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This page is read from MIDI Instrument Definitions, a Python library used in the author's other projects, in which every number is traced to a document its maker published. Its source is on GitHub.

Akai Professional MPC Live III MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Akai Professional MPC Live III: what it answers to, and the 2 controls it offers, on firmware 3.9.1.

At a glance

Firmware
This page describes firmware 3.9.1.
MIDI channel
Any one of 1 to 16.
Voices
Not recorded.
Note range
Not recorded.
Velocity
Sent and received.
Aftertouch
Channel pressure and polyphonic, each answered. It sends aftertouch too.
Pitch bend
How far it bends is not recorded, and the range can be changed.
Program change
Received and sent.
MIDI clock
Sent and received.
Start and stop
Not recorded.
Control change
Assigned by the player, apart from the 2 controls below.
NRPN
Not recorded.
System exclusive
Not recorded.

Controls

In the order the definition gives them, by group. Under each control is the name a program calls it by, once pymidiinstrumentdefs.load("akai/mpc_live_iii") has loaded them.

Control CC Values
Mod Wheel
modulation_wheel		 1 0-127
Received, never sent
Expression
expression		 11 0-127
Received, never sent

Where these facts come from

Source documents

How they were read

MPC Live III, MPC XL User Guide, 545 pages, the edition Akai names v3.9, every sheet but the first and last printing its own number. Cited throughout; the pages that carry the weight are the introduction on p. 6, a track's MIDI routing and outgoing program change on pp. 54 and 55, the note map presets on pp. 83 and 129, every MIDI preference on pp. 64 to 66, the arpeggiator's modifiers on p. 87, the touch strip on pp. 102 to 105, a keygroup's LFO and modulation on pp. 263 and 266, the track's controller filter on p. 296, the Q-Link macro list on p. 341, the Q-Link modes on p. 346, MIDI Learn on p. 358, MIDI Control Mode on pp. 368 to 372, this machine's panels on pp. 380 and 386, the glossary on pp. 398 and 400, MIDI Machine Control on p. 533 and this machine's specification on pp. 539 and 540. MPC 3.9.1 and MPC 3.9 Release Notes, for which firmware the guide describes and which machines each release is for. And the page data behind three of Akai's own pages - its MPC manuals, its MPC firmware downloads and its MPC release notes - which is what those pages are built from in the browser.

TWO MACHINES, AND THE BOOK SAYS SO IN ITS FIRST SENTENCE. "This user guide explains how to create music using the MPC 3 operating system on the second-generation standalone MPC Live III and MPC XL, the latest advancement from Akai Professional." (guide p. 6). It also says what it leaves out: "Please note this manual does not cover using MPC Live III and MPC XL as a controller for MPC 3 software." (guide p. 6). Akai's manuals page links this one file for both machines.

THE SCOPING WAS ENUMERATED, NOT SAMPLED. Parentheticals naming one machine: (MPC Live III only) seven times and (MPC Live III Only) twice, (MPC XL only) once, and seven that give each machine its own control for one action - the data dial (MPC Live III) against the Enter button (MPC XL). Then every sentence naming one machine and not the other was filtered for words about MIDI, clock, notes, channels, aftertouch, velocity, pitch, programs, CV, footswitches and USB, and the fifteen candidates were read. The only one that withholds an input from this machine is the footswitch: "Footswitch 1 & Footswitch 2 (MPC XL only): These determine how connected footswitches will work." (guide p. 65), and this machine's connections list none. The rest give the two machines different buttons for the same thing, or describe each one's own panel.

AND ONE UNSCOPED PROCEDURE FITS NEITHER MACHINE AS THE GUIDE DESCRIBES THEM. The MIDI Machine Control appendix says to "connect your MPC’s MIDI Out A to the MIDI input of your external device." (guide p. 533), to "Tap the Send Port 1 field" (guide p. 533) on a Sync tab - perhaps the preferences' MIDI / Sync - and names a MIDI In A. This machine's panel text calls its sockets plain MIDI In and MIDI Out (guide p. 386), though the drawing above it letters the second output B and numbers the second input 2; the MPC XL's has "MIDI Out A–D" (guide p. 396) but MIDI In 1/2 (guide p. 396); and no other page has a Send Port field or a MIDI In A.

THE MAPS ARE THE OWNER'S, IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. Inward: "You can use the MIDI Learn function to assign external MIDI controllers to various parameters in your specific MPC project" (guide p. 358), and "These assignments will be saved with your MPC project." (guide p. 358). Outward, in MIDI Control Mode: "You can use MIDI Control Mode on MPC to customize what MIDI messages are sent from certain controls on your hardware." (guide p. 368), each button, knob and axis having a "CC Number: This determines what MIDI Control Change number the button will send to the software." (guide p. 370) - and "The edits you make in MIDI Control Mode will be retained with the current MPC project." (guide p. 368). So apart from the two numbers below, which number reaches which parameter is not a property of the instrument.

