The MPC Is Not a DAW, as it Turns Out
I do want, in a sense, to correct something that I’ve said before about the MPC software.
While it is jank, or the DAW part of it is jank, it’s not a true digital audio workstation. But now the fact that it has plug-ins, and you can do stuff besides samples, has made it seem like one. It’s really an arranger.
But I’m getting really deep into the workflow and trying to fill in the gaps. I can do what I can do really well and move around really fast, but there’s just a lot of stuff I don’t know.
So Nervous Cook$ on YouTube has, I mean, well over 80 videos, 84 videos in a series, supposedly a beginner’s guide, but it’s really super helpful and kind of all the stuff that I’ve missed doing what I do, and being able to do whatever.
So as an arranger, for non-electronic music or sample-based music, and again, I’m a huge fan of the Air plug-ins. I think they sound, if not close to, the best.
I don’t know much about AIR, the company. Obviously in the inMusic brand space, but they just sound great, and to me, they feel great, and they have that thing.
So as I find myself making loads and loads of tracks, and I am also using the MPC for my new role in Daphne Falls: drums, bass, and synth lead line.
I’m absolutely using the MPC. 100% of the time.
It sounds better. It’s easier. It’s quicker. For me, it’s much quicker to make different sections of a song and then arrange it in song mode. And then have that be the arrangement.
The more I learn, it’s deep in a way that is very different from Ableton, and for the first time really, I feel like I’m using two systems equally and starting to get real potential out of them: when I’m only asking them to do what they do.
So there is a lot of talk out there right now about inMusic buying Native Instruments, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and all that’s gonna be bad. Things seem pretty good at Moog. I’m not a Native Instruments guy, but maybe I will be now. Very happy with both products as they stand (Akai and Moog).
So while the DAW part of the MPC is a little iffy, the arranger and the workflow of the Key 37 is just phenomenal.
Jank is fine with me.