AENIMALS (formerly "JIANT MPC") runs the complete JIANT synthesizer/sequencer firmware (originally for the FM-1) on your MPC Sample: every engine, the sequencer, GEN, the dice, performance FX and all of JIANT's screens. It starts from an SD card, runs only in the MPC's memory (RAM) and installs nothing. Powering the MPC off always brings back the normal MPC Sample.
To install or update, use the installer; sections 1 and 3 below are the by-hand way.
NEW IN DAW 0.9
- B1 B2 B3, regrouped. Each button has its own tabs on top; tap it again for
the next tab, and coming back from elsewhere it opens the tab you left.
B1 THE SOUND: BEING, SOUND, TONE, FOCUS (a drum kit: BEING, KIT,
SOUND, LEVELS, TONE; FM6 / DIGITAL: their OPS tab last)
B2 THE MACHINE: ECO, GEN, SYSTEM
B3 THE MIX: MIX, LIVE, COMPS, GLOBAL
Held, a B button is still a JIANT layer: B1 EDIT's, B2 HOME's, B3 GLO's.
- SAMPLE SELECT on a synth track: the types (DRUM, VOICE, ANALOG ..). PUSH
opens one; turning the wheel through its sounds puts each on the track, so
the PADS play it (nothing plays by itself). PUSH keeps the sound. B1 (back
to the types) or SAMPLE SELECT (closed) puts the old sound back.
SHIFT + MINUS after a PUSH also brings the old sound back.
- SAMPLE SELECT on an audio track (the sample browser): nothing plays as you
scroll. Hit a pad: it plays the file under the cursor (and picks the pad it
loads onto). B3 does nothing here now.
- MAIN VOLUME rules everything that comes out: the browser's preview and the
input monitor follow the knob too (at 0: silence).
- SAMPLE RECORD: hit the pad that is recording again and it stops. Another
pad still stops the take and records on the new pad at once.
- CHOP: SHIFT + the wheel zooms too (as SHIFT + K1 / K2), around the marker
the wheel is on.
- The hints at the top and the bottom of AENIMALS' own screens are twice the
size (two lines when they need them).
NEW IN DAW 0.3 (AENIMALS)
- The name: AENIMALS DAW for MPC Sample (this package) and AENIMALS GROOVEBOX
for MPC Sample (no audio tracks). The card folder stays JIANT/ (your
projects, kits and recordings are where they were).
- The knobs are calibrated: K1-K3 and the fader (as KNOB 4) put the value
where the knob is. Knob all the way left = the minimum, all the way right =
the maximum, the middle = the middle, however fast you turn. (Before, the
knob was read as turns and JIANT sped fast turns up, so 0 on the knob
stopped anywhere.) A value changed elsewhere (a preset, another page) jumps
to the knob the moment you touch it. Knobs that pick (a step, a slot, a
row) still move one at a time.
- The waveform editor's K1 START and K2 END follow the knobs over the whole
take, K3 LOOP between them; the wheel still fine-tunes the framed marker.
- The look follows JIANT's art: colour is heat (indigo, violet, red,
orange, amber, cream, white). Quiet, smooth sound stays cool; loud,
bright sound burns. Every MPC page, board and the margins beside JIANT's
screen stand on drifting creatures that breathe and warm with the music.
The pad boards give each pad a creature that swells when hit; muted
tracks go cold. The waveform editor colours the take by its heat and
shows its spectrogram (16 bands, low at the bottom) under it.
NEW IN map v2
- A start screen at power-on (DAW 0.3: an OS selector, the wheel picks, its push starts).
- New button map, closer to the MPC's own printed labels (section 7).
- PAD FX held = the FX board on the pads, shown as a 4x4 grid on the screen.
- MUTE held + pads 1-6 = track mutes. NOTE REPEAT held + pads 1-3 = LOOP 3/5/7.
- v2.6: MINUS / PLUS are JIANT's OCT- / OCT+ again (octave, NO / YES, and
every JIANT combination with them). SHIFT + MINUS = UNDO, step after step;
SHIFT + PLUS = REDO. TAP TEMPO taps the tempo, SHIFT + TAP TEMPO = metronome.
Piano pads 14 / 15 are notes now (C#5, D5).
- v2.11: SHIFT + pad 14 (TIME CORRECT) = QUANTIZE: hold SHIFT, choose the grid with the
wheel (1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32, 1/4T 1/8T 1/16T), push to put the selected
track's notes on it; let SHIFT go and you're back. Section 13.
- v2.10: the SEQ board's pads 12 / 15 / 16 = 1 / 2 / 4 BARS: the track plays
and records that many bars (the one it is now is lit). Section 9.
- v2.9: NOTE REPEAT works like PAD FX: click = the LIVE board stays up, click
again = down (back where you were); hold, play, let go = momentary. PAD FX
and LIVE are one at a time; MUTE / SEQ held show over them.
- v2.8: SEQ held on a SEQ page = the SEQ board (JIANT's [SEQ] TOOLS on the
pads: clear, reverse, shift, copy / paste, the drum lane's tools). Section 9.
- v2.7: the wheel walks the pages on SEQ > STEP again (the roll and the DRUM
grid); the steps are edited with the knobs, as on the FM-1 (section 13).
- v2.4: NOTE REPEAT held = the LIVE board: 16 live sequence modifiers (loops,
rates, reverse, ratchets, thin, return) on any page.
- v2.3: B1 / B2 / B3 from another section open that section's MAIN page (its
first), not the page you last visited.
- v2.2: KNOB FX = the FX edit pages (FX, then LFO); SHIFT + KNOB FX = LFO.
