MPC 500 For Live Use

Hello 500 users. I was wondering how you were finding the 500 suited for live use? Will it let you "sequence on the fly" so to speak? How interactive can you be with it in a live situation? Can you only press play and then watch as you sequence plays, or is there more you can do so that you can truly make a performance out of taking your mpc out live?

Thanks in advance!

I never understood the appeal of watching someone hit pads live on stage. To me this type of gear is studio equipment.

I mean how exactly does it work? Are you on stage by yourself or with a band? How elaborate can the beats you make "on the fly" be? are you building up layers upon layers as the sequence repeats its self? Are you just using it to trigger special sound effects on stage while you play another instrument.

and whats the point? If it sounds the same as if you had sequenced it yourself at home why would someone want to watch you hit pads on stage.

I mean I have seen rock bands live where there is a mpc on stage with them but it wasnt the center piece of the set up, it was used as a supplement for the drummer so he could trigger some loops.

And ive seen Hip Hop set ups where the guy with the MPC just basicly hit the start button and bob'd his head while the rapper rapped.

I could maybe understand if it was techno music or something, where it might be 1 guy on stage and he starts out with a simple sequence then the guy starts layering more and more stuff on top of the sequence untill it builds and builds.


its kinda like when back in the late 90's when some new groups where trying to be Rock/Rap groups like Surgar ray or 311 or Limp bizkit and they would have a "DJ" in the group with a pair of turntables just to scratch the record like once or twice during a song, it seemed kinda lame and like...."whats the point" ?

this guy plays live, not always hip hop.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QfR3DiCEDf0

4000is1monster wrote:I never understood the appeal of watching someone hit pads live on stage. To me this type of gear is studio equipment.

I mean how exactly does it work? Are you on stage by yourself or with a band? How elaborate can the beats you make "on the fly" be? are you building up layers upon layers as the sequence repeats its self? Are you just using it to trigger special sound effects on stage while you play another instrument.

and whats the point? If it sounds the same as if you had sequenced it yourself at home why would someone want to watch you hit pads on stage.

I mean I have seen rock bands live where there is a mpc on stage with them but it wasnt the center piece of the set up, it was used as a supplement for the drummer so he could trigger some loops.

And ive seen Hip Hop set ups where the guy with the MPC just basicly hit the start button and bob'd his head while the rapper rapped.

I could maybe understand if it was techno music or something, where it might be 1 guy on stage and he starts out with a simple sequence then the guy starts layering more and more stuff on top of the sequence untill it builds and builds.


its kinda like when back in the late 90's when some new groups where trying to be Rock/Rap groups like Surgar ray or 311 or Limp bizkit and they would have a "DJ" in the group with a pair of turntables just to scratch the record like once or twice during a song, it seemed kinda lame and like...."whats the point" ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dekAShBZu0c

Much Respect to the guys in the videos that yall posted and to the people on this board who go out and do that kinda stuff, Im sure I couldnt do that.

But seriously... Why would I want to watch somone do that live, I just dont understand the appeal.

It's like... press play and bop around on stage while the music plays and hit a few pads in between... so what?

Its more like performance Art to me, like when these new age artists paint a picture in front of an audience with loud music playing in the background while the artist jumps around with buckets of paint on the floor and a fist full of brushes painting the picture live, its like... why do I need to see that live, all I want to see is the painting.

dont forget your battery charger.

Upright wrote:this guy plays live, not always hip hop.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QfR3DiCEDf0

I caught him in Providence about a month ago... he's completely sick!!! And, it was COMPLETELY cool seein' someone beat the piss out that biatch on-stage!

medullabuzz wrote:

Upright wrote:this guy plays live, not always hip hop.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QfR3DiCEDf0

I caught him in Providence about a month ago... he's completely sick!!! And, it was COMPLETELY cool seein' someone beat the piss out that biatch on-stage!

Haha.......nice!!!1

[quote="4000is1monster"]I never understood the appeal of watching someone hit pads live on stage. quote]

lol isnt that what they used to say about turntable dj's and then laptop dj's?

i think someone banging on an mpc with skill like those hifana guys or divinci beats record juggling anyday, although technically it is fundamentally the same thing, and yeah i do enjoy watching a good turntablist.

beat juggling/sample juggling same difference, if the dude isnt skilled it turns out shit.

^^Good point.

Yeah thats the same thing they say about Turntablist and I feel the same way about watching someone scratch records alone on stage as I do watching somone hit pads alone on stage... I think its kinda lame.


Im not saying these guys arent skilled, or that what they do isnt a talent in and of itself, I do respect the fact that what they do is a skill.


Would you want to watch an Audio Engineer walk up on stage with a big SSL console and mix a record live on stage. Imagine it... He's hovering over the mixer bopping around the stage while he's pushing faders up and down and turning the pan pots left and right and hitting the mutes and solo buttons at strategic points in time while the music plays.

That would be an absolutely ridiculous scene, but its esentally what these guys are doing. While I appreciate that audio engineers are very skilled at what they do, I wouldnt buy a ticket and go to a venue to see an audio engineer do what he does live.

Maybe my tastes are too mainstream, Maybe this kind of stuff is too "underground" for me, Maybe you have to be part of the scene to get into it. But I wouldnt be alone because I think the general music listening public doesnt get it either.

It's like these modern Guitar Hero guys that are absolutely amazing guitar players and have amazing technical skills but their music f-king sucks because every piece of music or song that they write is essentialy just another excuse/oppurtunity to show of their skills. The music has no soul or any emotial aspect to it that a listener can grasp onto and the only people that can bare to listen to it are other guitar players that have a hard-on for these guys because they wish they could play like that.

Yngwie Malmsteen can play a thousand notes per second but it doesnt sound like music... its soul-less... but a guy like Jimi Hendrix can play ONE NOTE and it makes you want to cry because you feel exactly what he's feeling when he plays that note, he squeezes every ounce of expression out of that note... THATS MUSIC!!!

Its like masturbation... It doesnt feel like it has a soul other then to satisfy some sort of vainglorious need to be noticed... Look at me!!!... Look at me!!!

ok, that is a fair point you have there.

but i think the distinction comes down to the difference between using a machine and playing an instrument. theres skill in both, but different types.

to take your jimi/malsteem comparison, theres the difference right there which you mentioned, and i think thats what it comes down to. guitarist will defniately argue but i agree with you on that one.

unless youre a guitarist, how often do you get bored during a stupidly long guitar solo? or drum/key/violin solo?

i think it does also come down to different tastes.

remember stomp? who woulda thought a bunch of trashcans and some sticks would draw such a crowd?

sknkwrkz wrote:
remember stomp? who woulda thought a bunch of trashcans and some sticks would draw such a crowd?

Stomp was sick!!1 Very well done .......now the engineer behind that production has/had talent!!!1

Millions of people went to go see Stomp, Millions of people go to see The Blue Man Group but I dont think too many people walk around listening to music from Stomp or The Blue Man Group on their Ipods. Its performance art, physical theather set to music.

Their are virtuoso performers of every kind of instrument and when you see some them perform you go wow!, thats amazing that he/she can play like that but thats the only reaction that you have about what they just played, the reaction wasnt because of the music, it was because of the performance.

Excuse my ignorance... but do these beat juggler guys put out albums? Do you listen to them? Is the music something that regular people can get into, or something that only other MPC producers can appreciate?