AND THE MACHINE OFFERS CONTROLS IT DOES NOT HAVE. "The Control field menu will show many more hardware controls than are actually available on your MPC." (guide p. 369), because "the list includes all possible controls from all current MPC models (MPC X, MPC Live, etc.)." (guide p. 369). So a reading taken off this instrument's screen would over-include in the same way a reading of the other machine's sentences would.

THREE TIMES THE GUIDE SAYS A FIXED MAP EXISTS AND DOES NOT PRINT IT. The Q-Links' MIDI mode: "the Q-Links are fixed to a selection of MIDI performance controls, allowing you to control modulation, pitch bend, sustain and other common MIDI messages as you play." (guide p. 346) - fixed, named by function, not one number given. The list of parameters a Q-Link macro can take offers, for a MIDI track, "Standard MIDI control change assignments" (guide p. 341), which defers to the MIDI specification rather than enumerating. And the pad note map's third preset is "Classic MPC (the default MIDI note map of classic MPCs)" (guide p. 129), whose numbers are never printed.

BUT IT DOES GIVE TWO NUMBERS AN EFFECT, 1 AND 11, ON FOUR PAGES, AND BOTH ARE CARRIED. Two are about what arrives. The arpeggiator's modifiers "enable Expression messages (MIDI CC #11) from external MIDI controllers to modify the arpeggiator" (guide p. 87), and likewise "Modulation messages (MIDI CC #1) from external MIDI controllers to modify the arpeggiator." (guide p. 87); and a keygroup's LFO has a knob "to adjust how much control mod wheel data (MIDI CC1) has over the LFO." (guide p. 263). Two are about what the touch strip produces, "to control the MIDI CC1 modulation control" (guide p. 104) and "to control the MIDI CC11 expression control" (guide p. 105), with nothing saying that leaves by a port. So this instrument does answer to two fixed numbers, the MIDI specification's own modulation and expression, and both are carried, received only. Each effect is one the owner switches on or sets the depth of - the arpeggiator's boxes, the LFO's knob - but the number is fixed. control_change IS learned, which says there are numbers that are the owner's and that no file can list, and it stands beside these two. Until 2026-10-13 the field was left unset, the word having been read as one that could not say both. akai/mpc_live carries the same two from a guide with the same arpeggiator and LFO passages.

THE ONE LIST OF CONTROLLER NUMBERS IS A FILTER, NOT A MAP. "MIDI CC Filter: Check these boxes to allow the listed MIDI Control Change messages to pass through the track." (guide p. 296), and it lists 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 64, 65, 66, 67 and 68 under the MIDI specification's own names. It says which messages a track forwards, not what this instrument does with one. And it numbers four things that are not control changes: "CC128 Pitchbend CC130 Program Change CC129 Channel Pressure CC131 Aftertouch" (guide p. 296), numbers above the 127 a control change can carry, used as labels.

NO NOTE MAP IS PUBLISHED, AND THE PADS' NOTES ARE THE OWNER'S. "Edit Pad Note Map function lets you assign specific MIDI notes to your MPC pads." (guide p. 129), with three presets: "Chromatic C1 (an ascending chromatic scale, beginning with C1), Chromatic C-2 (an ascending chromatic scale, beginning with C- 2), or Classic MPC (the default MIDI note map of classic MPCs)." (guide p. 129). No preset is named as the default and nothing says which a new track loads, so voices holds nothing. Pad Perform's own note map, forty-six pages earlier, offers the same three names with the second spelled otherwise: "You can also choose from three Custom presets: Chromatic C1, Chromatic C2, or Classic MPC." (guide p. 83).

CLOCK TRAVELS BOTH WAYS, AND THE SETTINGS HAVE MORE POSITIONS THAN THIS FORMAT HOLDS. Receive has four: "Receive: This determines whether MPC receives MIDI Clock information (MIDI Clock), MIDI Time Code information (MIDI Time Code (MTC)), communication from Ableton Link (Ableton Link), or none of these (Off)." (guide p. 65). Send has three: "Send: This determines whether MPC sends MIDI Clock information (MIDI Clock), MIDI Time Code information (MIDI Time Code (MTC)), or neither (Off)." (guide p. 65). And: "Audio recording is disabled when receiving MIDI Clock sync." (guide p. 65).

IT SENDS AND ANSWERS TO MIDI MACHINE CONTROL, which no field here records. "MPC can send and receive MIDI Machine Control (MMC) messages, a standard protocol for transport controls." (guide p. 533), with a switch for each direction in the preferences (guide p. 65).

PROGRAM CHANGE GOES BOTH WAYS AND REACHES TWO DIFFERENT THINGS. "Program Change: This determines what an incoming MIDI program change message will change: a Sequence or Track." (guide p. 65). And a track sends one: "To select a MIDI program change value for the track to send, check the Program Change box to enable program changes" (guide p. 55). AND A TRACK SENDS A BANK CHANGE WITH IT: "Once enabled, you can also select a MIDI bank change value by checking the Bank Change box to enable bank changes, and then use the MIDI Bank MSB and MIDI Bank LSB fields to set the bank change values." (guide p. 55), and a MIDI track's fields include "Bank LSB and Bank MSB fields to select the messages for Least Significant Byte and Most Significant Byte (respectively) that the track sends out." (guide p. 123). No range and no controller number is printed for either, and no page says an incoming one does anything, so it is recorded here and not carried.