PAD FX = only the FX board: one click and it's up, click again and it's down
(or hold it and play: it goes down when you let go).
- SHIFT + pad 2 / 3 = HALF / DOUBLE SEQ. SHIFT + pad 10 = pattern length and
division. SHIFT + pad 8 = SETTINGS (and QUIT). SHIFT + pad 16 = SAVE.
- v2.1: the speaker no longer pops when JIANT starts or quits; it switches off
with headphones or a line-out cable plugged in (as the normal MPC); the POWER
button works (asks, saves, switches off). autorun/ The program. This whole folder goes on the SD card.
autorun.json Tells the MPC to run autorun.sh at power-on.
autorun.sh The start script (RAM only, see section 4).
autorun.check The MPC's own checksum of the two files above.
jiant-mpc JIANT MPC itself (one program, about 6 MB).
jiant-mpc.sha256 Its checksum: the script refuses a damaged copy.
jiant-mpc-autorun.zip The same files, zipped (a spare copy).
JIANT MPC - Install and Operations Manual.txt This file.
Do not edit anything inside autorun/. One changed character and the MPC rejects it. [ ] The MPC Sample is on firmware 1.3.0.12 (SHIFT + pad 8 on the normal MPC shows
"v1.3.0"). On any other version the script does nothing at all.
[ ] Projects you care about are backed up to your computer.
[ ] MAIN VOLUME down the first time; JIANT starts muted until it reads the knob.
[ ] Any SD card the MPC already reads. It does NOT need to be empty. JIANT MPC
only adds two folders: autorun/ and JIANT/.The autorun folder must sit at the TOP of the card (not inside another folder).
Replacing an older version: delete the old autorun folder first (keep JIANT/, it
holds your work).
Card in your Mac (or the MPC in drive mode, which shows the card as a drive):
1. Drag the folder "autorun" from this folder onto the card's top level.
2. Clean the hidden "._" files macOS adds. In Terminal (your card's name):
dot_clean -m "/Volumes/NO NAME/autorun"
3. Eject the card (or leave drive mode on the MPC).
Do NOT double-click the zip onto the card: the folder ends up one level too deep.
Right: /autorun/autorun.json /autorun/autorun.sh /autorun/autorun.check
/autorun/jiant-mpc /autorun/jiant-mpc.sha256 (+ your own folders) 1. Put the card in and POWER ON the MPC (the start screen appears at power-on;
a card inserted into an already running MPC does not start it).
2. After the MPC's boot, the OS selector shows the AENIMALS word and two
cards:
AENIMALS (DAW FOR MPC SAMPLE)
MPC SAMPLE (THE STOCK SYSTEM)
Turn the data wheel to pick one (the picked card glows), then push the
wheel to start it. It waits until you do.
3. AENIMALS: it starts. MPC SAMPLE: the normal MPC Sample comes back (a few
seconds). Shortcut: PLAY starts AENIMALS, STOP the MPC Sample.
4. Turn MAIN VOLUME up slowly.
What the start script does, all in RAM:
- checks the MPC's app is 1.3.0.12, and checks JIANT's own checksum
- copies JIANT into the MPC's memory (/run), never onto internal storage
- pauses the normal MPC app and shows the start screen
- when JIANT ends for ANY reason, writes a log to the card and starts the
normal MPC app again by itself
To use the MPC without the start screen: take the card out, or remove autorun/.SHIFT + pad 8 (SETTINGS) -> turn the wheel (or +) to "QUIT TO MPC SAMPLE" -> PUSH THE WHEEL TWICE (first push: "PUSH AGAIN TO QUIT"). The normal MPC app comes back by itself. SWITCHING OFF: press the POWER button. JIANT asks "POWER OFF?": push the wheel (or press POWER again) to save and switch the MPC off; B3 cancels. Holding POWER down still forces the MPC off, as always.
- Frozen, wrong or noisy: POWER THE MPC OFF. JIANT lived only in RAM. Take the
card out if you want the normal MPC straight away.
- If JIANT crashes, the normal MPC app restarts by itself.
- Nothing on the MPC's internal storage is ever changed by JIANT MPC.
- Note what you did (which button, which page) and roughly when; the log on the
card (section 19) has the rest. MPC control JIANT Notes
----------------------- ---------------------- ------------------------------
SAMPLE HOME hold ~0.7 s = JIANT's MENU
B1 (above the screen) the sound's tabs BEING SOUND TONE FOCUS (0.9);
held = EDIT's layer
CHOP CHOP room / SLICER audio track: CHOP (19d); synth
track: held = SLICER board
B2 the machine's tabs ECO GEN SYSTEM (0.9); held = HOME
B3 the mix's tabs MIX LIVE COMPS GLOBAL (0.9); held
= GLO; closes our pages too
SEQ SEQ
LOOP ARP
16 LEVELS SCL ("SEL") key / chord; hold = root on pads
KNOB FX FX edit, then LFO TRK BUS DLY REV CHO SLC PCH MST
MOD LFO MSEQ, round
SHIFT + KNOB FX LFO (MOD) straight to the LFO pages
PAD FX click the FX board up/down section 9
PAD FX hold the FX board while held
MUTE hold + pad 1-6 mute / unmute T1-T6 section 9
NOTE REPEAT click the LIVE board up/down section 9
NOTE REPEAT hold the LIVE board while held
SEQ hold + pad the SEQ board (tools) section 9; SEQ pages only
PLAY / STOP PLAY / stop STOP twice fast (within half a
second, anywhere, playing or
not) or STOP while stopped:
every sound off -- synths, pads,
slices, loops, the preview,
reverb / delay tails (0.8)
SEQ RECORD REC
SAMPLE SELECT SOUND browser synth track: the SOUND browser;
audio track: SAMPLE SELECT, the
card's folders (section 19b)
MINUS / PLUS OCT- / OCT+ JIANT's octave; NO / YES
SHIFT + MINUS / PLUS UNDO / REDO step after step
TAP TEMPO tap tempo 3 taps; SHIFT: metronome
PAD BANK tracks section 12
Data wheel SELECT pages inside the section
K1 K2 K3 KNOB 1 2 3
SHIFT + K3 KNOB 4
Fader KNOB 4 (assignable) SHIFT + pad 9
MAIN VOLUME master volume only
SHIFT section 10
ERASE the eraser section 19c
Not used yet: pad pressure.
