MPC- MTC or SMPTE?


Dante310

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hey everyone, I'm in need of some real help with my setup. I understand the basics of MIDI but i'm moving up to a more professional setup and things are going over my head, even though I've browsed through the forums here looking for questions like mine..

 

I'm buying my first audio interface next week (likely an mbox2 pro) and I will need to take drum sequences (audio, not midi) which I've recorded on the MPC 4000 and record the audio into logic. the problem is i don't have an 8 outs option on the MPC, so I have to do a separate take for each drum track (hi hat, kick, so on). i obviously need to make sure every take is in line and ideally perfectly timed- the whole reason I have the MPC for drums is for its amazing timing, and I dont wan't to lose this bringing things into logic.

 

so, from what I understand, the best way to keep the mpc 'groove' when importing is to use MTC or SMPTE and not midi sync. which do you guys prefer, between the two, for the most accurate timing? if I sync the MPC and Logic via MTC/SMPTE and do multi-take recordings like this, will my sequences record ok and in time?

 

also from what i've heard both the MPC and logic will need a few empty bars once i press play to ensure their clocks are in time over MTC, is this true?

 

and finally (sorry for this essay of a question), will an mbox handle accurate timing as well as, say, a fireface 400 or 800? RME has some stuff on their website about low jitter clock stuff which sounds good but i have no clue if its marketing or the real deal.

 

to anyone who took the time to help, thank you!!

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so, from what I understand, the best way to keep the mpc 'groove' when importing is to use MTC or SMPTE and not midi sync. which do you guys prefer, between the two, for the most accurate timing? if I sync the MPC and Logic via MTC/SMPTE and do multi-take recordings like this, will my sequences record ok and in time?

 

As far as Logic is concerned, they are the same thing. The difference is that MTC is limited to quarter-frame messages, but that's not a big deal. If you had an interface with SMPTE in, such as a Unitor8 or MTPAV, it would just convert it to MTC before sending it to Logic anyway. So, MTC is your obvious choice.

 

also from what i've heard both the MPC and logic will need a few empty bars once i press play to ensure their clocks are in time over MTC, is this true?

 

Yes, that's always true.

 

and finally (sorry for this essay of a question), will an mbox handle accurate timing as well as, say, a fireface 400 or 800? RME has some stuff on their website about low jitter clock stuff which sounds good but i have no clue if its marketing or the real deal.

 

That's the real deal, but has little to do with your original sync question. The difference betwen the Mbox stuff and RME is night and day in my experience. The RME is superior in every way. Then again, it costs more too.

 

One method you may have overlooked, if you have Logic chase the MPC's MIDI clock and record the MPC MIDI sequence to Logic, then you can use the MPC sounds via the External Instrument plugin, or substitute other sounds from within Logic. This gives you the most flexibility and preserves your timing too.

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hey fader, i really appreciate the help. I decided to get a real interface for myself today and go with the ensemble (i'll soon be hooking up an andromeda a6 and oasys or motif as well so i wanted great sound quality and integration w/ logic) and the guy from sweetwater explained all of this stuff and I completely get it now.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi

Im having trouble with MPC and Logic working as a team and am keen to learn others methods.

I love the MPC but I like to trigger a drum sound card in my Roland Fantom XR from it. However I recently had to ditch my old Opcode Studio 4 interface and get a USB Motu Midi Express. This has thrown up several workflow issues.

The Motu Express 128 does not allow any channelisations unlike the Opcode where I used to be able to route midi outs to ins and effectively have the MPC trigger external sound module with perfect sync.

 

As I cant do this now when I try to program drums using the MPC pads and the XR sounds, I need to have the XR in record ready in Logic in order to hear the sounds and the timing is not at all accurate. The MPC click flams badly with the programmed beats. So someone suggested going direct midi from MPC to XR and trying it like tht. Well it fixes the flam issues but it makes recording into Logic difficult.

 

My old method of working would be to sequence up some patterns on the MPC then hit record in LOGIC and play whole takes of cymbals etc as its easier to edit this way than have cymabls etc within MPC patterns.

 

Im getting a bit confused about the best way to approach this.

 

Any thoughts..?

 

Many thanks

 

Ged

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  • 3 years later...

For syncing an mpc 3000 ... which is an older model... would there be anything different?

 

i was told smpte is more reliable in this type of task.. but then again i get told all sorts of things...

 

im just wondering if there is a way to use the 3000s internal sequencer, and sync it to logic for tracking purposes and also for playback, because i'd be adding vst tracks as logic instruments...

 

i work with loops a lot so i was wondering about the looping capability of a synced setup.. would a loop be considered like resetting the sync each time, if yes i imagine theywould go out of phase pretty quick?

 

HERE ARE SETUPS IM THINKING OF :

 

i imagine a workflow where i could play my sequence in the mpc... have it playback thru my (audiofire) interface in logic, loop it and stack a couple softsynth/softsamplers melodies/basslines... do basic mixer routing (sidechaining, etc) ... then bounce everything to audio and work my mix from there...

 

i also imagine another setup where i could hook a midi keyboard to my mpc 3000 in, then my mpc out to logic and use logic as a sound module, as it is possible to dowith other programs like Reason (i didnt usethe word daw because reason is no proper daw to me)...

 

i really need some advice as im entering a whole new world of midi! thank you much

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  • 2 weeks later...

Logic is kicking my butt right now... In the last 2 days I've gone from typing beats with the mac keyboard to having logic recognize every piece of hardware in my set up. I'm still very raw, learning as much as I can handle at a rapid pace. I need some "how to help for dummies". Any info on any piece of equipment would be good also, still learning Micro Express, Motif 6

 

My set up as it stands:

 

Micro Express 4ins/6outs Midi usb to Mac

 

MPC 2000xl in 1 out 1 of Micro Express

 

Motif 6 in 2 out 2 of Micro Express

 

TR-Rack out 3 of Micro Express

 

JV1080 out 4 of Micro Express

 

Zoom SB out 5 of Micro Express

 

Everything is find when triggering logic sounds, but when playing Motif or my racks internal sounds the timing is off, I've been able to fix somewhat by changing the quantize to 1/96 note seems crazy to me but it works. Also how can I use the MPC as more than just a trigger. I've used templates that allow me to seq. with the MPC and use logic as a module but that seems to kick out the Motif and racks. Not very familiar with environment if that can solve my issues, also not sure if I should incorporate my 002 rack in the mix for syncing, every attempt at syncing the MPC with logic has been painful to say the least.

 

I'd love some help, I will continue to try and figure it out myself but its wearing me out at this point.

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