Exchange tips and tricks for the Akai MPC4000
User avatar
By Askia Shaheed Mon Jan 05, 2009 8:30 am
renegadebliss wrote:
Askia Shaheed wrote:How many parts does the MPC 4000 have to assign programs to? (The MV only has 16)

128 parts per Multi, but you can use Program Change to change a Multi, so you can actually use more then 1 Multi
in a Song, so you could theoretically have 4 different Multi's throughout the song each with 128 different parts/programs.
It's all limited by the 512M of RAM memory on the machine...

Askia Shaheed wrote:How many parts/programs can be assigned to each multi? (The manual only shows 12)


128.....see above

Thanks for the info.
By shimmyshimmy Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:55 pm
rsthurin wrote:Expert village very basic tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=exp ... mpc%204000


I get a strange feeling that this dude don't really help us. Again and again it is way better to read manual. Peaple are getting scared everytime when they see manual thing, the friend of mine said he will never read one, but learning MPC4000 or even any other by trial and error would be pain in the ass if you would like to fully benefit it.
By rsthurin Mon Apr 20, 2009 6:10 pm
shimmyshimmy wrote:
rsthurin wrote:Expert village very basic tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=exp ... mpc%204000


I get a strange feeling that this dude don't really help us. Again and again it is way better to read manual. Peaple are getting scared everytime when they see manual thing, the friend of mine said he will never read one, but learning MPC4000 or even any other by trial and error would be pain in the ass if you would like to fully benefit it.


I thought this was a thread for new 4000 users. That's why i posted it here and titled it very basic :roll: . Nothing is stopping anyone from watching the vids and reading the manual together. It might not help you but, some people learn differently.
By Burdender Fri Jun 05, 2009 4:12 pm
Questions from a newbie:

1.) Once a sample is loaded and you click on the sample button you are able to play that smaple on the pads as if it were on a keyboard. Each pad sounds like a differnt note of the same sample. Is there a way to set a sample to stay on the pads as such? Hopefully that doesn't sound to confusing. Thanks
By renegadebliss Fri Jul 03, 2009 3:28 pm
Burdender wrote:Questions from a newbie:

1.) Once a sample is loaded and you click on the sample button you are able to play that smaple on the pads as if it were on a keyboard. Each pad sounds like a differnt note of the same sample. Is there a way to set a sample to stay on the pads as such? Hopefully that doesn't sound to confusing. Thanks


There are 2 types of programs in the MPC 4000

Drum and Keygroup.

Assign your sample to a Keygroup program and your sample is layed out across the keyboard...

Cheers,
Dave
By ONE Wed Jul 15, 2009 9:54 pm
PSA

I've been getting A LOT of PM's over the past few years, and quite a few lately in regards to help with the basic functions of the 4k.

I have NOT had the 4k for years now. I am rusty when it comes to info. on it, and since I no longer have one in front of me, I cannot be of much help.

So, please, do not PM me for help. There is a whole forum here for you to read and many current 4k users to answer your questions.

Also, the questions I've been getting are mostly from very impatient people who do not want to read the manual and/or figure things out for themselves.

PLEASE do yourself a favor and read the manual. If you REALLY do not understand after that, than ask someone who is a regular in the 4k forum.

Thank You!
By ONE Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:58 am
Lord Toranaga wrote:chill dude, it is just an e-mail.


It's a timesaver for everyone involved. They don't have to wait for answers that they may or may not get, and I don't waste my time reading and replying to mail where I'm not of any help.
By manji Thu Sep 09, 2010 5:51 pm
Heres my general process for sampling multisampled instruments from my computer. I try to get super realistic ones, so I have 4 velocity layers per instrument. Theyre big, but the 4000 has ample ram and anything worth doing is worth doing right, right?


The first thing I did was set up templates. Template sequences, programs, etc are one of the smarter things Ive ever come up with, ever. I dont know if anyone else does them, but theyre pretty helpful.

We'll start with the sequence template. I sample my instruments with the C, E and G# notes, and I have a 61 Key Midi Keyboard. So I sequenced each note, per bar, (so Bar 1 is C1, Bar 2 is E1, Bar 3 is G#1, Bar 4 is C2, etc etc....) all the way up scale from C1 to C6, and ended with a C0 note, so give me a reference point if Im doing this in batches (well get to this later). So all in all, its a 17 bar sequence. I then in SEQ EDIT turned the velocity all the way up to 127. So this is the basic template for a full velocity multisample. I then named the sequence as Velocity 127 61Key. Then copy that sequence to another one, and change the velocity to 90 on all of the notes in SEQ EDIT, name it Velocity 90 61Key, then repeat the process, copying the sequence and changing the velocity to 60, then repeat, then 30. All in all, you should have 4 sequences. The BPM is subject to change, based on what youre sampling. If its longer notes, piano with a lot of sustain, for instance, slow the BPM down, if its staccato on a cello, the BPM would be faster. Its good to be relatively close, it means less dead space at the end of the chopped notes. If youre really careful, you can completely eliminate the need to chop out dead space.

Now, for the program template. Create a keygroup program, then, set your Spans on the PITCH page to the following -

01 - 36-39
02 - 40-42
03 - 43-47
04 - 48-51
05 - 52-54
06 - 55-59
07 - 60-63
08 - 64-66
09 - 67-71
10 - 72-75
11 - 76-78
12 - 79-83
13 - 84-87
14 - 88-90
15 - 91-96
16 - 0-127

The reason for keygroup 16 is to assign an underton, a sine wave or whatever. If you dont want anything, just leave it blank.

Next, go to the ZONE page, and where it says EDIT - 1, change 1 to ALL. Next, go down to zone one, and change the RANGE to -

Zone 1 - 90-127
Zone 2 - 60-89
Zone 3 - 30-49
Zone 4 - 0-29.

You can of course, adjust that to what suits your playing style. I play fairly softly, so it works for me, and its closest to being the must evenly spread.


Name and Save your program. I have a folder on my drive for templates, so I put mine in there, and named it MltiSmple Temp 61.


Now, load up your PC with whatever its you want to play (it could also obviously be a hardware soundmodule, synth, whatever), and play your sequences. Now, for the batch thing I was talking about. Since I almost always want 4 zones, I created a song that played those sequences from hardest to lowest, and that C0 note really comes in handy at his point, like I said, as it just gives an extremely clear reference point.

Sample the notes, make sure none overlap, name that sample HOLYCRAPAPIANO or whatever it is you want to save it as (I always do Instrument, source), then load it up in the trim. This is where the sequences come in really, really handy. Say you sampled 16 notes. Since its timed perfectly by the sequencer, you SHOULD be able to just set the regions to 16 and it should line up perfectly. Chop them up, name them, clean up the tails if you want to, assign them, in order, to each successive keygroup in your Keygroup Template Program, and blao. Youre done. Be sure to save it, and do NOT save over your template program, and then youre good. After that its pretty much repeat for whatever instrument you want, and its super easy.