Pads are not velocity sensitive (neither are the FM-1's keys).Pad 1 is bottom-left, pad 13 top-left (the numbers printed under the pads).
PIANO (playing):
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| 13 C5 | 14 C#5 | 15 D5 | 16 D#5 | blue = C, light = white keys,
+--------+--------+--------+--------+ dark = black keys,
| 9 G#4 | 10 A4 | 11 A#4 | 12 B4 | orange = sounding
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| 5 E4 | 6 F4 | 7 F#4 | 8 G4 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
| 1 C4 | 2 C#4 | 3 D4 | 4 D#4 |
+--------+--------+--------+--------+
- The names are JIANT's key names ("GLO held + G4" = B3 held + pad 8).
- The octave: MINUS / PLUS (JIANT's OCT- / OCT+). On JIANT's questions
MINUS = NO / back, PLUS = YES / do it.
- (DAW 0.1: pad 16 is D#5; the HOLD pad is gone, it got in the way.)
STEPS (step sequencing, the DRUM grid) = JIANT's 16 white keys = steps 1-16:
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 13 D5 s13 | 14 E5 s14 | 15 F5 s15 | 16 G5 s16 |
| 9 G4 s9 | 10 A4 s10 | 11 B4 s11 | 12 C5 s12 |
| 5 C4 s5 | 6 D4 s6 | 7 E4 s7 | 8 F4 s8 |
| 1 F3 s1 | 2 G3 s2 | 3 A3 s3 | 4 B3 s4 |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
Orange = a step that plays; half = beat markers (DRUM grid); faint = usable.
Which layout: AUTO (default) = STEPS on SEQ > STEP (roll or DRUM grid) in step
mode, PIANO everywhere else. SHIFT + SEQ flips it and keeps it. SETTINGS
(SHIFT + pad 8) > PAD LAYOUT: AUTO / PIANO / STEPS. The strip left of the screen
says PIANO or STEPS.The pads become a board and the screen shows it as a 4x4 grid (laid out like the
pads). MUTE and SEQ: while held. PAD FX and NOTE REPEAT (the performance
boards): click and the board stays up (both hands free); click again and it goes
down, back to the screen you were on. Or hold it, play, let go: down. One
performance board at a time (clicking the other swaps them); MUTE or SEQ held
shows over it, and it comes back when you let go.
PAD FX: the FX board (JIANT's punch-in effects; each pad: on while held)
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 13 ARP | 14 RANDOM | 15 GLITCH | 16 TRACKS |
| 9 DEC- | 10 DEC+ | 11 STUT8 | 12 STUT16 |
| 5 HPF | 6 OCT+ | 7 OCT- | 8 1/2 TEMPO
| 1 RPT1/8 | 2 RPT1/16| 3 RPT1/32| 4 LPF |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
- RPT = repeat, STUT = stutter, DEC- short / DEC+ long notes.
- TRACKS (pad 16) chooses which tracks the note effects touch: ALL / SYN
(synths) / DRM (drums). The pad is white / blue / red for it.
- K1-K3 + SHIFT+K3 while the board is up: JIANT's FILTER, CRUSH, THROW, DEPTH.
- With SEQ RECORD armed and playing, held note effects record into the
punch-in lane (JIANT's FX > PUNCH page).
MUTE held: pads 1-6 = mute / unmute T1-T6 (green = playing, red = muted).
SHIFT + MUTE = UNMUTE ALL (as printed on the MPC).
NOTE REPEAT (click: up until clicked again): the LIVE board. JIANT's live
sequence modifiers (its GLO > LIVE > MANO page), here on any page. Each is on
while its pad is held;
let go and the tracks are back in phase, where they would have been.
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 13 RATCHx2| 14 RATCHx3| 15 THIN | 16 RETURN |
| 9 /2 | 10 X2 | 11 TRIP3/2| 12 DOT2/3 |
| 5 LOOP 4 | 6 LOOP 2 | 7 LOOP 1 | 8 REV |
| 1 LOOP 3 | 2 LOOP 5 | 3 LOOP 7 | 4 LOOP 8 |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
- LOOP 3 / 5 / 7: every track repeats its last 3, 5 or 7 steps (odd loops
against the 4/4); which tracks: TRACKS on the FX board (pad 16).
- LOOP 8 / 4 / 2 / 1: the 8, 4, 2 or 1 steps the playhead is in (the
shortest held wins). REV: backwards. /2, X2, TRIP 3/2, DOT 2/3: the rate.
RATCH X2 / X3: every step repeated. THIN: half the steps play.
RETURN: every modifier off, back on the ghost (also undoes latched ones).
- Pads 4-16 act on the tracks LIVE's PISTAS picks (GLO > LIVE > RIELES,
KNOB 1; ALL by default). On JIANT's MANO page (B3, GLO's first page) the
same modifiers are on its own keys, with latch, rotation and RND.
