SumOne

I've recently got an MPC Key 61 which I think is great. The positives that most reviewers say (hardware, workflow, sounds) are all true. I don't agree with the downsides that a few reviews point out (Bugs, slow to load sounds, cheaper to get an MPC One and add a midi keyboard). 1. Bugs: I haven't experienced any bugs. Akai are known to release things with bugs and then quickly release updates to fix them, so if you get something thats been released for a few months it is fine - the reviews complaining about bugs seem to be testing shortly after the release date. 2. Load times: Some plugins do take upto about 6 seconds to load, most are much faster though and there are no load times for plugins within the loaded project. I don't think it's an issue for most keys players, possibly an issue if used as a stand-alone DJ type performance tool and you want gapless transitions between songs. In demos criticising load times people seem to be navigating around the main menu and into different large plugins to switch sounds for live keys use - that kind of seems like user error, the equivilant of standing up to make a presentation and complaining it takes time to navigate folders in Windows and then load up your overly large Powerpoint files - rather than using a combination of shortcuts, reducing excessive file sizes, and files already loaded and open and ready to use. The MPC is instant to select between plugins you've put within a project (upto 8 plugins per project, plus many more sample based things with keygroups and drum programs), you scroll through them and the sound changes instantly. Or in key layout view you can also use the drum pads to instantly switch multiple plugins: e.g. on that screen it's set so drum pad #1 turns piano on/off, #2 to turn Clav on/off etc. (pad #2 is red so Clav is turned off). Can also touch on the screen to turn them on/off and drag the bars for overlap & playing multiple sounds at once. I'd have thought that's plenty of instantly accessible sounds - at least for quite a few songs for most live keys players. Admittedly, if you are a keys player and need switch between more than those 8 plugins without loading/overwriting then you'll need to switch between projects - there is a 'setlist' shortcut to make navigation fast but project loading can take up to about 10 seconds with large projects and the sound cuts out while loading. I don't imagine that is much of an issue for most keys players though as they probably don't need large project files (and 8x plugins and multiple keygroups is possibly enough for a whole set so they perhaps don't need to change program at all - or at least not every song), and generally that type of performance has gaps between songs anyway. ....where it is more of an issure is if wanting gapless transitions for a stand-alone DJ type performance where you have large project files that include sequencing and automation and drum tracks and multiple samples and plugins etc because you'll have to have silence as you switch between those large projects. This is potentially an issue for some as the MPC Key sits in that grey area of 'keyboard/stand-alone DJ type performance tool' and if using it for the latter you don't want to be forced to have 10 second silent gaps between every song. In an ideal world you'd be able to load up a setlist with a few projects and there would be no load times between them, or some way of allowing limited sounds (even just triggering a single sample, or allowing trails) to play while the new ones load. Adding a delay pedal after the MPC to trail off through project transitions could be a solution (I've been eyeing up the Boss RE-202 for a long time!). 3. Value vs adding keyboard to MPC One: There's more to it than just being an MPC One plus a keyboard: £350 of additional decent plugins (Piano, Organ, Strings, 2x synths), extra buttons and touch strip (with things like dedicated 'note repeat' button and lit up note division values along the strip - not things you'd get on an external controller), many more ins/outs, 4GB RAM (vs 2GB), 32GB internal storage (vs 4GB), internal SSD instead of SD slot, wifi (which makes it genuinely 'stand-alone') and bluetooth, kettle lead (vs external adapter). I agree with a review that said it is more than the sum of its parts, workflow and usability are key and having everything in one dedicated unit really helps with that.

It's well known that the MPC series is great for finger-drumming/drum machine/sampler stuff but nowadays they also have decent synth/vst type plugins and work well as a stand alone DAW to do full production and organising of songs. What I didn't expect is the MPC One now also works pretty well as a live Bass guitar multi fx. It has a tuner and you can add upto four effects to whatever is going into it live through the input, those FX include bass amp/cabs, compressors (including side-chain compression, the 'mother ducker' is great fun) and all the usual things like delays, modulation etc and no noticable latency to it processing it live: .......or obviously instead of live use, you can record it clean and make multiple exact copies to play back simultaneously - each with 4x effects applied, so you can fairly easily do stuff like having one version with clean LPF sound mixed with one that has a HPF and drive and modulation (and then could re-record them and add 4x more FX on top etc.). So the possibilities of adding FX to Bass guitar recordings are almost limitless with a bit of tinkering, (not like the old days when I tried this sort of thing with tapes and ended up with mostly hiss and muffle!)

I've become a big fan of the Akai MPC range and as they are sort of their own thing I thought they could do with their own thread to share the love!

