Early morning dawless deep progressive house jam w. MPC One, TR-8s, TD-3, Model D and Hydrasynth

Testing out the MPC One as a brain of the hardware dawless setup. Thought about using it mainly as a sequencer but it’s just impossible to ignore all the other features it has! The MPC is well known for its powerful sampling and sample manipulation engine but how about the bundled synths and effects? Well, I must say it’s awesome for that also! So, besides using it as a sequencer, I explored the sample playback and some of the virtual synths and effect plugins. I used plenty of effects for the samples and virtual synths, mainly delays and reverbs.

Breaking down this setup, here’s how it’s comprised:

For main drums I used the TR-8s sequenced by the MPC. I divided all the TR-8s drums into 4 MIDI tracks on the MPC. One for kick, another for mid percussions (snare, toms, rims, etc.), another for main hats and the last track for secondary high percussions, such as shakers. This way I can easily mute each of these groups with the MPC. If I want to control each individual drum I can just use the faders on the TR, like I do during the intro and outro.

For bass I used the TD-3 running through one of the Zoom CDR pedals for some chorus. The Model D plays the main lead and it is also processed by a Zoom CDR pedal with a kinda complex effects chain (compressor, EQ, delay and reverb). For secondary lead, which plays the same notes as the Model D, I used the Hype synth. There is also another virtual synth playing, which is the Odyssey. For the pad sound I used the Hydrasynth with it’s internal FX engine. All the 5 synths have their own MIDI tracks in the MPC so it is possible to mute them easily. I also used another three tracks for some supplementary sounds. First two for top drums (one clip/loop track and one drum pad track) and the third for FX samples. The FX samples were heavily processed adding some high feedback delays and long tail reverbs. The full track was divided into 4 MPC sequences which were triggered manually when I considered appropriate. Regarding routing, all the hardware synths are mixed together with a small mixer and sent to the MPC. The MPC runs into the external mix input on the TR which has a sidechain effect applied to it, triggered by the kick. The TR is outputting two stereo signals, one containing all the TR drums and another everything that is coming from the MPC. These two stereo signals are mixed with an old analog DJ mixer.

Hope you like it! Please listen with headphones for better experience! 🙂

[peter-utrblk]

Driving down a coast line, fresh air in the face and the sun is shining, this is what i want to while listening to this nice tune.

[dannyneeper]

This was amazing i have been wanting to use the MPC as the brain of my hardware set up as well and this was a phenomenal example of that!

Great Jam!

[AndyFirebladeMuza]

Stunning toe tapping, head nodding track. Well done as always

[eamfos]

Rainy morning, a cup of coffee and your music...
Great combo !!!
Thank you for sharing and keep up the good work mate !

[slemaster]

Just snagged an MPC One, this is the dream right here... You put in work for sure, masterfully done.

[clrdsqrs]

Beautiful! So nice and comforting set of sounds

[stevebriggs]

Beautiful. Now I want to an MPC one :) Hints of Bodzin. Thanks.

[gonemad]

very very smooth track my friend! thank you heaps for sharing the details of this jams setup as well. super helpful

[synthetic_paul]

Nice fat bass from the little silver box. Great vibe.

[lesterfalcon]

I have 4 of 6 of the same units. It's funny has some synths are the home studio standard tools. Nice mix!

[cruepprich]

Really nice, bro! Thanks for the detailed description.

[DarkTapes]

mega chill jam, and I love this setup!

[TPA-mttr]

how did you use mpc, only as a sequencer, and wanting a sampler? I'm studying my dawless setup but I opted to keep Maschine + as a groove box and mpc I'm selling it, as a pure sequencer I'm waiting for torso t1, hydrasynth also present in my setup, together with prophet rev 2 and moog grandmother, analog rytm mk2 and analog four mk2, I'm waiting for lemondrop or tasty chips gr1 and dreadbox typhon,

[sea-saw]

Great jam.. have to say that's refreshingly not the usual sounds of a mod d. very nice .. those CDR are still one of the best budget stereo effect available altho I wish they had a sync of some sort . also I have to say if you don't already have it the paid synth bundle for the MPC it is astonishing I am tight as f@#k but bought it when in offer.. best thing I bought last year. Anyway we'll done 👏👏

[FredF]

I remember using the MPC One as external sequencer for various gear but never used the plugin synths, only for Midi. Lately I have the ambition to multi sample various Boutiques etc and sequence only that from the MPC like with the old Emu and Akai samplers. I have a hard time with the song mode on the MPC though. Much better on the Digitakt with its simple mute automation. Deep house ftw!

[SebticSmile]

wow this sounds great! Such a tight solid sound, dig it

[ozten]

Hey, Im trying to figure out the best way to add sidechain in my setup. MPC One > USB hub > UMC1820 Audio interface > Poly D / Hydrasynth / TR8s. Every external synth is connected via L/R outs to audio interface. My goal was bass from Poly D being sidechained from the TR8s ext in, but I can't figure out what to connect via what.

[XiaoLongGungFu]

What is that lead synth? I love it. Is it the model D???

[jshkane]

I stumbled across this quick set and couldn’t help notice you’re using the TR8s and TD3.

I’m new to this hardware and am struggling to connect them together, any help or advice would be awesome.

This is a great little mix

[ozten]

Without much knowledge I've acquired a MPC One, Hydra Explorer, TR8s and a borrowed Poly D. Looking to buy a UMC1820 to hook them up to the MPC since that is the most inputs for price I can get at the moment. Will that setup be able to split drum tracks and hook everything up to do something similar to you in this video?