- Nothing here is saved: like JIANT's punch-in FX, it's performance.
SEQ held (on the SEQ pages: STEP, the DRUM grid, PATTERN, CHANCE, AUTO ...):
the SEQ board, JIANT's [SEQ] TOOLS. They work on the selected track's steps
1..LEN. Tap SEQ alone and it still goes to the next SEQ page.
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 13 LANE < | 14 LANE > | 15 2 BARS | 16 4 BARS |
| 9 LANE | 10 LANE | 11 LANE | 12 1 BAR |
| CLEAR | REVERSE| FILL | |
| 5 COPY | 6 PASTE | 7 CLR | 8 CLR |
| SEQ | SEQ | STEP | AUTO |
| 1 CLEAR | 2 REVERSE| 3 SHIFT <| 4 SHIFT >|
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
- CLEAR: every step. REVERSE: backwards. SHIFT < / >: the whole pattern one
step earlier / later (it wraps round).
- COPY SEQ / PASTE SEQ: the track's sequence, to paste on another track
(let SEQ go, pick the track with PAD BANK + pad N, hold SEQ, PASTE).
- CLR STEP: the step at the cursor. CLR AUTO: the track's automation and
parameter locks (the notes stay).
- Pads 9-14 are for DRUM tracks (dark on a synth track): LANE < / > picks
the drum sound (shown top right: LANE: BD, SD ...), then LANE CLEAR,
LANE REVERSE, LANE FILL (each press: every step, every 2nd, every 4th,
off) work on that sound only.
- 1 BAR / 2 BARS / 4 BARS: the selected track plays (and records into) that
many bars. At the default DIV 1/16 that is 16 / 32 / 64 steps; at 1/8 the
same pads give 8 / 16 / 32 steps. The pad of the length the track is now
is lit. Steps past the end are kept (go back to 4 BARS and they are there);
to copy the music into the new bars use DOUBLE SEQ (SHIFT + pad 3) instead.
At 1/32, 4 BARS would be 128 steps: "TOO LONG AT THIS DIV". Other lengths
(3 bars, odd steps): K1 (LEN) while SEQ is held.
- SEQ held + SEQ RECORD = CLEAR ALL (every track's sequence; JIANT asks).
- SEQ held + wheel = JIANT's sequence dice. K1-K3 + SHIFT+K3 while held:
the PATTERN page's LEN DIV SWING GATE.
- No undo inside JIANT for these, but SHIFT + MINUS (our UNDO) brings the
steps back. SHIFT + ... Stock label In JIANT MPC
---------------- ----------------- -----------------------------------------
pad 2 HALF SEQ halve the selected track's pattern
pad 3 DOUBLE SEQ double it (the steps copied after itself)
pad 8 MIDI CONFIG SETTINGS page: pad layout, QUIT
pad 9 FADER FADER page: what the fader controls
pad 10 REC QUANTIZE SEQ > PATTERN: LEN, DIV, SWING, GATE;
again: SEQ > TRACK (REC Q)
pad 14 TIME CORRECT QUANTIZE: keep SHIFT held, wheel = grid,
push = do it, let SHIFT go = back (13)
pad 15 WARP ENV
pad 16 PROJECT SAVE (hold it: JIANT's SAVE layer)
SAMPLE SELECT SAVE SAMPLE SAVE
MUTE UNMUTE ALL unmute every track
SEQ STEP EDIT flip the pad layout
MINUS / PLUS UNDO / REDO UNDO: the last change, again: the one
before (up to 32); REDO: forward again
TAP TEMPO METRO the metronome (JIANT's CLICK) ON / OFF
PLAY CONTINUE PLAY
K3 - KNOB 4
everything else (stock labels) nothing yet
While SHIFT is held the strip right of the screen says SHIFT / K3=K4. K1 K2 K3 KNOB 1, 2, 3: the cards on the screen, left to right. Absolute:
the value is where the knob is (left = minimum, right =
maximum). Pick knobs (a step, a slot) move one at a time.
SHIFT + K3 KNOB 4 (the fourth card).
Fader KNOB 4 by default; SHIFT + pad 9: KNOB 4, MOD WHEEL (CC1),
EXPRESSION (CC11) or PITCH BEND (the middle = no bend).
MAIN VOLUME master volume, nothing else.
Data wheel SELECT: the pages inside the section you're in.
MINUS / PLUS JIANT's OCT- / OCT+ (the octave; NO / YES on its questions;
with SAVE held: recall / store the section; JIANT's MENU: value).
TAP TEMPO tap it three times or more: the tempo (JIANT's internal clock).
SHIFT + TAP TEMPO: the metronome on / off.
The MPC's knobs are pots with end stops; JIANT MPC sends their MOVEMENT, so
nothing jumps between pages. If a pot hits its stop, turn back and go again.PAD BANK tap next track (T1 -> T2 -> ... -> T1) PAD BANK held + pad N track N (no notes play while PAD BANK is held) Bank lights A-F the selected track JIANT starts with 4 tracks (as the FM-1). For 6: B2 -> SYSTEM -> TRACKS 6.
Each JIANT track has its own pattern of up to 64 steps = 4 bars of 1/16.
- SEQ held + pad 12 / 15 / 16: 1 / 2 / 4 BARS straight away (section 9).
- SHIFT + pad 3 (DOUBLE SEQ): 16 -> 32 -> 64 steps; the bars are copied, so the
beat carries on and you build on it. SHIFT + pad 2 (HALF SEQ) halves it.
