MPC Questions

[smoothcriminal]

If I can find a Black Friday deal, I'm either getting an MPC500 or Korg Pad Control. Some questions for owners of this gear-

1. Does the Pad Control come with standalone software, VST, or is it totally reliant on a DAW?
2. I've heard of MPCs being used as sequencers for other hardware, is the MPC500 functional in this way? Can a single pad trigger a (looping?) MIDI sequence as opposed to a single note or sample?
3. Is the MPC500 missing features from more expensive gear or is the only significant drawback limited memory?

[Stab Frenzy]

1. It probably comes with a limited version of Live or something like that. But you need to use it with a DAW to have it do anything.
2. MPCs are sequencers that happen to have a sampler as well. The real power is in the sequencer. You can have a sequence set up and mute and unmute it with a pad as the sequence plays. You can't do exactly what it is you're saying, but it's sort of the same thing. (I've owned a 1000 and 2500, the 500 is a lot smaller and so the interface is much more fiddly, but it still has the track mute function.)
3. Actually the memory is the same as the 1000 and 2500, 128MB max. That's plenty for making songs or playing live IMO. The things you're missing out on compared to the 1000 or 2500 are extra audio outputs (great for processing stuff) extra midi ins and outs (very handy if you're using it as a sequencer) better pads and better workflow.

If you're planning on using it as a sequencer, with other gear or with any real depth I'd be looking at a 1000 rather than the 500, they're not much more expensive and are much better. If you just want to chuck a few samples in it and have something to take around easily then maybe consider an SP-404EX. The 500 sits between the 404 and 1000 and kind of doesn't have much of the advantages of either. It has a much better sequencer than the 404 but the interface is too fiddly to really use it to its fullest.

[smoothcriminal]

Very interesting advice, I didn't realize the 500 and 1000 were so close in price ($350-400 vs $450-500?).
I pretty much got inspired by all the MPC shoutouts in this thread:
http://www.vintagesynth.com/forum/viewt ... =1&t=59382

Being able to mute/unmute MIDI sequences with the pads is probably even more useful than what I was thinking.
What I want out of it is a combination of live drum playing action, maybe quantized drum loop recording, and being able to trigger external hardware as a bonus. I'm getting disillusioned with composing with DAWs and am trying to come up with a PC-independent setup that I can just fire up and jam with.

Also, sorry for creating yet another "what MPC" thread, I didn't realize there were already a bunch of them.

[smoothcriminal]

Only had my 1K for a day and I'm already thinking about pad upgrades... but I had better learn how to use it first

[nogginj]

You definitely want the pad upgrades....and they are not easy to find right now.

[smoothcriminal]

not easy = not being sold?

expensive, too. the factory pads are ok, they just need a lot of pressure and some finesse to be consistent. I have to try out a 2500 to see if the old pads are really that much better.

[smoothcriminal]

I'm either getting used to the pads or the action is getting better as I work them out.

Does anyone know if its possible to control the pitch of sounds on the MPC with a keyboard, like a classic sampler? The manual is really vague - connecting it to a controller just plays whichever pad is assigned to a particular MIDI note message. The only way I can figure out how to play a melody on a keyboard is set up a bank one note at a time and manually putting each pad/note to the correct pitch. Is there a better way, maybe involving JJOS?

[vinyl_junkie]

I'm either getting used to the pads or the action is getting better as I work them out.

Does anyone know if its possible to control the pitch of sounds on the MPC with a keyboard, like a classic sampler? The manual is really vague - connecting it to a controller just plays whichever pad is assigned to a particular MIDI note message. The only way I can figure out how to play a melody on a keyboard is set up a bank one note at a time and manually putting each pad/note to the correct pitch. Is there a better way, maybe involving JJOS?

Not with the normal OS and I have no experience of the JJ OS
The closest you will get is using the 16 Levels function and assign it to tune that way you can play your samples like you would on a keyboard..kind of but this can only be done from the pads, it won't work triggering from a MIDI keyboard.

Just get a rack sampler, the Akai samplers in the MPC's are WAY over rated imo (Bar the 4k)
They are really best suited for what they kind of were designed for in the first place...drum shots, not saying you should stick to just that but for me that's all I use my MPC for and I have a S-3200XL doing the fancy sampling.

Where the MPC shines for me is the sequencer...

[boreg]

Does anyone know if its possible to control the pitch of sounds on the MPC with a keyboard, like a classic sampler?

JJ OS has 2 kinds of programs: DRUM (the usual MPC sample-per-pad setup) and INST (pitched samples spread over keyboard range). So yes, this is possible with JJ OS.
Note though that MPC is not multitimbral - only the currently selected track can be played from a MIDI keyboard.

[LesDeuxLoveOrchestra]

Does the MPC ship with preset sounds? What are they like?

[smoothcriminal]

Ok, installing the free JJOS immediately. I wanted to at least learn the basics of the Akai OS before I try JJOS, but it sounds like its an all around improvement and there's no reason not to upgrade it.

RE: Preset samples/patterns, it does have them. "Hip-hop"... "Techno"...generic "DJ" stuff like that. Honestly the first thing I did when I got it is to make it not load the presets automatically, since I only have 16MB of sample memory, so I really haven't played around with them.

[Em Pe Ge]

i've got the MPC 1000... it's amazing. great sequencer for other midi gear, great sampler. it's a must.

[blavatsky]

Regarding Korg Padcontrol:

1. It probably comes with a limited version of Live or something like that. But you need to use it with a DAW to have it do anything.

You can also use it as a regular MIDI controller for any synth/sampler. You don't need a DAW.
I use it so I have a way to drum out beats rather than break my keyboards trying to get a decent feel.

[holybalm!]

There are two ways to play pitched samples on an mpc - you can load multisamples and play with a midi keyboard or you can assign a sample to the pads in a way that each pad is tuned (sped up or slowed down) Both useful in different ways. For instance if you want a fairly realistic (or whatever) sounding piano then you will need to multisample, but if you wanna play toms tuned or use some slowed down or sped up effected sounds then you'd wanna just pitch up or down on the pads. Both sound good to me. I use mpc maid to make programs (assign samples).

Oh yeah and with all this talk about JJ the op should be told that there is no JJOS for mpc 500.

Oh yeah and I wanna get rid of the 500 for a 1000 real soon.

[smoothcriminal]

The OP got a 1000. MPC Maid looks really useful, thanks for bringing it up.