MIDI Noodle · An MPC rig
Your MPC, at the centre of the rig.
The MPC sequences, your synths play, other keyboards and pads join in, and it all runs on one clock. MIDI Noodle is the patch bay in between: every cable by channel and by name, no DAW open.
1. Plug it in: Port 1 is the MPC
An MPC shows up with two ports each way, and the names don't say which is which. MIDI Noodle does: Port 1 is the MPC itself, its tracks and its keys; Port 2 is its DIN sockets, for gear cabled to the back.
2. The MPC plays your synths
Set each MPC track's MIDI output to Port 1 and its own channel. MIDI Noodle sends each channel to its synth: a DIN synth behind your interface, one on USB, one on another Mac. Name the channel after the part and every cable says so.
The Sequencer drives the rack wizard asks for the MPC and your synths and draws the cables, a channel each.
Any synth
USB, DIN behind any interface, Bluetooth, another Mac on the network.
Remap
A synth stuck on channel 1? The cable moves the track's channel to it.
Filter
Keep the clock or program changes off a cable that doesn't want them.
3. Play its tracks from any keyboard
A Kontrol S plays on channel 1 unless you dig into its MIDI template. Cable it into the MPC's Port 1 through MIDI Noodle and the channel is yours to change on the fly: put a Channel Swapper in between and a tap, or the S88's wheel, picks the track: Hype on 3, Keys on 4, Drums on 10.
Add as many inputs as you like. Keyboards and pads on USB, and gear on DIN behind your interface, all merge into the MPC's one USB port, each on its own channel.
On the fly
Change a keyboard's channel mid-song, no template menus. Held notes finish on the old track.
Many inputs, one port
USB and DIN controllers together into Port 1, each on the track it plays.
4. Pads: a drum machine, or a Drum Sequencer
Any pad controller can play the MPC's drum track: cable it to Port 1 on the drum track's channel. Or let MIDI Noodle's Drum Sequencer play it: cabled to an MPC, it offers the MPC pad map, so its rows are the pads you know.
5. One clock
Pick who keeps time. Most MPC rigs let the MPC lead: MIDI Noodle follows its clock, and its own sequencers start with the MPC's Play. Or MIDI Noodle leads, and the MPC follows with everything else.
MPC leads
Point MIDI Noodle's transport at the MPC's Port 1. Under Control from MIDI Noodle, pick the MPC's output and Start/Stop, so Play in MIDI Noodle starts the MPC too.
On the MPC
Send clock on Port 1, and accept MIDI Start/Stop while it does.
MIDI Noodle leads
Tick the MPC under Send clock and start/stop; set the MPC to sync to MIDI clock.
6. On the network
Akai's network MIDI ports show up under Other Apps like any other. If they stop passing MIDI one way, the MIDI setup help names Akai's helper and how to restart it. An MPC on another Mac's USB plays across the network too.
Tested with an MPC Key 37. The MPC One, Live and X name their ports the same way and should behave the same, but haven't been tried.
Keep exploring
A Kontrol S rig
Pick the instrument from the S88's wheel: a standalone synth app, an MPC track, an AstroLab on USB or a synth on DIN.
Tempo & sync
One device keeps time, everything else follows: the Mac, your drum machine or your DAW.
Drum Sequencer
A step sequencer for any drum machine or sampler, with presets, fills and swing.
USB & DIN
USB gear and 5-pin DIN synths behind your interface, routed together by name and channel.
Wizards
Answer a few questions about your gear. Get working routes you can see and edit.
Other Macs
Play the synths plugged into another Mac, by their own names, over your network.
Hands on gear
One good keyboard plays all your synths: split it, switch per song, swap synths from a pad, turn real knobs.
MIDI Noodle is available to pre-order for Mac.
Pre-order it, or leave your email and we'll tell you when it's out.