Im Super Super new.... Just basic Questions..

HI MPC Family


Please dont reply to this if you plan to make fun of me. .

I just got a MPC 500 ( my first sampler EVER)

I got NO Idea how to use it. . I got it off ebay and it came only with two CF drives

No wires at all. I bought the Power cable and IDK what else I need? I also bought that book for 30 bucks. I think it has like 220+ pages..

It didnt come with the original owners manual...

What can anyone tell me about what I need? I have a MBP 15" retina laptop Id like to connect. I also bought a PA type amp and two 12" subs for sound.

I know I need tons more equipment. I would like to produce music..

I signed up for a music college in Boston. . I just want to be a little ahead of the class when it begins in a few months. .

PLEASE be polite. Im not a stupid kid. I went to 5 years on Nursing school and can name every bone in a human body. . This is just overwelming at the moment. I try to watch videos on youtube and other forums. It just seems like the ppl making the videos push all these buttons and start chopping it up. I also dont know how to plug in the wires. Also Dont know if I need a M audio device? Or can I just hook this up thru the headphones cable right my MBP??

Thanks

DAY

Do a search on Google for the owners manual, or use the MPC Resources button at the top of the forum pages to take you through to them here...

http://www.mpc-tutor.com/akai-mpc-manuals/

Plug headphones into the MPC to get started.

You can plug it into your computer with a USB cable, and access the CF card in the MPC, using the MPC as a CF card reader for your computer, to transfer .wav sample files across from your computer, try finding some sample files in Google searches, transfer them across, load them up into the MPC, and start learning. (they need to be 44.1kHz/16-bit .wav files, or be converted to that format)

You can plug the audio out of your computer into the audio inputs of the MPC, to record the audio out of your computer into the MPC, and use that as samples in the MPC.

You can probably plug the MPC directly into your PA amp, but might be useful to have a mixer in-between, so that you can plug in your MPC, computer, and other things later, at the same time, and control the volume of each going into the PA.

Take it slow, learn things as you go, read the manuals, etc. You didn't learn nursing in one day, you are not going to learn this in one day either.

Thank you for advice. . Your so right... I guess I just see kids like 1/2 my age and there buzzing along. Pushing all these buttons and Im like a old dude...Lost in translation after they hit the power button.. That book that I bought is great it says to go fom page 1 and begin there... I sorta messed around with the buttons without any manual at all. I fear that I deleted all the info on the CF before I got started. It took a few weeks before I knew what the do it button did...

Thank you very much for reminding me about the not all in one day thing. . I just need to allot a certain amount of time aside daily to study and practice and slowly and surely Ill get the hang of it...

Thank you bud!!!

No problem.

As you say, make some time each day to use it, learn, and practice, it will start making sense pretty quickly.

Don't be afraid to ask basic questions here, people will help, just ignore anyone that is a dick about it.

Hello again...

So I think I figured it out. Besides the MPC 500... I also bought a MPX8 and After many many weeks of trying to mess with the MPC5 I tried plugging in the MPX8 and the sceond I plugged it in I was jamming with it. I honestly believe the MPC is broken or something is terribly wrong with it. Im not a complete moron and I cant get any sound out of it at all? The only thing I could think of is ALL the samples are deleted. Even though if that was the case I thought that there was a couple of samples built into the unit from the factory. I guy I bought it from on Ebay told me he was a pawn shop. So I assume that meant. I sold you a broken unit and Im hiding behind the Pawn shop ruse so that hes NOT responsible for selling broken equipment??

Im going to try going to a local music center and see if Im NOT crazy and the piece is broken?

IDK ..... Anyways thanks for the help earlier bud

DAY

It comes from the factory with some samples in internal flash memory, which load into RAM as an Autoload program when you turn it on.

You can turn Autoload off, maybe you have done that, you can turn it back on by going into Load Mode, moving the curor to the right field where it says Program, and scrolling through the options until you find Autoload, then move the cursor down to where it sayss Off, and changing it to On. Then it should Autoload any Program and Samples stored in the internal flash memory.

If you go into Load Mode, it starts off looking for Programs, the display says Load:Program, are there any Program files shown on the lower line of the display, next to Fil:? If so, you can move the cursor down to the lower line, and scroll to choose a Program to load.

Programs are the layout of samples onto the pads, and some other settings related to that.

Also in Load Mode, you can change from Load:Program to Load:Sample, and similarly see if there are any samples that you can load.

It is also possible that you have saved over the factory Program/Samples in the internal memory, and saved an empty Program with no samples in place of them.

If you plug headphones into the MPC, and press Rec-Play or Rec-Play Start, with the Main Volume turned up, do you hear the metronome click?

Doesn't that book (MPC500 tutorial from this site?) come with examples and audio files to load into the MPC500?

I think you are making things much more complicated than they are.

Take that book and start on page 1. Don't skip pages. Do the examples (it will tell you how to load the files). Do every step, don't skip. Follow that book/guide and learn. I think it's the best help you can get. I don't think your MPC is broken... READ THE BOOK, PAGE FOR PAGE, DO THE EXAMPLES.

Peace.