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By DevonB Thu Aug 12, 2021 12:59 am
Greetings. I just picked up a Akai MPC One this week, and am really liking what I'm hearing/seeing so far. I picked up an old Boss DR-660 drum machine a few weeks ago, and discovered I really wanted something more advanced. I'm well aware the Akai MPC One is lightyears ahead of that type of a drum machine, but really want those simple 'drum loops' ala the Korg Electribe, DR-660, TR-909, etc. that has a lot of the old school electronic kits as well as acoustic kits in a variety of styles (Rock, Country, Techno, House, etc.) to get started with, do some grid drum programming, and just have something simple to jam along to, without having to get deep into the One at this point in time. The included library sounds pretty nice, but really want just more genre variety. Ultimately, I'd like to have most of the old 80's drum machines.

Any suggestions? Free would be great, but I'd be willing to pay too.

Also, any other newbie 'man, I wish someone told me 'x' when I first got my first MPC' advice is also welcome too. There's a lot to learn here. I just brought it up in stand-alone mode, and haven't even tried to get in integrated with Windows 10 or Cubase Pro yet.

Devon
By DokBrown Fri Aug 13, 2021 8:44 pm
I only do hardware but there are a hoard of VSTs
I am only going to vouch for machines I’ve actually owned & used.

SPARK – hard to find but worth it.
the sound engine was great & the interface was well thought out. Unfortunately, the win7 laptop that I was running it on died from a virus . . . . . . . . I should have installed it on my win10 laptop but I never did . . . .
https://reverb.com/p/arturia-spark
https://www.arturia.com/products/drums/sparkle

IK UNO DRUM - Best bang for buck & EZ to get
https://www.musictech.net/news/gear/uno ... y-library/

I favor the drumbrute for the analog standalone experience but the IK UNO takes the cake for the blend of analog/digital sounds. It has a noisy compressor that is lots of fun. The pads & sequencer are horrible but your MPC can fix all that . . . . . . . .
By DevonB Sat Aug 14, 2021 8:43 am
DokBrown wrote:I only do hardware but there are a hoard of VSTs
I am only going to vouch for machines I’ve actually owned & used.

SPARK – hard to find but worth it.
the sound engine was great & the interface was well thought out. Unfortunately, the win7 laptop that I was running it on died from a virus . . . . . . . . I should have installed it on my win10 laptop but I never did . . . .
https://reverb.com/p/arturia-spark
https://www.arturia.com/products/drums/sparkle

IK UNO DRUM - Best bang for buck & EZ to get
https://www.musictech.net/news/gear/uno ... y-library/

I favor the drumbrute for the analog standalone experience but the IK UNO takes the cake for the blend of analog/digital sounds. It has a noisy compressor that is lots of fun. The pads & sequencer are horrible but your MPC can fix all that . . . . . . . .


Thanks for the recommendations. Not looking for even more hardware, just looking for an Expansion for the MPC One that has MIDI drum loops like other drum machines with more variety of styles than what currently comes with the MPC One that is heavily focused on old electronic kits (like all the old Roland drum machines, for example, or Oberheim or LinnDrum, etc.) Any recommendations you've personally tried/own?

Devon
By Big-Buddha Sat Aug 28, 2021 11:38 am
Dont be afraid to open the MPC software inside Cubase and work from there. I found it much easier working my MPC-X inside of Cubase than in stand alone mode. especially editing midi parts is way more easy inside a DAW than in the X.

best wishes Buddha