Just bought myself a MPD26, need help for set-up!

Hello everyone, this is my first post, and topic.
Am from Norway, ålesund.
I have a dell M1710 laptop, logitech Z-5500, and a 30 year old sharp turntable! I also have a samsung 40" LCD.¨
I bought myself a MPD26 because I've gained myself some friends that's very into beat-making, hip-hop(jazz).
And they've simply inspired me to learn the art, even more so when i borrowed their MPC2000XL.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... 0xl_se.jpg

So i was wondering if anyone could help me decide upon what Audio interface i should buy, my M1710 has Firewire output, so i though; MPD26, USB->M1710, Firewire->Audio Interface, Optical cable->Logitech Z-5500.
So i need one with those specific I/O and good quality, and it don't need to fit inside my goddamn pocket...
Am kinda used to FL but I've read that audio quality is inferior compared to reason?

I'll start with this, and see if someone replies, it's getting kinda late and high times leaving me lazy eyes!
oh btw, I believe my MPD26 arrives 31 may, so i just gotta buy myself a Audio interface till then right

thx in advance for any replies ^^,

Peace/Salaam

Djinn88 wrote:FL but I've read that audio quality is inferior compared to reason?

that is a complete rumor and is 100% false.


well you need to look at what you will be doing with the interface in the future... I suggest looking for one that has at least 8 inputs such as the delta 1010, the motu 828 mk2 or mk3, well you get the idea. take a look at your local store's website to get an idea of prices.

mr_debauch wrote:

Djinn88 wrote:FL but I've read that audio quality is inferior compared to reason?

that is a complete rumor and is 100% false.


well you need to look at what you will be doing with the interface in the future... I suggest looking for one that has at least 8 inputs such as the delta 1010, the motu 828 mk2 or mk3, well you get the idea. take a look at your local store's website to get an idea of prices.

hes on a laptop..

FL's stock vsti's are inferior to Reason's racks NN-XT & THOR..

I think am going for the Edirol FA-101! seems just the thing for me.

why do you need so many ins and outs for your particular set up.? you need 2 ins for your turntable, but judging from your speakers you don't necessarily need an audio interface.. perhaps a new usb turntable and no interface would work fine if your planning on sampling.. but if your planning on upgrading to monitors than disregard this comment..

josephnicks wrote:

mr_debauch wrote:

Djinn88 wrote:FL but I've read that audio quality is inferior compared to reason?

that is a complete rumor and is 100% false.


well you need to look at what you will be doing with the interface in the future... I suggest looking for one that has at least 8 inputs such as the delta 1010, the motu 828 mk2 or mk3, well you get the idea. take a look at your local store's website to get an idea of prices.

hes on a laptop..

FL's stock vsti's are inferior to Reason's racks NN-XT & THOR..

yeah true the delta is pci... but either way he wont see the 1010 brand new at his local music shop. I was just naming interfaces that had at least 8 inputs so he wont run into problems later..

also, yeah of course some of the stock FL pluggins are not as good as reason's rack units... however the 10 million other VST pluggins are and you cant use those in reason (still not sure why they went that route) but besides that in the domain of sound engines reason is not really "better".

I believe MPD's need a proper soundcard or Audio interface(usb, firewire, etc) it's not "standalone" like MPC's! shoot me if am wrong

you are wrong somewhat, while the MPD is not standalone, you simply plug it in to the usb slot and go... control your DAW, no sound card is necessary to use the MPD..

a sound card/interface is only needed for the following reasons, recording audio into a computer, whether it be Vocal/Instrument/Sampler(MPC), routing MIDI to your computer(MIDI2USB is another option), & routing audio to studio monitors via your sound cards outs, the MPD is sending MIDI to your computer via USB...

your setup can be used like this MPD>Laptop>Headphones/computer speakers...

when i make beats on fl the sound eventually starts to crack(latency?) that might be because my annual reformat is overdue, but still, i doubt the M1710 standard soundcard will suffice.

this is how i see it, i want the best quality flow, MPD send it's signal through usb2 port, which is best for high speed, but not as good as firewire at continuous bit flow, am not sure how that effects the quality, but from there on it goes firewire out (daw) to interface and out to speaker system with a optical cable.

Edit:
And i do want to sample from turntable and mic!

2Edit;
Now my speakers are hooked up to my M1710 through 3.5MM Male to Male Audio Cable, with THX on! poor solution, but i didn't have a good enough reason to buy long enough firewire cable.
My tv is hooked up through DVI->HDMI cable.

Djinn88 wrote:when i make beats on fl the sound eventually starts to crack(latency?) that might be because my annual reformat is overdue, but still, i doubt the M1710 standard soundcard will suffice.

this is how i see it, i want the best quality flow, MPD send it's signal through usb2 port, which is best for high speed, but not as good as firewire at continuous bit flow, am not sure how that effects the quality, but from there on it goes firewire out (daw) to interface and out to speaker system with a optical cable.

I you are confused about the role each component does.

your MPD has no audio signal, it only sends data commands to your computer program (fl studio) and FL makes the sounds... it sends the digital audio out through either firewire to the interface, through USB to the interface, or to your PCI card interface or soundcard. The MPD controller plays absolutely no roll in sound quality what so ever... absolutely none. That is like saying your mouse and keyboard will make your computer sound worse if you are using the old green & purple PS2 ports instead of USB ones. none of that has to do with the sound at all.

next.. the crackling you are hearing is because your buffer iis set too high. go in the FL options and put the BUFFER MS (milliseconds) up higher and you will see the crackling will happen less.

oh and reformatting will do absolutely nothing to help your sound card's latency issues what so ever...

here are some choices..

http://www.tweakheadz.com/audio_interfa ... _chart.htm

ah thank for clearing that up for me, i guessed as much, but you made it perfectly clear now, and the Fl buffer tip is greatly received. Still, i have some money to be spent on a proper audio interface, it's good to know that i don't really need it(except if i want to sample turntable, mic...etc which i do), but still, there must be benefits to having an audio interface when it comes to quality? am speaking about the rawness and crisp

Djinn88 wrote:ah thank for clearing that up for me, i guessed as much, but you made it perfectly clear now, and the Fl buffer tip is greatly received. Still, i have some money to be spent on a proper audio interface, it's good to know that i don't really need it(except if i want to sample turntable, mic...etc which i do), but still, there must be benefits to having an audio interface when it comes to quality? am speaking about the rawness and crisp

well yeah audio interfaces are important. if you want to record into your computer the analog to digital converters are MUCH better quality then that little headphone sized jack on the back of your tower. also, the output going to your speakers will be most likely better then your built in stock computer sound card. The other thing is the performance will be better then most stock sound cards.. you can have that buffer length turned down lower for example. it adds flexibility to your studio rig... you have some old drum machines you want to record you will get the ability to get that, you got a vocalist and a guitar player in there then you can record them without it sounding thin and garbage.

Also with a sound interface with 8 inputs you can record 8 things at once or 4 stereo things at once... so for example if you have a bass guitar and a regular guitar playing and a singer singing... each of those things will get recorded seperately as their own sound clip so you can add things like reverb or distortion to each thing separately.

buy some entry level studio monitors, and a usb interface with multiple ins. i use to own the Yamaha Audiogram 6.. nice price and does what i needed it to do, record vocals & mpc, its basically a 6 channel mixer 1,2,3/4,5/6, another option could be a usb mixer. i since have moved on to a Delta 1010 solely for the ability to multi-track.