MPC Qs

Technical questions for the MPC2000xl and the MPC2000
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MPC Qs

By RoyGBivs Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:43 am
Hey guys,

Just got a MPC 2k with CF card and had two questions.

First, how do you guys manage your files/card sizes? Do you get a 8-16gb card and fit a ton of samples on it or keep small cards and work project by project backing up to a computer or HD?

Second, is there a way to go back a folder directory while navigating the menues? I seem to have to switch what source im loading from to get back to my root folder. Some help on this would be great, this is my one big gripe on the MPC UI (I'm a UI designer).

I came from using the NI Maschine and I have to say I love the MPC. I'v found after just chopping break after break it gets way faster.

Looking forward to joining the community and learning more!
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Re: MPC Qs

By tapedeck Fri Oct 28, 2011 1:53 am
RoyGBivs wrote:First, how do you guys manage your files/card sizes? Do you get a 8-16gb card and fit a ton of samples on it or keep small cards and work project by project backing up to a computer or HD?

since the max memory is 32 mb, i find that 1gb holds plenty for me to work with. i have 1gb sd for 'stock' samples and 1gb cf card for working projects.
i tend to keep all files in the same folder until i feel the need to start a new 'project' - project is loose here because one folder actually covers MANY projects. i name all my aps and all files by date (today is 20111027 - 8 chars - very important). 90% of the time im on the cf 'working' card - i only hit the stock sd when i need a 909 kick or something.

RoyGBivs wrote:Second, is there a way to go back a folder directory while navigating the menues? I seem to have to switch what source im loading from to get back to my root folder. Some help on this would be great, this is my one big gripe on the MPC UI (I'm a UI designer).

hit the left arrow after hitting open window on the folder name ;].

learn to love that open window button, you never know what you might find.
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Re: MPC Qs

By Lampdog Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:24 pm
2k does partitions.

2kxl does folders.

2kxl all songs contents should go into the same 1 folder, mpc's cannot read across folders, keep everything associated with a song in the same folder as tapedeck suggested.

Also as tapedeck said, keep a working card that goes from mpc to computer that ALWAYS uses the 8 CHARACTER FILENAME format. You can format this card in computer with FAT/FAT16 and it will be readable on mpc and computer.

Re: MPC Qs

By RoyGBivs Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:14 pm
Thanks for the advice. With this 8 character thing, should they always be 8 characters or at least 8 characters? Example K0000001 vs K01 for kick one. I know they get shortened if they are 8+.

Didn't know about the inability to read across folders, this would explain some problems I had last night.

I tried the left cursor with the open folder but still doesn't go back up a sub directory, maybe it's a loose button.

I plan on getting a second CF card for projects. Looking forward to learning more about this crazy little box, so much fun.
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Re: MPC Qs

By tapedeck Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:18 pm
under 8 chars is fine.

the issue is if you got over 8 chars, it will get destructively reduced to 8 once you connect it to windows.

so if you have two files, one called 'bassdrum1' and another 'bassdrum2', the last char will get chopped off, and suddenly windows will see two files named 'bassdrum', a singularity will develop, and one or more of your samples will enter into a blackhole of the filesystem.

im not joking either.

and maybe you are confused about folders - are you on a 2k classic or an xl?

the classic cannot use folders.

with the xl, you can easily 'back out' of a folder if you hit open window on the folder and then hit left when you see the files tree displayed.

edit: nevermind about the folders i see what you mean.
Last edited by tapedeck on Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:21 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Re: MPC Qs

By RoyGBivs Fri Oct 28, 2011 5:19 pm
tapedeck wrote:under 8 chars is fine.

the issue is if you got over 8 chars, it will get destructively reduced to 8 once you connect it to windows.

so if you have two files, one called 'bassdrum1' and another 'bassdrum2', the last char will get chopped off, and suddenly windows will see two files named 'bassdrum', a singularity will develop, and one or more of your samples will enter into a blackhole of the filesystem.

im not joking either.

Ok this makes sense. I had this happen with some snares and was really confused, thanks for the heads up!
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Re: MPC Qs

By Lampdog Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:33 pm
tapedeck wrote:so if you have two files, one called 'bassdrum1' and another 'bassdrum2', the last char will get chopped off, and suddenly windows will see two files named 'bassdrum', a singularity will develop, and one or more of your samples will enter into a blackhole of the filesystem.


It's because once the name of the sample or file is changed the PGM and APS and ALL can't find it anymore.
The old name is still contained within those 3 files and it simply can't find the original sample name. Your whole project will load but that one name changed file will not.





tapedeck wrote:edit: nevermind about the folders i see what you mean.

