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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 XL MIDI implementation

The MIDI implementation of the Akai Professional MPC XL: 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_xl") 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 - the same file akai/mpc_live_iii cites, fetched again for this machine and identical. Cited throughout; the pages that carry the weight are the introduction on p. 6, a track's MIDI routing, program change and bank change on pp. 54, 55 and 123, the MIDI preferences on pp. 64 to 66, pad aftertouch on p. 85, the arpeggiator's modifiers on p. 87, the touch strip on pp. 102 to 105, a pad's MIDI output on p. 141, a keygroup's LFO and modulation on pp. 263 and 266, the track's controller filter on p. 296, the Q-Link modes on pp. 341 and 346, MIDI Learn on p. 358, MIDI Control Mode on pp. 368 to 372, this machine's panels on pp. 387 to 397, the glossary on p. 400, MIDI Machine Control on p. 533 and this machine's specification on pp. 541 to 543. MPC 3.9.1 and MPC 3.9 Release Notes, for which firmware the guide describes. And the page data behind three of Akai's own pages - its MPC manuals, firmware downloads and release notes - which is what those pages are built from in the browser.

TWO MACHINES, ONE BOOK, AND AKAI LINKS IT UNDER BOTH NAMES. "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), and "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 twice, once as the MPC Live III and once as the MPC XL.

THE SCOPING WAS ENUMERATED, NOT SAMPLED. One parenthetical names this machine alone, (MPC XL only), and nine the other, (MPC Live III only) seven times and (MPC Live III Only) twice: a battery, a microphone, and power and screen settings. Seven more give each machine its own control for one action, the data dial (MPC Live III) against the Enter button (MPC XL). The one that is this machine's alone is "Footswitch 1 & Footswitch 2 (MPC XL only): These determine how connected footswitches will work." (guide p. 65), and no page says what they do. Sentences that name this machine route MIDI functions to its own buttons without changing them: "On MPC XL, you can also press and hold Shift and press the Notes / Pad CTRL button to enable or disable aftertouch." (guide p. 85), and its Q-Links / Learn button: "Press and hold Shift and press this button to activate MIDI learning for the last used control." (guide p. 389). That is why every field here is the MPC Live III's.

THE MIDI MACHINE CONTROL APPENDIX NAMES THIS MACHINE'S OUTPUTS AND NOT ITS INPUTS. It says to "connect your MPC’s MIDI Out A to the MIDI input of your external device." (guide p. 533), which fits this machine's "MIDI Out A–D" (guide p. 396), and to "connect your MPC’s MIDI In A to the MIDI output of your external device." (guide p. 533), where this machine's inputs are MIDI In 1/2 (guide p. 396). Its Sync tab and Send Port 1 field appear on no other page; the preferences have a MIDI / Sync tab with a sync switch on each output port: "When Sync is enabled, the MIDI output port will send MIDI sync messages according to the type set under Sync Send, below." (guide p. 64).

THE MIDI 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, strip and axis having a "CC Number: This determines what MIDI Control Change number the button will send to the software." (guide p. 370) and each pad a note, and "The edits you make in MIDI Control Mode will be retained with the current MPC project." (guide p. 368). This machine's own panel says the same of its button: MIDI Control Mode is "where you can use the device as a MIDI controller and customize what MIDI messages are sent from the hardware controls." (guide p. 391). And the list it offers is not this machine's: "The Control field menu will show many more hardware controls than are actually available on your MPC." (guide p. 369). It offers "Q-Link 1–16, Touch Strip" (guide p. 371), where this machine's specification counts "(17) 360° touch-sensitive Q-Link Knobs" (guide p. 542), and no page says which is the seventeenth. So apart from the two numbers below, which number reaches which parameter is the owner's. The screenshots of these pages show numbers - a pad on channel 10, a button on CC 21, a Q-Link on CC 110, the XY axes on CC 11 and CC 1 - and none is called a default.

THREE TIMES THE GUIDE POINTS AT A FIXED MAP AND PRINTS NO NUMBER. 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), with a screenshot naming sixteen controls and numbering none. For a MIDI track, a macro may take "Standard MIDI control change assignments" (guide p. 341). And the pad note map's third preset is "Classic MPC (the default MIDI note map of classic MPCs)" (guide p. 129), never printed.

