Some basic questions

Hello.

I am asking this for a friend. He is starting playing piano in hotels etc. and need a drum machine. The one all bar pianists here in Norway is using, is the Alesis SR-16. This is because it is supereasy to use. However, my friend wants the best, hippest and funkiest grooves/sounds he can find. For this, the best way would be for him to have a sampler and sample sounds and grooves himself. Now to the question:

Can we set up the MPC200XL or MPC1000 to be supereasy to use? (my friend is totally lost in the world of computers). He needs to have a footswitch to start the groove and another footswitch to give him a fill-in followed by a different version of the groove (for refrain). Also, if he press the first footswitch, he needs it to stop the groove and to restart it from the beginning when he press it again. Also, he needs to have about 20 grooves/rhythms that he can load fast and easy.

A rather long question, but before he buys the machine (and I set it up), we need to know that these tasks are possible and uncomplicated to do.

Asbjorn

out of the two choices you provided: the 2000xl or the 1000, I would go with the 1000. It is "super easy" it allows for a foot switch and loading songs is also easy with the use of the compact flash. You could get up to a 2 gig compact flash card and load up ALL your songs and samples on one card. that will eliminate the need to change disks which promote faster load times of different songs. and for the price, you can't beat the 1000. the SR16 is good, I have one but it is very limited in sounds.

Great. It all sounds good. But can I make it as easy for him to use as the SR-16, and can I give the MPC1000 the same footswitch functions?

(My friend is a fantastic musician, but a complete failure when it comes to computers and technical stuff. I have to make a set-up for him that can´t be misunderstood)

You can make it easier by using the Autoload feature on the CF card - turn it on, all samples and Programs load up at once.
You can give him some programs to get him started, like those from the Akai Int. site (the "Kits Of The Week").

NB you can assign any sound(s) to any pad, it's not like a drum box with fixed BD, SD pads etc., potential for confusion there. Try and stick to the defaults at first e.g. BD on pad 02, maybe even make temp. marks on the panel.

Howzat?


PS: Yes, I've been on vacation from you lot - sue me!

I'm not sure if you can use the same foot switches but you can program the mpc just as you would with the sr16. as long as the sounds are in the mpc, you build the patterns(sr26)/sequences(mpc) the same way. Just with the mpc, what you have to make sure you save everything b4 you turn it off or else you lose everything.