Both can be undone (SHIFT + MINUS).
- SHIFT + pad 10: SEQ > PATTERN with K1 LEN (steps), K2 DIV (1/16, 1/8 ...),
K3 SWING, SHIFT+K3 GATE. SHIFT + pad 10 again: SEQ > TRACK with REC Q.
- Longer songs: store patterns into sections and chain them in SAVE > ARRANGE.
QUANTIZE / TIME CORRECT (fix a take that's off time): SHIFT + pad 14
1. Hold SHIFT, tap pad 14: the QUANTIZE window (keep SHIFT held).
2. Turn the wheel to the grid: 1/4 1/8 1/16 1/32 (left), 1/4T 1/8T 1/16T
(triplets, right). It opens on the one you used last.
3. Push the wheel: the selected track's notes / hits (steps 1..LEN) move to
the nearest point of that grid. "DONE: n NOTES MOVED". Push again with
another grid if you like; PLAY works here so you can listen.
As on the stock TIME CORRECT: B3 = Do It!, B1 = Cancel.
4. Let SHIFT go (or B1): back on the screen you were on.
- Example: a 4/4 kick recorded a 16th late on the 3rd hit: QUANTIZE 1/4
puts every hit back on the beat.
- Live recording already lands on the nearest step (REC Q 100 %); QUANTIZE
pulls those steps onto a coarser grid, and clears the MICRO timing of
takes recorded with REC Q under 100 %. Triplet grids use MICRO to place
notes between the steps.
- A note's ties and parameter locks move with it; two notes landing on the
same step become one step (both hits, up to 4 notes).
- SHIFT + MINUS undoes it.
WRITING STEPS (SEQ > STEP: tap SEQ until the STEP tab is lit)
The pads are the 16 steps (STEPS layout): a pad toggles that step. The knobs
edit the step at the cursor, as JIANT's knobs do on the FM-1:
DRUM grid piano roll (synths)
K1 STEP (cursor left / right) STEP (cursor left / right)
K2 LANE (BD SD CP ... up / down) NOTE (transposes the step)
K3 HIT (on / off, x2 x4 x8, TIME (REST <- TIE <- NOTE ->
SHORT GHOST FLAM) longer; NOTE on an empty step
writes a note)
SHIFT + K3 ACC (accent) VEL (velocity, accent, slide)
The wheel walks the pages (STEP -> NOTE ...); SEQ taps go to the next group.
Step recording: arm SEQ RECORD while stopped and play the notes / chords. 1. Tap a section button (section 7) to go there; tap again for its next group.
(0.9) B1 B2 B3 each hold their own tabs, shown on top: B1 BEING SOUND TONE
FOCUS, B2 ECO GEN SYSTEM, B3 MIX LIVE COMPS GLOBAL. Tap = the next tab; from
elsewhere = the tab it showed last. Held (or with another control used while
down) they are JIANT's button held, its layer: B1 EDIT, B2 HOME, B3 GLO
(B3 held + wheel = tempo). SAMPLE (HOME) keeps JIANT's way.
The FX edit pages are on KNOB FX (FX's, then LFO's); SHIFT + KNOB FX = LFO.
2. The wheel walks the pages inside that group.
3. K1-K3 (+ SHIFT+K3 / fader) change the four values shown.
4. SAMPLE SELECT: the SOUND browser (engines, then sounds: wheel + push; 19b);
on an audio track the sample browser (folders, preview; 19b).
JIANT's MENU: hold SAMPLE ~0.7 s. Wheel = rows, knobs or MINUS / PLUS (OCT- /
OCT+) = value, tap SAMPLE to close and save. JIANT (FM-1) On the MPC Does
------------------------- ---------------------------------- ----------------------
HOME held + SELECT SAMPLE (or B1) held + wheel GEN, the song generator
EDIT held + SELECT B2 held + wheel sound dice
SEQ held + SELECT SEQ held + wheel sequence dice
FX held + SELECT (not mapped in v2.2) FX dice
GLO held + SELECT B3 held + wheel tempo
GLO held + PLAY B3 held + PLAY restart from the top
GLO held + G4 B3 held + pad 8 JIANT's own UNDO (again: redo)
(JIANT MPC) SHIFT + MINUS / SHIFT + PLUS UNDO / REDO, many steps
SEQ held + REC SEQ held + SEQ RECORD CLEAR ALL SEQUENCES?
REC held + a section SEQ RECORD held + that button clear that automation
SAVE held + OCT+ / OCT- SHIFT+pad 16, let SHIFT go, keep store / recall the section
pad 16 held, PLUS / MINUS
SAVE held + C5 (as above) + pad 13 NAME
SEQ held + G5 SEQ held + pad 7 (the SEQ board) clear the cursor step
A step held + KNOB 1-4 a step pad held + K1-K3/SHIFT+K3 parameter lock
Step keys held + SELECT step pads held + wheel copy those steps
A step key + REC a step pad + SEQ RECORD paste from that step
Full JIANT manual: https://github.com/juanjiant-bit/JIANT -> docs/MANUAL.md Our own pages, over the whole screen; music keeps playing.
Wheel or - / + move | push the wheel: choose | B3 or the same SHIFT+pad: close
SETTINGS (SHIFT + pad 8): PAD LAYOUT (push: AUTO -> PIANO -> STEPS)
QUIT TO MPC SAMPLE (push twice)
FADER (SHIFT + pad 9): KNOB 4 / MOD WHEEL / EXPRESSION / PITCH BEND
Both are remembered on the card (JIANT/jiant-mpc.cfg). JIANT saves exactly as on the FM-1; JIANT MPC keeps JIANT's whole memory on
your card, so what JIANT saves is there next time.