AND THE TWO RANGES THE GUIDE GIVES FOR A PROGRAM CHANGE DISAGREE. A track's is "enter a value from 1–127" (guide p. 55); the glossary says "Programs 1–128 can be changed via program change messages." (guide p. 400). The second is 128 programs counted from one; the first is one short of it. So no preset count is recorded: what an incoming one selects is a setting with two positions, and the guide counts neither sequences nor tracks as a program change range.

IT CAN BE TOLD TO IGNORE ALL NOTES OFF. "Filter ‘All Notes Off’ CC: When enabled, 'All Notes Off' ('MIDI panic') messages will be ignored." (guide p. 65). No default is given.

A TRACK TAKES ONE CHANNEL OR ANY, AND SENDS ON ONE. "MIDI Input Channel: Sets the MIDI Channel from which to receive MIDI data. Select Any to receive from any MIDI channel, or select 1–16." (guide p. 54). The output channel's entry repeats the last sentence word for word - "Select Any to receive from any MIDI channel, or select 1–16." (guide p. 54) - under "Sets the MIDI Channel to send MIDI data to" (guide p. 54), which is a copying slip rather than a second statement about reception.

AFTERTOUCH AND VELOCITY ARE RECORDED BOTH WAYS: WHAT THE PADS SEND, AND WHAT THE INSTRUMENT DOES WITH THEM WHEN THEY ARRIVE. The pads send them, at the owner's choice: in MIDI Control Mode each pad's aftertouch is "Off: The pad will not send any aftertouch messages." (guide p. 369), "Channel: If you press multiple pads that have this setting, the aftertouch messages they send will be identical." (guide p. 369), or "Poly: If you press multiple pads, the aftertouch message each pad sends will be independent from the others." (guide p. 369); and "When set to Off, pressing the pad will send a note at full-level (127) always." (guide p. 369). And the instrument does things with them when they arrive, each a setting, and keeps the two kinds of pressure apart: the arpeggiator's boxes "enable Aftertouch messages from the pads or external MIDI controllers to modify the arpeggiator" (guide p. 87) and "enable Channel Pressure messages from external MIDI controllers to modify the arpeggiator" (guide p. 87), and a keygroup's "Aftertouch To Cut 1/2 determines how much a connected MIDI keyboard’s aftertouch data affects the filter cutoff." (guide p. 266) and "Pressure To Filter determines how much a connected MIDI device’s channel pressure data affects the filter envelope." (guide p. 266). So aftertouch is both: the guide never says polyphonic or key pressure, but it sets Aftertouch beside Channel Pressure as a kind of its own and the instrument takes each. And since the pads send it, aftertouch_transmits is true. An incoming note's velocity is used too - "Use the Velocity Scaling field to apply scaling to the incoming velocity." (guide p. 218), and a track's "Velocity Range: This determines the Velocity Min and Velocity Max that passes MIDI." (guide p. 296) - so note_on is both. The pads themselves are "(16) velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads with 3D-sensing technology" (guide p. 540), and their X/Y position is recorded as an event type of its own (guide p. 66), for which no MIDI message is named.

TWO MIDI INPUTS, TWO MIDI OUTPUTS, USB AND CV. The specification lists "(2) 5-pin MIDI inputs" (guide p. 540) and "(2) 5-pin MIDI outputs" (guide p. 540), and "(4) Stereo 1/8” (3.5 mm) CV/Gate outputs" (guide p. 540). The USB-C port carries MIDI too: "This connection allows MPC Live III to send/receive MIDI and audio data to/from your computer." (guide p. 386), and the USB-A ports take "standard MIDI controllers" (guide p. 386). Nothing here records a port, so a channel number in this definition does not say which socket it arrives on. The CV outputs are a difference from the first MPC Live, whose committed definition records none in that machine's connections list.

THE GLOSSARY EXPLAINS MIDI AND IS NOT A MAP. Pages 398 to 401 explain MIDI itself - that a controller number "can range from 0 to 127" (guide p. 398), what a program change is. They say a little about this machine - "MPC Live III and MPC XL support full 24-bit resolution." (guide p. 398) - and nothing about which number does what.

AND THE ABLETON CONTROL MAPS ARE NOT MIDI MAPS. Pages 534 and 535 give this machine's buttons, knobs and pads their functions in Ableton Live Control Mode - launch a clip, nudge the phase - and name no MIDI message or number.

CHECKED AND ABSENT, with the text reduced to letters and digits and swept across all 545 pages and both sets of release notes: NRPN, system exclusive, implementation chart, the words bank select, MIDI Polyphonic Expression and omni appear nowhere, and RPN only as the letters of arp note repeat run together. The sweep was proved able to find something on a dozen phrases certainly present. The guide's screens are images - the MIDI Control Mode pages carry two or three each - so a default number shown on a screen would be invisible to any search, and nothing here claims more than that the words are not in the text.

NOT RECORDED: