Useful in Step Edit Mode when sequencing phrases in Note-On Mode.

Scroll to the bar number where you want to commence your note duration.

Press Over Dub and hit the relevant pad.

Calculate the exact Duration value to type in to the D field on the MPC based on the following calculation.

MPC 2500 has 96 Parts per Quarter Note. Therefore, the Duration of 1 beat = 96

for signatures of 4/4

1 bar = 96 x 4     D= 384

2 bars = 96 x 8   D = 768

3 bars = 96 x 12  D = 1152

4 bars = 96 x 16  D = 1536

…

8 bars = 96 x 32  D = 3072

16 bars = 96 x 64 D = 6144

Hope this is useful. I couldn’t find any info out there so here it is.

-MC-

Sometimes certain events are not activated or heard when starting playback after the start point in your project. This can be frustrating at the editing stage when you want to preview changes.

Logic has a function to analyze your project and locate events before the playback point so that they are active when you press play mid-way through a project.

From the Toolbar, choose: Settings > MIDI and click on the Chase Tab

In the list, check any event types that you want to hear when you press play. Most of them are self explanatory.

The most common ones that you may want to enable and maybe need a little more explanation are Notes and Chase on Cycle Jump.

Notes: Plays any notes due to start playing at the playback start point.

• Sustained: Will play any notes that are still playing at the playback start point, due to a sustained pedal event.
• In ‘No Transpose’ Instrument Channel Strips: Instrument Channel Strips such as those containing drums can be assigned a No Transpose status in the Inspector. This is a playback parameter which would be ignored if the region was started mid-way through.* You will want to turn this off if you are triggering drum loops from an external sampler mid-way through a region, otherwise the loop will be triggered at the wrong point and out of sync until the next trigger note.(The No Transpose parameter prevents transposition by the Region Playback Parameter which is usually not desirable for drums)

Chase on Cycle Jump: Scans for and sends all event types if the cycle start and end points fall across regions

• Notes: Limits jump scan to Note events only.
   
• Send full MIDI Reset before Chasing: All MIDI devices are reset to their defaults before chasing.

-MC-

External MIDI Instruments can be routed through Logic Pro’s Mixer and Effects by way of the External Instrument Plug-in.

The resulting track behaves just like an internal Software Instrument.

Notes:

• Realtime Bouncing to an audio file IS possible
• Offline Bouncing to an audio file is NOT possible
• Freeze Function is disabled

Set up Effects Processing for External MIDI Instruments.

1. Connect the Output (pair) of the MIDI Instrument to an Input (pair) on the Audio Interface.
2.  Create a Software Instrument Channel.
    
3. Click the Instrument slot and choose External Instrument.
    
    
4. Choose the MIDI destination and Audio Interface Input from the menus in the Plug-in window.
      
    
5. Insert the effects that you want to use in the Insert Slots on the Channel Strip.
    

-MC-

Enables you to add Program Change, Volume and Pan settings from the Track Parameter Box to selected regions on External MIDI Tracks in the Arrange area.

Only checked (ticked) parameters are added and they are placed one quarter note before the the beginning of the selected region.

The Track Parameter Box

The Insert Instrument MIDI settings as Events Command

The Event List

-MC-

Is it possible to play back multiple midi channels from logic into the MPC 2500? The answer is NO. The MPC 2500 is not a multi-timbral Sampler. That is to say it is not a multi-timbral sound module. The MPC4000  / 5000  / z8 are multi-timbral.

Therefore, even though you can send out an MPC 2500 SEQUENCE of multiple TRACKS with independently assigned MIDI channels and demix them in LOGIC PRO you cannot play them back into the MPC 2500 and hear them as intended. ALL MIDI DATA IS MERGED AND PLAYS THE CURRENTLY ACTIVE MPC 2500 TRACK. So you get a mash-up of sounds from the active PROGRAM for that currently selected track as all notes from all regions are merged into the same MPC Program.

Hope this helps you understand. Maybe one day (unlikely) AKAI will bring out a firmware update to resolve this issue and make the 2500 a multi-timbral sound module.

The same applies to the MPC 1000.

Here is a work around – Requires a bit of prep work but will do what you want.

1) USB over your AKAI MPC samples onto your MAC.

2) Using these sounds Create EXS24 sample banks that match your MPC PROGRAMS including Note settings (per pad, plus any velocity settings as well. You can then use the EXS24 dummy set-up to rearrange multiple tracks in tandem.

3) Once you have finished editing, simply merge all regions and export as MIDI File. 

4) Import the MIDI file into the MPC and Voila! You have a solution.

For complete authenticity, PRIOR TO ANY SEQUENCING IN LOGIC, I recommend sending out a midi sequence from the MPC into Logic with a note on each step.

Beat map this Sequence to get the correct groove template.

Once you have saved that groove template and implemented it into your matrix editor or hyper editor for programming new sequences, you can be pretty sure that the groove will be damn close to that of the MPC 2500.

Alternatively if you like pain, solo each track in Logic, select its relative sound track and work on it individually. Maybe sample as audio each track so you can have audio versions playing along side the current MIDI sequence you want to edit. Very long winded!!!

Is this why my MPC 2500 goes mad when I have in and out midi cables connected to logic?

Sounds like it. You’ll probably be sending out of logic on several channels at once and the whole lot is merged into one. Therefore, any notes coming out on that stream which correspond to active pads on the MPC Program will trigger sounds assigned to those pads.

The Z4, Z8 and MPC 4000 are Multi-timbral ’sound modules’.

I was hoping those JJ OS guys would add MT into their OS. They’ve gone for Audio Streaming so maybe they can do MT as well.

Also – Don’t forget to check the status of your Active Track Receive Channel on the MPC.
MODE > MIDI/SYNC > F1 for MIDI Settings. Top line: Active Track Receive Channel.

- MC.

Loops are NOT recognized when exported as part of a midi file.

You must turn loops to copies. Not all sequencers are geared up like Logic to enable any kind of loop mode so…

Here’s a very efficient way to deal with this scenario.

1) Select all regions including those currently looped.

2) In the Arrange window go to: Region > Merge > Regions per Track (Key Command: shift =)

Hey Presto! All data is hardwired and Looping is disabled.

Here I’ll explain the efficiency.

i) If Regions are spread over several tracks for the same channel then those regions are merged into just one track.

ii) All Regions are Normalized meaning that Region Playback Parameter Box settings that you have applied, i.e Transpose, Velocity & Dynamics are written into that Region and are no longer just a non-destructive reference.

Note:*** You can Normalize Regions on an Individual basis by selecting a region and applying: MIDI > Region Parameters > Normalize Region Parameters. (Key Command: Ctrl+N).

- MC.