- Projects, sounds, presets: SAVE (SHIFT + pad 16), tap on for SOUND ->
PROJECT -> LIBRARY; PLUS (OCT+) = do it.
- Resume where you left off: JIANT's MENU (hold SAMPLE) > SYSTEM > RESTORE
LAST = ON (OFF by default, as on the FM-1).
Keep the card in while JIANT runs.Pads PIANO / STEPS colours (section 8); the boards' colours (9) PLAY lit while playing SEQ, PAD FX, LOOP, 16 LEVELS, SAMPLE, SEQ RECORD JIANT's light for it CHOP lit in the CHOP room and while the SLICER board is held SHIFT, MUTE, NOTE REPEAT, SAMPLE SELECT, PAD BANK lit while held MINUS / PLUS JIANT's OCT- / OCT+ lights (lit: the octave moved) Bank A-F the selected track Strips beside the screen: PIANO / STEPS (left); SHIFT, K3=K4 (right) All dark when JIANT quits; the normal MPC then sets its own.
JIANT/jiant-flash.bin (+ .bak) JIANT's memory: projects, sounds, settings.
JIANT/jiant-mpc.cfg JIANT MPC's settings (pad layout, fader).
JIANT/last-session.log the last session: start, audio timing, errors,
the audio controls, how it ended.
Fresh start: delete JIANT/. Remove JIANT MPC: delete autorun/.
The speaker and the jacks (as the normal MPC):
- The built-in speaker plays when nothing is plugged into PHONES or the line
outputs; plug in headphones or a line-out cable and it switches off, unplug and
it comes back. If you switched the speaker off in the normal MPC, it stays off.
- No pops: the speaker is switched off before the normal MPC app's sound stops,
and on only after JIANT's sound runs (faded in); on quit and power off it is
faded out and switched off first, then handed back to the normal MPC. The DAW build (git branch "daw") adds audio; the groovebox works as before.
Samples play through JIANT's own sound only (filter, envelope, LFOs, DIST,
level / pan, sends, mixer, master) -- none of the MPC's effects.
PICK A BANK, THEN ITS SOUND: PAD BANK + pad 1-6 picks the track (bank A-F).
SAMPLE SELECT opens the SOUND browser:
wheel = the engine (DRUM, VOICE, ANIMAL, LOFI, ANALOG, FM6 ... AUDIO, and
USER when you have user presets), push = open it, wheel = its sounds,
push = load it onto the track. B1 = back, SAMPLE SELECT again = close.
AUDIO makes the track an audio track and opens SAMPLE SELECT (below).
TWO WAYS TO GET SOUND ONTO AN AUDIO TRACK (0.8), like the stock MPC:
SAMPLE SELECT = LOAD what is on the card (the sample browser, below)
SAMPLE RECORD = RECORD something new (the record menu, below)
Either one on a synth track makes it an audio track first.
SAMPLE SELECT ON AN AUDIO TRACK (0.8): the sample browser, in folders.
The top: the places --
AENIMALS SAMPLES JIANT/SAMPLES (your takes and loaded WAVs)
MPC SAMPLES MPC-Sample/Samples (the stock MPC's folder)
SD CARD the whole card
SYNTH SOUNDS back to the SOUND browser (make the track a synth)
In a folder: its folders first (yellow), then its WAVs, A to Z.
WHEEL / - + move. PUSH a folder opens; a WAV loads onto the pad.
TAP A PAD where it loads (shown top right, ONTO PAD n).
B1 back up a folder (at the top: closes) B2 straight to the top
B3 PREVIEW on / off. On (it starts on), the WAV under the cursor plays as
you scroll -- its first 20 s, once; moving on stops it, so does STOP.
A green mark at the row's end = it is playing.
The line under the title says where you are (MPC SAMPLES/DRUMS 808), or
what just loaded. Coming back, the browser opens in the same folder, on the
same file. SAMPLE SELECT again closes it; SAMPLE RECORD goes to recording.
A WAV from elsewhere is copied into JIANT/SAMPLES (mono 16-bit) so the kit
always finds it.
Any track 1-6 can be audio. A track with notes asks first ("ITS NOTES ARE
CLEARED", push = yes, B1 = no; SHIFT + MINUS brings them back).
NEW SESSION: SHIFT + pad 8 (SETTINGS) > NEW SESSION, push twice: six empty
tracks, no sounds, no notes. Power-on always reopens where you left off.
AUDIO TRACK PADS: 16 samples. Dark = empty, teal = a sound on it, white =
playing. A tap plays it (one shot); SEQ RECORD + pads records them into the
sequence (up to 4 on a step). Steps, TIME CORRECT, boards, mutes, undo: all.
LOOP the last pad's LOOP on / off
SHIFT + LOOP REVERSE SHIFT + CHOP NOTE ON (plays while held)
CHOP the CHOP room (19d) B1 is JIANT's sound tabs
SAMPLE RECORD: the menu. Wheel = row, push = change it:
SOURCE MIC (built-in, the first) / RESAMPLE (what JIANT plays) / INPUTS
THRESHOLD OFF, -60 .. -12 dB: waits until the sound is that loud
MONITOR ON: hear the input on this page (headphones!)
(0.8: loading from the card moved to SAMPLE SELECT; press it here to go
there.)