To be clear what I meant was that if you save parts of the same song project into different folders/partitions 2kxl and 2k cannot load your whole song from across different folders/partitions. I highly advise all samples, files, associated stuff for one song to be saved in the same folder/partition.

ie

songfolder/kick01
songfolder/kick02
songfolder/kick.all
songfolder/kick.pgm
songfolder/kick.aps
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Re: MPC Qs

By tapedeck Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:36 pm
Lampdog wrote:
tapedeck wrote:so if you have two files, one called 'bassdrum1' and another 'bassdrum2', the last char will get chopped off, and suddenly windows will see two files named 'bassdrum', a singularity will develop, and one or more of your samples will enter into a blackhole of the filesystem.

It's because once the name of the sample or file is changed the PGM and APS and ALL can't find it anymore.
The old name is still contained within those 3 files and it simply can't find the original sample name. Your whole project will load but that one name changed file will not.

well actually im dead serious - im talking about what happens in windows. it doesnt just 'change the name' and it cant find it, it creates two files with the exact same name ('bassdrum'), and windows goes haywire. when you put it back in the mpc one or more files is actually gone (because two files cannot exist with the same name, even though they do at the first moment you connect the card to windows).
yer right though the project itself will still load minus the problematic samples.

ill go ahead and give you a heads up, this naming thing becomes very important when you 'split' a stereo sample in the mpc, as by default, the sample name will be very long.

Re: MPC Qs

By RoyGBivs Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:00 pm
One other thing thats been kinda buggin me. So I chop a vinyl and I got my 16 samples and save them into a program, I got that down. But not I reload my main program with all my drums and have to import the vinyl 16 snds into bank B of my main drum program. Is there a way to merge these? Like say take Vinyl sample program and merge those 16 samples into Drum Program Bank B? Sorry if this doesn't make sense.
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Re: MPC Qs

By Lampdog Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:03 pm
Oh yeah, the 2 names thing is crazy, I know what your talking about.

I've went through all these same problems when I first started using floppies on my 2kxl and computer.
I pulled my hair out for weeks on end.
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Re: MPC Qs

By tapedeck Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:07 pm
RoyGBivs wrote:One other thing thats been kinda buggin me. So I chop a vinyl and I got my 16 samples and save them into a program, I got that down. But not I reload my main program with all my drums and have to import the vinyl 16 snds into bank B of my main drum program. Is there a way to merge these? Like say take Vinyl sample program and merge those 16 samples into Drum Program Bank B? Sorry if this doesn't make sense.


no there is no function to do this, you are just gonna have to get used to it.

its a blessing in disguise, if you quit creating new programs for every chop, you can make your programs more clean and ultimately have more control over what goes where.
it takes an extra 2 minutes to assign the sounds to pads yourself.

ps. that whole mentality of 'its tedious but it gets faster' will show up in many many places, and some of us have really learned to love it cause it actually does let you do things faster when you figure it out.

Re: MPC Qs

By RoyGBivs Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:14 pm
tapedeck wrote:
RoyGBivs wrote:One other thing thats been kinda buggin me. So I chop a vinyl and I got my 16 samples and save them into a program, I got that down. But not I reload my main program with all my drums and have to import the vinyl 16 snds into bank B of my main drum program. Is there a way to merge these? Like say take Vinyl sample program and merge those 16 samples into Drum Program Bank B? Sorry if this doesn't make sense.


no there is no function to do this, you are just gonna have to get used to it.

its a blessing in disguise, if you quit creating new programs for every chop, you can make your programs more clean and ultimately have more control over what goes where.
it takes an extra 2 minutes to assign the sounds to pads yourself.

ps. that whole mentality of 'its tedious but it gets faster' will show up in many many places, and some of us have really learned to love it cause it actually does let you do things faster when you figure it out.

Alright, I'm going to keep this in mind while cutting/naming stuff.

Yeah I'v noticed that but enjoy it. Came from a Boss 303 so know all about that kinda stuff. Just going to keep at it, thanks for all the help this is a dope community.
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Re: MPC Qs

By mr_debauch Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:40 pm
dont forget

the mpc can have KICK0001 as well as kick0001 .. computers though think those two names are the same.
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Re: MPC Qs

By tapedeck Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:45 pm
mr_debauch wrote:the mpc can have KICK0001 as well as kick0001 .. computers though think those two names are the same.

depends on the os really. totally legit on linux and some parts of osx - but lets not go there ;]

wise words nonetheless, thanks. :wink:
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Re: MPC Qs

By mr_debauch Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:22 pm
tapedeck wrote:
mr_debauch wrote:the mpc can have KICK0001 as well as kick0001 .. computers though think those two names are the same.

depends on the os really. totally legit on linux and some parts of osx - but lets not go there ;]

wise words nonetheless, thanks. :wink:


yes true, but none the less.. he has around 50 characters to choose from for each character slot... times 8... that should be simple enough to work around.
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