Software to use with the MPC2000XL

Hey guys, I've been using my MPC2000xl for about a year now and I'm pretty familiar with it. I'm just wondering what type of software you guys use to record/add effects to your tracks. As of right now, I connect the outs of my MPC to my Alesis 8 FX, and that to my macbook with audacity and record. Nothing too fancy. Im just looking to advance on the software tip and have no idea how. Any advice would be helpful, thanks.

well what exactly are you trying to do? record a beat or is it for live performance? Because for recording a beat you can do stuff like you already are, recording those tracks into a daw and then you can add the appropriate fx later...

or maybe you can do the same with software for playing live, but the other route is to use a mixer that has fx or one with an aux send/return where you can add an fx box.


there are many daw music programs that can achieve this, maybe look into cubase, or reaper.

Just trying to record the beats, not play live. Then add effects/ tweak. I wasn't sure if there was a more in depth way of doing it. like recording tracks separately or anything like that, because the way I'm doing it now is very basic.

Logic.

REAPER!

you are doing what I do... I like two tracking beats into the PC with audacity... but if you want to get a bit more in depth you can if you have the 8 outputs (or you can also use the stereo outs but it takes more time)

with a daw like reaper, you can record 8 tracks at a time... what you do is assign each of your mpc's pads to their own outputs (it takes a pair of outputs if the sample is a stereo one) or else you can solo each of your mpc tracks and record each sound one at a time through the stereo outputs...

anyways, this makes each sound have it's own wav file track in the daw where you can add pluggin fx. Then you can also mix it to your liking in the daw as well before exporting it as a finished song.

it's easy to do once you have everything rigged up.

personally I don't bother, I just make the beat and record it and thats it.

mr_debauch wrote:I like two tracking beats into the Mac with audacity...

I still 2-track record all my hardware from an external mixer too. That's what I've been doing before I even had a computer. When nothing fancy needs to be done, its always nice to keep it simple.

Yea, its what I've been doing, I have the 8 outs, but the mixer i have mixes everything down. anyone have any suggestions on a mixer that records all 8 separately? I downloaded reaper, pretty solid Thanks for the advice guys. One quick question tho, is there any method to sync all the tracks up when you record them separately, because i have trouble doing that.. i have to go back and align everything slightly.

Yes there is.. if you have an interface with midi in that is..

Create a project in Reaper with the same bpm as in your MPC.
Click insert an select 'smpte ltc/mtc/timecode generator'. (this will be 30fps)
Make that track a bit longer than your song is in the MPC.

Now connect your MPC (midi out) to your interface (midi in)
On your MPC set the right midi out to 'MTC - 30 fps - MMC on'.

In reaper right click on the play button. click the 'enable sync to timecode'
(Dont forget to hook up the audio outs to the audio ins on your interface.)
Now create a new recording track and arm that one with the right settings.

If you press record now in reaper, you will get an pop up saying: waiting for timecode. Then if you press 'play start' on your MPC it will automaticly record the track on bpm in Reaper. This way you can sync all tracks one by one.