The bar = the input level. Tap a pad: it records onto it, and the screen
shows the take coming in. Tap ANOTHER pad: the take stops there and the
recording goes straight on into the new pad -- no gap, each pad its own take
(the pad that is recording now: nothing). STOP or SAMPLE RECORD ends the
session. Each take is saved as JIANT/SAMPLES/REC-001.WAV (002 ..); when the
session ends the CHOP room opens on the last one. A track that isn't audio yet becomes one.
PLAY works on this page. Up to 60 s a take.
THE CHOP ROOM (CHOP on an audio track; after every take): section 19d.
LOGS: every session is kept as JIANT/logs/session-DATE-TIME.log (and the
newest as JIANT/last-session.log).
KEPT: each audio track's kit is JIANT/AUDIO/kit-T1.cfg .. T6.cfg (loaded at
start); the WAVs are plain 16-bit mono 44.1 kHz.
NOT YET: 16 LEVELS, per-slice / per-pad tune, filter, envelopes on screen,
stereo, RECALL, WARP.
FIRST START OF A DAW BUILD: JIANT measures the MPC once (memory, card speed,
5 s of the inputs) into JIANT/probe.wav and the log (JIANT/probe.done). RECORDING: while you record (SEQ RECORD armed and playing, or a SAMPLE RECORD
take), the two side bars flush red and red creatures float up through them,
with REC pulsing at the bottom left. Stop and they swell, thin out and fade.
ERASE (hold it). Every erase can be undone with SHIFT + MINUS.
(In the CHOP room ERASE + pad removes that slice instead: section 19d.)
ERASE + turn a knob that knob's recorded automation (and step locks) on
the selected track goes -- on the page where you
recorded it. The value doesn't move. (Not the FX
layer's macros or HOME's macros.) SHIFT + K3 / the
fader as KNOB 4 work the same.
ERASE + KNOB FX all the recorded FX automation of the track (the FX
pages' parameters).
ERASE + PAD FX everything recorded from the PAD FX board (JIANT's
punch-in lane; it's one lane for the whole song).
ERASE + a pad (audio tracks) tap = pick the pad (it turns red),
tap again = its sample is taken off the pad and all
its hits leave the sequence. The WAV stays on the
card. Let ERASE go between the taps = nothing.
ERASE + PAD BANK the CLEAR TRACK board: pads 1-6 = the tracks, with
their engine and sound (EMPTY if nothing's there).
Tap = pick (red, TAP AGAIN), tap again = the track's
whole sequence goes (notes, hits, automation); its
sound / samples stay. ERASE or B1 closes it. Hit a pad of an audio track, press CHOP: the CHOP room for that pad. The
whole width of the screen is its waveform in heat; CHOP leaves. (0.7: B1
B2 B3 are the sound tabs now: section 19e.)
A pad is PLAIN (one sound) or CHOPPED (2 to 16 slices) -- never both, and
later never both chopped and 16-LEVELS'd: to play a slice as an instrument,
COPY it to a pad of its own first.
K1 / K2 START / END (of the picked slice once chopped). The knob is
where the edge goes over the whole sound.
K3 how to chop, as you turn it: OFF, 2 .. 16 DIVISIONS (even),
THRESHOLD (a slice at each hit louder than the threshold),
MANUAL (tap along, below)
SHIFT + K3 THRESHOLD's level (-60 .. 0 dB): lower finds more hits
SHIFT + K1/K2 ZOOM around START / END. (0.7) Turn up = in, down = out,
from wherever the knob is: no jump when you take hold of
it; all the way down = whole sound, all the way up = x64.
The edge stays put on the screen while you zoom (the view
grows around it); move the edge off the screen and the
view follows. Zoomed, K1 / K2 move the edge by the knob's
turn across what you see: fine trimming
SHIFT + pad 13 TRIM SAMPLE (stock): the sound cut to START .. END for good,
as a new WAV (NAME-Txxxx.WAV; the old file stays on the
card). Slices and the loop point move with it. Also outside
CHOP, on the last pad hit.
wheel the framed edge, very fine; push = frame START / END / LOOP
LOOP the pad's loop on / off (its LOOP point: frame it, wheel)
While a pad of the room plays (the whole sound or a slice), a white PLAYHEAD
line runs along the waveform.
CHOPPED, the 16 pads play slices 1 .. 16 (lit in heat; the picked one bright,
a sounding one white). The rest of the kit waits until you leave CHOP -- the
MPC's own rule. Outside CHOP the chopped pad plays its whole sound.
pad play that slice, pick it
SHIFT + B1 EXTRACT: the slice onto the first empty pad (its own WAV)
SHIFT + B2 SPLIT the slice in two SHIFT + B3 MERGE it with the
one before
ERASE + pad that slice gone (its time joins the one before)
SHIFT + MINUS / PLUS undo / redo any of these (the stock MPC can't)
PLAY, STOP, SEQ RECORD work here: record slice hits into the sequence; they
keep playing as slices after you leave CHOP. Split / merge / erase: hits on
later slices follow their slice.
MANUAL: turn K3 to the end. Tap any pad: the sound starts and slice 1 begins
there; tap again where each next slice should start (up to 16). Push the
wheel (or let the sound end) and the slices are made.
COPY (SHIFT + ERASE, the stock COPY): hold both, tap the pads it goes to (they
turn red; again = not), let ERASE go. In the CHOP room it copies the picked
slice (its own WAV: NAME-S03.WAV), elsewhere the whole pad, every setting
and its slices too. The pad you copy from is never a target.