I love simple basslines, one that springs to mind is the main bass riff from 'come together'. McCartney might have recorded 100s of quite complex basslines but those simple few notes are as memorable and impactful as any.

Break - Last Goodbye

I dunno, isn't the finger in contact with a larger surface area with flats - making it more sticky, like how sticky tape sticks more to a flat surface than a lumpy one? But I suppose flats might get lubed up and be more slippery though!

Personally, I don't like the sticky feel of flats and I don't think it makes a huge amount of difference in sound once rounds are a few months old and you use EQ and are playing through an Amp/Cab with a band. It is pretty easy to roll the tone down or EQ out highs from rounds (including the scratch noise from dragging along the string), difficult to do the opposite and add highs in dull flat strings though. The dogma is that for stuff like Motown or Reggae you 'need' rounds, but I've seen professional Reggae players say they use rounds and EQ. To contradict myself a bit though: I do really like the feel and sound of tapewounds.

Have been listening to a lot of Milton Henry over the last couple of days, good stuff:

A timely thread resurection! I've recently developed tennis elbow in my left elbow, I assume it is from Bass playing - or at least it plays up when I play the Bass. I think as it is from 'overusing your forearm due to a repetitive or strenuous activity' that my high-action heavy guage strings probably don't help. My solution has been to focus on piano playing for a while. (Although I have also also used it as an excuse to start eying up new Basses....for medical reasons!)

Milton Henry - Crisis

Any recommendations for Piano lesson apps? Main ones seem to be: Flowkey €120 per year (€9.99pm) Playground sessions $150 per year ($12.49pm) .....both have free trials/30 day money back so I'll probably sign up for both, it is a bit of a faff giving all payment details and then needing to remember to cancel though - especially if there are better alternatives. Or, any recommendations for online lessons or books that are worth getting? I have a Hal Leonard Piano Method one. I did have lessons when I was a kid and have continued to play occasionally so I can play and can read music to a basic level. (I know actual face-to-face lessons are ideal, much more ££ though, and I'd rather just have lessons I can dip into when there are quiet 'work from home' days rather than having scheduled appointments).

The Future Impact can get close to that lower part Eb octave. I'm pretty sure the C4 can too. After a lot of time with synth pedals I'm going the route @BigRedX suggests though. Bass synth pedals are fun but there's usually a bit of a battle with tracking, range, hands-on editability, and issues playing more than one note at a time. Even a cheap keyboard wins on almost all aspects - there are things you can do with keys much easier than with a Bass. I guess it depends what you want to recreate though - just the lower part Eb octave of 'ain't nobody' is do-able but most of the keyboard line has polyphonic stuff with chords and there are the upper register bits which I reckon need a keyboard to recreate.

'Take a Ride' riddim, one of my favorites:

And certain MJ songs were written by others ('Thriller' was by Rod Temperton and produced by Quincy Jones), MJ just performed it. So if you sing it nowadays in your own style you're not really using any MJ 'art', and if you play the bassline then it is just something that was popularised by MJ - not his artistic creation as such.

It seems to depend partly on how good the music is. Chris Rock's latest standup: "The thing I have a problem with is selective outrage. That’s right, selective outrage. Everybody, you know what I’m talking about? One person does something, they get cancelled. Somebody else does the exact same thing… No. You know what I’m talking about. You know, like the kind of people that play Michael Jackson songs, but won’t play R. Kelly."

Yes, the same. Still vampire slaying

A new one from Scientist:

Koffee, Lonely

^^^ You sure it's not an echo you're after?! 🙂

Sounds good. If they are taking requests then the main things on my wishlist are: USB Expression pedal port Fast/Slow detection switch (dosn't need to be a physical switch, but good if it could be set per preset) Notches on the parameter dial Perhaps this is user error but the EQ seems to act in quite an odd way for me (and I'm used to para EQ), just a graphic EQ option would be good. More compact

There can be issues with active basses and wireless systems due to the ground wiring, it must happen often enough as Boss have taken the time to draw diagrams of the issue and solution and put it on their website: https://www.boss.info/global/support/by_product/wl-20_wl-20l/support_documents/cf786345-1dd0-46c3-a2ac-350bfb4a8104/ I used the Boss wireless for the Waza Air headphones with an active Bass and there were no issue though.

It is good having those controls directly to hand though, if there is just one part of a song where you want to quickly make an EQ change then it is slightly easier doing that by turning a dial on the Bass rather than walking over to a pedal/amp to make changes mid-song. That's my main plus point for active Basses anyway. I used active and passive Basses with a Line 6 wireless system and it seemed to work fine for both.

Menahan Street Band 'Make The Road By Walking' is a great instrumental funk/soul album from 2008 that sounds like it could soundtrack a 1970's New York cop series.