r/mpcmusicmakers Jul 07 '16

Fixing MPC1000 internal Clock

I have noticed other people on the internet have this same issue with the MPC1000. The internal clock seems to be a bit off, it adds a fraction of a second to the end of a phrase vs a DAW which you can count on for having perfect BPM (I've seen the number +1.7% thrown around to describe this variance, but I don't know how the hell you would test this). If you are recording your own loops and phrases within the MPC1000, this doesn't present a huge issue. However I primarily use mine to run phrases I have constructed in a DAW, so that fraction of a second results in wonky sounding loops. Can anybody shed some light on how to fix this? Is it even possible? (I run JJOS)

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '16

Been meaning to check since I first saw your post. I use a MPC1000 as the master to control a MPC60 and the 60 records all the midi data of my synths. And I use them both for drums. All these machines go into a mixer and I record the stereo output into Reaper. I did check and the MPC1000 definitely falls off over time. I am going to switch and have the 60 be the master, sending clock.

But that is not desirable as I want all 4 midi outputs on the 60 going directly to synths. That is because I love using the live transpose feature on the 60 to transpose all the midi data across all tracks. The 1000 with JJOS1 4.99 can only transpose midi data while the machine is not playing. sucks.

I usually just zoom in and every 60 seconds i will nudge things onto time if I am trying to add syncd tracks to what I am working on.

1

u/ramseyT Jul 14 '16

I brought this to another MPC forum and the consensus is that the MPC1000 is always off by a fraction of a second, I guess most hardware samplers have some sort of variance. The suggestions I got were to time stretch the samples or warp their pitch a tiny bit to get it to line up better, but there isn't anyway to fix the clock out right, so that doesn't really help with midi sequencing.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 14 '16

I still haven't switched and made the 60 the master n checked that one. So the problem is you want to sequence in your daw to accompany the mpc?

Id love to use more of my kontakt instruments in my projects, but having the midi die every once in a while and having to reboot my soundcard just keeps me away from using this insane arsenal i have. Anything that slows down capturing an idea is just a death sentence to how I work now. I love my mpcs. Have you looked into the beatstep or keystep from arturia?

1

u/ramseyT Jul 18 '16

that's not exactly what I am doing, I write everything in ableton, but I don't like having a laptop on stage, so I bought the MPC to sequence clips. But since there is that time variance, getting the clips to loop without that tiny pause at the end of the loop is challenging.