How do you use mpc live? (RAM question)

Wondering if anyone uses this live? and how they get around the RAM issue. like a song with a bunch of samples can use up all the memory and take minutes to load up. how do you geniuses get around this? yeah my RAM is maxed out. only way i can think of is two have two mpcs. then during some point in yhe song- if i have my hands free(!)- i can load up mpc 2 so its ready after the song is finished and keep switching mpc and loading during the set.

How much RAM are you using?

If you're only on 16mb, UPGRADE NOW. 16mb is hard to fit samples for even one song, let alone fitting 2 or more. But definitely don't go with the official AKAI upgrade, it's absurdly overpriced. There are posts on this forum about getting compatible RAM cards.

If you do have the 128mb upgrade, how many samples are in each one of your songs?!?


In general to save space, you can delete as much of the sample as possible before and after the part you are actually using, and convert as many samples as you can to mono. (e.g. drums most likely don't need to be stereo, unless they've got reverb or something). Also, purge the sample memory to get rid of any samples you aren't using and forgot about.

i cant possibly see how you can run out of ram with the upgrade

Yeah i realize now theres plenty of room for my samples! BUT..

Thing is I'm still trying to figure out how i can use this live. Like when i finish one beat and load up the next i'm gonna have like two minutes of dead air. Only things i can think of are

a) get another mpc. so while one loads i can i have the next beat ready to go on the other mpc. kind of a last resort thou.

b) have the basic bones of a beat pre recorded assign it to one of the pads. do some shit (finger drumming etc) to make it seem live. thou i know it wont be.

c) have one really long beat with a bunch of samples. or load as many programs as i can onto the memory and have a sequencing nightmare.

Is there another way? cheers.

i know this isn't the jjos forum, but, the packed programs in os2xl might be really useful for you. cuts the load time in half or more. plus you might be able to fit more beats in one project...

peace

oh shit post number 420!

Lampdog wrote:It's going to come down to your organization skills.

If you going to be playing it out live, you need to organize it properly so you can switch sample banks, program files etc in an instant. You need to organize so you know where everythink is without even thinking, sequencer 2 bam, pad 16 hi hat loop bam, bank d synth sounds etc. Nothing worse then going live, getting the crowd going then.................silence