BUT IT DOES GIVE TWO NUMBERS AN EFFECT, 1 AND 11, AND BOTH ARE CARRIED. 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); a keygroup's LFO has a knob "to adjust how much control mod wheel data (MIDI CC1) has over the LFO." (guide p. 263); and the touch strip, which this machine has - "The touch strip can be used as an expressive control for playing and can be configured to control Note Repeat, Pitch Bend, Modulation and more." (guide p. 389), though the mode list on p. 102 has no Note Repeat, and "Note: Touch FX does not appear in the Touch Strip Mode window for MPC XL." (guide p. 102) - offers modes "to control the MIDI CC1 modulation control" (guide p. 104) and "to control the MIDI CC11 expression control" (guide p. 105), with nothing saying those two modes send by a port; MIDI Control Mode can give the strip a channel and number of its own (guide p. 371). Both are carried, received only, as akai/mpc_live_iii and akai/mpc_live carry them; and control_change is learned in all three, which says there are numbers that are the owner's and that no file can list, and stands beside the two. Until 2026-10-13 it was left unset in all three.

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), listing 1 to 5, 7, 10, 11 and 64 to 68 by name, and four labels above 127 for other messages: "CC128 Pitchbend CC130 Program Change CC129 Channel Pressure CC131 Aftertouch" (guide p. 296).

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, none named as the default, and one of them spelled two ways: "Chromatic C1 (an ascending chromatic scale, beginning with C1), Chromatic C-2" (guide p. 129), against "You can also choose from three Custom presets: Chromatic C1, Chromatic C2, or Classic MPC." (guide p. 83). So voices holds nothing. A pad can also send a note of its own: "Use the MIDI Out Enabled field to determine when a MIDI note is sent to the MIDI Output." (guide p. 141), whose When Empty setting is described two ways, "When Empty (MIDI note is only sent if the pad has no internal sample or MIDI event)" (guide p. 141) and "When Empty (MIDI note is only sent if the pad has no internal sample)" (guide p. 154).

CLOCK TRAVELS BOTH WAYS. "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), and "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), with each output port's own sync switch deciding where it goes (guide p. 64). 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).

PROGRAM CHANGE GOES BOTH WAYS, AND ITS TWO RANGES DISAGREE. "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). A track's value is "enter a value from 1–127" (guide p. 55), the glossary's "Programs 1–128 can be changed via program change messages." (guide p. 400), so no preset count is recorded.

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, the words bank select appear on no page, and no page says an incoming one does anything, so it is recorded here and not carried.

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, IN AND OUT. "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), and "MIDI Output Channel: Sets the MIDI Channel to send MIDI data to. Select Any to receive from any MIDI channel, or select 1–16." (guide p. 54) - the output entry repeating the input's wording, which reads as a copying slip. A plugin track sends too: "Use the MIDI Ch field to select the MIDI channel over which the track sends its MIDI data." (guide p. 122).

AFTERTOUCH AND VELOCITY ARE RECORDED BOTH WAYS: WHAT THE PADS SEND, AND WHAT THE INSTRUMENT DOES WITH THEM WHEN THEY ARRIVE. The pads send aftertouch at the owner's choice: "Tap the Use Aftertouch box to enable pad aftertouch messages." (guide p. 85), on this machine also from a button (guide p. 85), as Off, Channel or Poly in MIDI Control Mode (guide p. 369), and "Record Pad Aftertouch Events: When enabled, pad aftertouch data (from MPC’s pressure-sensitive pads) will be recorded." (guide p. 66). "When set to Off, pressing the pad will send a note at full-level (127) always." (guide p. 369). The instrument uses both kinds of pressure when they arrive, each a setting: 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). 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. Since the pads send it, aftertouch_transmits is true. And an incoming note's velocity is used - "Use the Velocity Scaling field to apply scaling to the incoming velocity." (guide p. 218) - so note_on is both. The pads are "(16) velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads with 3D-sensing technology" (guide p. 542).

TWO MIDI INPUTS, FOUR MIDI OUTPUTS, USB, CV AND FOOTSWITCHES. The specification lists "(4) 5-pin MIDI outputs" (guide p. 543), "(2) 5-pin MIDI inputs" (guide p. 543), "(8) Stereo 1/8” (3.5 mm) CV/Gate outputs" (guide p. 543) and "(2) 1/4” (6.35 mm) TS footswitch inputs" (guide p. 543). The USB-C port carries MIDI: "This connection allows MPC XL to send and receive MIDI and audio data to and from your computer." (guide p. 396). The rear USB-A ports take MIDI controllers - "You can also connect standard MIDI controllers and supported class-compliant audio interfaces to these ports." (guide p. 396) - and so does the front one: "You can also connect a standard MIDI controller or supported class-compliant audio interface to this port." (guide p. 397). Nothing here records a port, so a channel in this definition does not say which socket it arrives on. The MPC Live III's specification lists two MIDI outputs and four CV/Gate outputs (guide p. 540).

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 guide's screenshots were read as images by the second reader, and none labels a number a default. The Ableton control maps on pp. 534 to 538 give this machine's controls Ableton functions and name no MIDI message.

NOT RECORDED: