Please help, get started + setup..please..

HI Guys! new to the boards, peeped it a few times, but never joined cause i didnt have equip to talk about..Now I do lol...well, here it goes..

Questions..

How do I sample into my machine?
I know you guys get these noobie, rookie questions all day long...but please, just here me out please..

My equipment right now is as follows...

MPC 2000XL w/ Zip Drive
SONY Turn Table w/ rca jacks
Mac iBook G4

(1) Midi Cable
(1) RCA to 1/8 inch cable
(1) Zip Disk

thats all i have right now..

What i've tried thus far..

1. taking the RCA to 1/8 in., plugging the RCA's into the DIGITAL inputs on the back and the 1/8th end into my computer. Nothing, no samples, nada...

I do have the manual, and I am reading through, trying to pay my dues, and learn my tool..but i am little anxious to get some sounds in as well, and/or atleast no that I have the right cords and equipment to get my samples in..

the manual says, as far as using the DIGITAL jacks to sample in, that you cannot use the DIGITAL input unless there is a IB-M208P Board installed....how do I know if thats installed or not??


What else do I need right now?? Im just trying to get sounds in right now and work on sampling and sequencing, when I get ready to take my stuff out i'll move on to that chapter and get the equipment..but getting sounds in, do i have all I need now??

i see people w/ little 8 track mixers, do I need that right now??

***Back story, So I have finally purchased some equipment that I have always wanted for as long as can remember, and have always been intrigued by. I could not pass up the offer. I am a guitarist by trade, so beat production, sequencing is all still a little new to me.

MPC 2000XL - $100 (at a pawn shop, on the clearance, shop was closing down, owner told me to name my price on anything on the shelf, it was marked at $699..i thought he was bluffing..so i said $100..he told me to take it home), all that came w/ the MPC was a zip disk.

Boss Sp 303 - $25 (craigslist, wanted one for so long -I LOVE TEH EFFECTS!-..junkie selling his bro's stuff)
Crumar T1 -$100 (craigslist)


***NOTE, i bought the MIDI cable in hopes to one day hook the Boss up to MPC and....use it as slave to the mpc?, resample my samples on the 303 w/ its on board FX and send back to the mpc...

but thats for later..HELP!

push shift and sample ..

run a cable from your computer sound output to your sample input on the mpc and as I said... go to the sample screen. push record.


good deals on that gear... damn.




read that manual.

So is sampling in with the rca-to-1/8in. jack into the DIGITAL input will work?? what about the card?

thetownie000 wrote:So is sampling in with the rca-to-1/8in. jack into the DIGITAL input will work?? what about the card?

No. Unless you have a very fancy soundcard the output of your computer is not digital. It goes to the analogue input

get a dj mixer for your turntable. sample from the mixer into your mpc using analogue.

your imac does have digital in/outs. check under 'about this mac', it's either the headphone jack or the audio in/out jack. you can sample digitally from your computer to the mpc. also you can track out your beats from the mpc to the DAW in your computer with the digital. no sound card needed.

not sure, but i think you need to use specific digital cables, not just RCA cables. you may also need a little convertor box as there are two forms of digital audio format. spdif, and ...., ah, the other one. check what format the mac and the mpc use.

nice score for $100!

oops - my bad - I missed it was a mac and thought it was a PC. didn't know macs had digital outs ... nice.

beach_break wrote:get a dj mixer for your turntable. sample from the mixer into your mpc using analogue.

your imac does have digital in/outs. check under 'about this mac', it's either the headphone jack or the audio in/out jack. you can sample digitally from your computer to the mpc. also you can track out your beats from the mpc to the DAW in your computer with the digital. no sound card needed.

Okay, so I need a mixer..does it have to be a dj mixer or is something like this ok?
http://tampa.craigslist.org/pnl/msg/1641607000.html

As for the digital outs on my computer, I do have a headphone jack, no audio jack..
heres the kicker..before the mpc, I tried sending tracks I had made into my computer w/ my 303..no luck. for some reason, I could not get any sounds into my computer from my boss. soundcard issue?

When I go to "About this Mac" this is what I see under Audio..

Built In Sound Card:

Devices:
Texas Instruments TAS3004:
Inputs and Outputs:
Internal Microphone:
Controls: Left, Right
Playthrough: No
PluginID: TAS
Headphones:
Controls: Mute, Left, Right
PluginID: TAS
Internal Speakers:
Controls: Mute, Left, Right
PluginID: TAS
Formats:
PCM 16:
Bit Depth: 16
Bit Width: 16
Channels: 2
Mixable: Yes
Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz
PCM 24:
Bit Depth: 24
Bit Width: 32
Channels: 2
Mixable: Yes
Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz

not sure, but i think you need to use specific digital cables, not just RCA cables. you may also need a little convertor box as there are two forms of digital audio format. spdif, and ...., ah, the other one. check what format the mac and the mpc use.

Im going to pick up some 1/4 cables..think that will do?

What would the converter box be for?

