Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
By BJax Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:50 am
Hai Guise ,

I was searching quite a while for a good and affordable hardware device to sequence multiple hardware synthesizers over midi and my conclusion is that there is still nothing that beats a MPC.

So I got a used MPC500 for a good price and started messing around for it since a week now. I think I understood most of the functions now and everything is working really great, never had that much opportunities, but I just can't find a decent workflow.

My method is as follows:
Changing the parameters of the tracks everytime I find something worth sequencing kind of gets me out of my flow, therefore I made a Sequence with preset tracks for all of my gear, sorted on the different banks so I just have to search for the fitting one (like A1: Drum Kick 01, A2: Drum Kick 2, A3 Drum Tom 01, ..., B1: Bass Synth 01, ..., C1: Synth Lead 01, ..., D1: Voice 01, ...).

It's working, but limits me to the presets, but I can't think of any better solution.

Sooooooo I'm asking you to help me out and tell me how you work with your synthesizers and the MPC500. :smoker:

Thank you! :worthy:
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By motosega Wed Mar 15, 2017 8:47 pm
i tried using a preset sequence with tracks for all my different midi instruments, but after a while i went back to just setting everything up each time i make a new track.
it gets so fast that you don't even notice your'e doing it.
after you have the menus memorised by your hands the mpc really gets out of the way. and you can just make music.
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By Menco Sun Mar 19, 2017 8:09 pm
Maybe consider upgrading to a 1000 or 2500.

The first MPC I ever bought was the 500. Basically learned how to make beats on that piece of gear before upgrading to a 2500.
What really is downside of the 500 is the small screen since it only can show such a small amount of information forcing you to scroll through too many screens which really slows down your workflow. Once I got used to the workflow on the 2500 I never was able to get back to the 500 that I kept around for beat making on the road, cause it really felt it was really holding me back when it comes down to setting up things and going through the menus quickly.