Quote Originally Posted by professor
with that said, why would you program sequences to build for live work? why not just write loads of "sequences" and use the track mute option to make you sequences build or fall on the fly?
I'm using an MPC1000 for my live set, and know exactly why he *should* do it that way - he doesn't have 16 fingers!! :D

Personally, I use four patterns per "song" - I stay the hell away from song mode. Each pattern has 16 visible "tracks", and a few off the track mute page, stuff that stays out of the way but needs to be running, like a note event every bar to keep the Nord Micro Modular sequencers in sync, etc.

My first pattern of four is always all muted - I build up the song using the mutes, jam around, make "live techno". When it's built up into a frenzy, it's time to switch to the next pattern, which only goes through once - pattern two has pretty much everything unmuted, but with some extra bits, like a snare roll or a crescendo of crash cymbals, etc... a huge build for eight bars... it plays through once, and then goes to pattern three, which is a huge DROP, with a new bassline, stompy kick, etc - the perfect thing to drop HARD on a dancefloor. I jam with that for a while, fade down in intensity, bring it out to almost nothing, swap some sounds in and out, then bring it back up in another huge build, and at the crescendo of that, switch to pattern four. Four is another huge drop - then I fade towards the outtro. Lots of room to jam, but less chance to **** up the drops, which is really what the dancefloor wants to hear at 3am anyway - flubbing a drop is the worst feeling in the world, so why chance it? Make the MPC handle the timing of the muting for your big drop!

Damn, if you got a nord, why didn't you hook it up in the first place?
AGREED! Nords and MPCs get along famously!

Also, I would suggest that you not try to emulate what you have done in cubase. make a program on the mpc, hit record and start playing the pads (or midi keyboard) as you like. As one reviewed said, they are like musical sketchpads.
Disagree here. I program all my MIDI "tracks" (basslines, lead synthlines, etc) in Logic, export as MIDI files, and drag and drop them into the MPC over the USB connection. I personally hate the sound of "human" feel in techno - I'm making 140bpm acidic stuff for dancefloors, I can see how it'd be very different with, say, deep house. I feel that a big part of the charm of 303-style lead synths is the robotic, perfectly-on-time nature of everything. I mean, sure, you can quantize, but editing MIDI in the MPC is much more of a chore than editing it in Logic! (that's not to say I don't do a lot of MIDI editing in the MPC anyway).

I do program all the MPC beats on the MPC - like, hihats, drum hits, etc - but most of my sounds come from MIDI devices, and as such, it's better for me to program most of my MIDI in Logic than on the MPC.