**NOTE** when I do get to recording tracks from the MPC i plan on buying external recording equip.

beach_break wrote:not sure, but i think you need to use specific digital cables, not just RCA cables. you may also need a little convertor box as there are two forms of digital audio format. spdif, and ...., ah, the other one. check what format the mac and the mpc use.

S/PDIF is the format for transmitting the data, not the connector type. It can be sent over coaxial cables (usually terminating in RCA plugs) or optical fibre (terminating in TOSLINK connectors).

Standard RCA cables work as long as it's not over long distances.

thetownie000 wrote:Im going to pick up some 1/4 cables..think that will do?

I don't think you'll be able to plug that into the computer will you?

You could connect the headphone jack to the (non-digital) inputs on the MPC, with a stereo 1/8" jack to twin mono 1/4" jack. Ideally you want a LINE OUT on the computer, not headphone out. But beggars can't be choosers.

thetownie000 wrote:What would the converter box be for?

converting the optical signal (light) going through optical fibre into an electrical signal going through copper cable. that's necessary if you need to connect something using TOSLINK to something using digital RCA. The MPC uses RCA for its digital connections. I don't know about your computer, but if like you say you only have a headphone jack, then you don't have a digital out.

Standard RCA cables work as long as it's not over long distances.

What do you mean by this? do you meaning using this cord soley and/or over a long period of time?

I don't think you'll be able to plug that into the computer will you?

You could connect the headphone jack to the (non-digital) inputs on the MPC, with a stereo 1/8" jack to twin mono 1/4" jack. Ideally you want a LINE OUT on the computer, not headphone out. But beggars can't be choosers.

Your right, I can't connect the 1/4" jack directly into my computer so like you said, my plan was to connect the headphone jack on my comp to either the RECORD IN or STEREO OUT...

Just for clarity, the record in, is for sampling in right, stereo outs for sending signals out to record right?

converting the optical signal (light) going through optical fibre into an electrical signal going through copper cable. that's necessary if you need to connect something using TOSLINK to something using digital RCA. The MPC uses RCA for its digital connections. I don't know about your computer, but if like you say you only have a headphone jack, then you don't have a digital out.

So the converter box would be used because my computer does not have a digital out?
any recommendations on a inexpensive converter box that gets the job done (mac compatible)




(yes, im still reading over the manual..i need to print it out, this sorting through pdf files is daunting)

So in order to sample into my MPC via my Turntable (which only has a RCA cord going out of it), Computer, and by miking instruments (which will be later on, down the rode).....
I need to purchase:

-A mixer
-1/8" to 1/4" cable
-Zip Disk
(do I need a zip disk reader? or would this just be for storing samples and sequences? --how much does internal memory hold on the 2000xl, i mean im sure it depends on the rate and length of the samples but..roughly)

**Do I need the TOSLINK?

Also, the MPC didnt come with the MPC Editor software, is that a problem?

thetownie000 wrote:

Standard RCA cables work as long as it's not over long distances.

What do you mean by this? do you meaning using this cord soley and/or over a long period of time?

I said distance, because I meant distance. Not time.

You don't need to buy expensive cables sold as "digital coaxial" which are twice the price. You can use a standard RCA cable for digital signals over short distances (a few metres). If you want to run a cable ten metres then it might be worth investing in higher quality cables.

Edit: a bit of tinternet searching tells me 6m is about the limit for using cheapo rca cables as a digital interconnect.

thetownie000 wrote:Your right, I can't connect the 1/4" jack directly into my computer so like you said, my plan was to connect the headphone jack on my comp to either the RECORD IN or STEREO OUT...

Just for clarity, the record in, is for sampling in right, stereo outs for sending signals out to record right?

Right. In is for an audio signal to go in. Out is for an audio signal to go out. See what they did there?

The out isn't just for recording though, it's also to go to your mixer or amplifier or monitors or whatever else. Anything that you want to use the signal coming OUT of your MPC.

thetownie000 wrote:

converting the optical signal (light) going through optical fibre into an electrical signal going through copper cable. that's necessary if you need to connect something using TOSLINK to something using digital RCA. The MPC uses RCA for its digital connections. I don't know about your computer, but if like you say you only have a headphone jack, then you don't have a digital out.

So the converter box would be used because my computer does not have a digital out?

No. WTF?
There are two types of digital connectors, one uses electricity to send the signal, one uses light to send the signal. The converter would convert one to the other, if you were using a digital connection between two pieces of equipment that didn't have the same type of digital connector.

But since you're not going to use a digital connection you don't need it.

Beautiful!! i'm getting answers lol


Hey so I composed a "gear I need list" right above your reply ^^^^

thetownie000 wrote:Beautiful!! i'm getting answers lol


Hey so I composed a "gear I need list" right above your reply ^^^^

Yeah, but I'm bored now, someone else can answer.

The TOSLINK question shows you've not actually understood most of what I wrote, so I'm done.

Wow..

lol

O-kkkkk Morpheus...

if beach_break's right that you have digital out via the headphones, then this:
http://desktops.consumerelectronicsnet. ... p?id=47126
plus the convertor box would let you sample digitally.