THE SLICER (a synth track): hold CHOP. While held, JIANT's SLICER chops that
track only, at 100 %, and the pads choose how:
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| 13 16T | 14 32T | 15 GATE | 16 STUT |
| 9 1/8 | 10 1/16 | 11 1/32 | 12 8T |
| 5 PAT 5 | 6 PAT 6 | 7 PAT 7 | 8 PAT 8 |
| 1 PAT 1 | 2 PAT 2 | 3 PAT 3 | 4 PAT 4 |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
The screen shows the pattern's 16 steps. Let CHOP go: the SLICER is as it
was. Your picks are kept for the next hold.
KEPT: the slices, the type and the slice hits are in the kit file
(JIANT/AUDIO/kit-Tn.cfg); kits from DAW 0.4 load as plain pads. COLOURS. Each pad bank (track) has its colour: A red, B orange, C yellow,
D green, E blue, F violet. The big letter at the top left of the screen
shows it (the MPC's own bank lights are one colour only).
synth track the pads are that colour: C bright, white keys pale, black
keys nearly dark; a key playing glows white.
audio track every pad its own colour (pad 1 the bank's colour, the
rest round the colour wheel so no two neighbours look
alike). Loaded: lit; playing: bright; empty: a faint glow
of the bank's colour.
recording the pad recording pulses in its colour, and the take is
drawn on the screen in the same colour. Hop pad to pad and
every take has a colour different from the last: match
the colour on the screen to the pad afterwards.
CHOP the slices light in their pad's colour, by turns.
THE SOUND TABS (the stock SAMPLE tabs, inside the CHOP room). On a plain pad
they shape the whole sound; on a chopped pad, the picked slice (each slice
has its own; a new chop starts every slice from the whole pad's).
B1 CHOP > MIX > AMP ENV (press again: the next page)
B2 TUNE > PLAY
B3 FILTER > FLT ENV
MIX K1 VOLUME K2 PAN
AMP ENV K1 ATTACK K2 DECAY (all the way up: none, plays out)
K3 VEL SENS (how much softer a soft hit is)
TUNE K1 SEMI (-36..+36) K2 FINE (cents) (K3 WARP: later)
PLAY K1 MONO / POLY K2 MUTE GROUP (OFF, 1-16) K3 OFFSET (the
start waits, up to 1 s)
FILTER K1 CUTOFF K2 RESO K3 TYPE (OFF, LPF 2 / 4 POLE, BPF, HPF)
FLT ENV K1 ATTACK K2 DECAY K3 DEPTH (+ opens, - closes)
Knobs: turn and the value moves from where it is (no jump), reaching the
end when the knob does. The wheel: push = the next knob framed, turn = the
framed one a step at a time. SHIFT + MINUS undoes a turn.
POLY (the stock default): a pad hit again rings over itself. MONO: a new
hit restarts it. MUTE GROUP: pads in the same group cut each other off
(open / closed hi-hat). All of it is saved in the kit; JIANT's own track
filter, envelope, effects and sends still come after.
REC GAIN. The wheel on the back sets the level of the rear AUDIO IN before
the converter: that is where gain gives the cleanest sound (the MPC has no
gain in software). The SAMPLE RECORD meter shows it: aim the peaks into the
green band (-12 .. -3 dB). The tick is the loudest peak of the last 2 s;
CLIP turns red when a sample hits full scale. Under the meter it says
what to do (TURN REC GAIN UP / DOWN, LEVEL GOOD). On the built-in mic the
wheel may do nothing (Akai documents it for AUDIO IN only): move closer or
further instead -- tell us what you find.
AUDIO TRACK KNOBS ON JIANT'S SCREEN (0.7). JIANT's own START / LENGTH are gone
from audio tracks: they cut inside the pad's START / END and the cursors in
the CHOP room stopped showing what played. A pad plays exactly its START ..
END (or its slice). JIANT's knobs there: K1 TUNE (the whole track), K2 / K3
the track's filter CUTOFF / RESO, KNOB 4 its RELEASE.
DELETE A TAKE: hold ERASE, tap the pad (red), tap it again: its sample and
its hits are gone (the WAV stays on the card in JIANT/SAMPLES). In the CHOP
room too: a plain pad the same way; on a chopped pad ERASE + pad takes one
slice, so hold ERASE and PUSH the wheel twice to erase the whole pad you are
editing (sample, slices, hits). The top of the screen says which.
RECORDING ON A COMPUTER. AUDIO OUT 1 / 2 (and PHONES) carry the whole mix,
MAIN VOLUME included (the speaker goes off when a cable is in). (0.7) USB:
the MPC is still an audio interface on the computer while AENIMALS runs
("MPC Sample" in your recording app, 44.1 kHz); the same mix goes there now,
on inputs 1 / 2. It keeps the computer's clock by trimming its own rate;
JIANT/last-session.log says how it went ("usb audio: ..." every 30 s). - The speaker / jack behaviour follows the normal MPC as far as we know it;
report anything different.
- The start screen only appears at power-on (with the card in).
- The Mic/Speaker button on the MPC isn't used by JIANT yet.
- No sampling: JIANT MPC is JIANT. Sampling is in the normal MPC app.
- Pads not velocity / pressure sensitive yet.
- JIANT's LFO MACRO layer (hold LFO) and ALGORITHM's layer views aren't mapped.
- "Granular delay" on 1/2 TEMPO isn't in JIANT (new DSP, a later step).
- USB MIDI, the MIDI
jacks and USB audio are not connected to JIANT yet.
After a session, send JIANT/last-session.log and what you noticed.
JIANT: (c) Leo Kuroshita / Hugelton Instruments and juanjiant-bit, GPL-3.0.
JIANT MPC: GPL-3.0. Not affiliated with Akai Professional or inMusic Brands.