Will the MPC1000 do what I need?

Hi, my first post here - hope my question makes sense

I'm a progressive trance DJ and I want to use an MPC-1000 in my sets - not really interested in production - I want to use it more as a live performance tool.

Ideally what I would like to do is sample different parts of tracks that I really like - probably the shortest would be 4 bars (5-7 seconds) and up to as much as a minute or two (or even more).

I would like to then adjust these samples to the same BPM and "put" each one on pad. Then I would want to trigger any sample, loop it a couple of times, trigger another sample, etc and basically move around like that.

I would need to be able to "load" new samples onto pads while I'm doing this so I could basically jam an entire set.

So I need to know a few things:

1. What is the longest stereo sample that I could do? (I intend to install the max RAM - 128MB? and hard drive.)

2. Is there a limit on the total sample time that can be "connected" to the pads at any one time? i.e. could I have 16 (1 on each pad) 90 second samples "active" at the same time?

3. Most important - is there some kind of time clocking system which could keep my samples synced to a central clock? My finger timing will never be perfect obviously, so I need to know that I could trigger the next sample at the right(ish) moment and the beat would stay on line.

I hope this makes sense to you of what I want to do - even if I haven't communicated it technically that well. Would appreciate any answers to my questions and any other useful information related to what I am trying to accomplish.

From what I've read the MPC is the most likely machine to be able to give me this - just don't know if it will work altogether. Friends of mine have suggested the Ableton Live with a controller would be better suited to what I want to do, but I use a computer at work too much - don't want it in the booth with me too!

Thanks for your help,

JP

u cant load new samples while playing sound.

Thanks for that bit of information. OK, so that means so far that I would have to mix in another track while reloading samples on the MPC. That's doable. Do you (or anyone else) perhaps know the answers to my other questions? I'd really like to evaluate if I can use this to jam with 4/4 music as I described in my first post.

ha i figured that one would stop you. ok let me seee

longest stereo is 11mins 45 seconds or there abouts that will take ll your ram.

im not 100% by what you mean here

2. Is there a limit on the total sample time that can be "connected" to the pads at any one time? i.e. could I have 16 (1 on each pad) 90 second samples "active" at the same time?

but i belive the limiting factor would be the the MPC only has 32 voices so that will cause a problem playing a mass of long samples at once.

3. Most important - is there some kind of time clocking system which could keep my samples synced to a central clock? My finger timing will never be perfect obviously, so I need to know that I could trigger the next sample at the right(ish) moment and the beat would stay on line.

either you mean Midi sync which it has or u mean saveing parts so they always fall in at the same point which can be done.

hey,

while you would be able to do what you want to on the MP with a little fiddling,
some planning and careful practice, it's not really designed to be a looper,
or a phrase sampler - so you might be better off at looking at some other
types of samplers that would me more suited to your style.

don't get me wrong - the MP could do it, but you'd have a lot of other features
that you'd have no use for <---- and you have to pay for these, so why not
get something a bit more streamlined for your workflow?

Undersound, thanks for your useful feedback.

re point 2 - my assumption is that each sample that is to be triggered by a pad would need to be stored in RAM?. So if total sample time is 11 mins and I wanted to be playing with say 16 x 1 minute samples (each being triggered by it's pad) would that exceed the memory? do they all need to be held in RAM? I assume the MPC couldn't pull something off the hard drive that quick in real time? (I would only play samples sequentially, not all at once BTW...)

Re point 3 what i'm trying to say (probably in a clumsy way) is that say I have a 30 sec sample playing in 4/4 time at 120bpm and then (either before it ends or just as it ends) I hit another pad and trigger another sample - also 4/4 time at 120bpm, will the MPC be able to automatically to keep the beats in sync at 120bpm. i.e. I may (will!) hit the pad a millisecond too early or too late - and I'd like that not to matter... know what i mean?

thanks again for taking the time to respond.
JP

undersound wrote:im not 100% by what you mean here

2. Is there a limit on the total sample time that can be "connected" to the pads at any one time? i.e. could I have 16 (1 on each pad) 90 second samples "active" at the same time?

but i belive the limiting factor would be the the MPC only has 32 voices so that will cause a problem playing a mass of long samples at once.

3. Most important - is there some kind of time clocking system which could keep my samples synced to a central clock? My finger timing will never be perfect obviously, so I need to know that I could trigger the next sample at the right(ish) moment and the beat would stay on line.

either you mean Midi sync which it has or u mean saveing parts so they always fall in at the same point which can be done.

t_bias,

thanks, appreciate your point of view. it's prob not the right place to ask but what other looper / phrase sampler could you suggest?? I have not yet come across anything that looked like it was up for the job - which is why I'm looking at the MPC (and I dig how it sounds)...

I'm not concerned about spending on features I may never use - I can live with that - the main criteria is that I can do what I want with relative ease. It's looking like it might not be that easy with the MPC. The main factor as I see it so far is whether it can keep samples with 4/4 beat locked to a "central" clock so the beat stays constant even if the I hit the pad a bit out of time. That's the one that will make or break it...

t_bias wrote:hey,

another thing - can the MPC-1000 do time stretching (while keeping pitch intact) on a sample?

And if so can it do it based on the detected BPM of the clip? eg. if I gave it a sample of some 130bpm music, and then said time-stretch it to play at 126bpm would it do that (and with a smile)?

Or am I being way too wishful here???

16 X 1min would exeed your ram, but that is if they are all stereo. i Use the JJOS and the time strech it pretty nice aslong as your not over doing it.

as for that performance of playing notes and hitting it early or late, aside from pre programming the sequence i dont think it will be locked, i dont use it in that way maybe there is a way to set up live quantise or somthing but im unsure.

my advice to you would be look at getting a Roland MC-808

what about a laptop and an mpd 16 or 24 to trigger everything?

Laptop running Ableton Live and MPD24 for control would probably be the intelligent solution - however I really wish to accomplish this without resorting to using a PC - it's a philosophical / aesthetic thing for me.

I'll have a look at the 808 - it's bit bulky however and i've heard it sounds weak compared to the mpc.

Anyone else knows any other options I could explore I would love to hear.

Thanks