Turntablist new to the MPC world. Couple of ?'s

Hey wassup everyone! Im new to the MPC world so please bare with me. Ive been a DJ/Turntablist for a couple of years now and always wanted to make beats. Well, after a few gigs I decided to go out and cop me a MPC 2500. I love it and after reading the quick start manual, I pretty much got the basics down.

I just have a few questions regarding sounds. Im just messin around with the pre-programmed kits they had already installed (CDS,Nuday,Sunny_Set,etc.), made a couple of "ok" beats. I really want to make some beats that my friends can rap to.

Regarding samples, I know I can sample some stuff from my records. I have plenty of 60's,70's and 80's rock, jazz, RnB, Soul, etc.. I know hip-hop is based on sampling but I also want to make some fresh beats from scratch. Are there any reliable websites that sell Compact Flash cards with various drum kits and samples in them? Do I need to buy a keyboard to get different synth sounds, guitar riffs and bass lines?

Im pretty much using this MPC2500 as a standalone for now. Just plugged in my headphones and messin around. My setup is basically 2 turntables, a Vestax PMC-07, 2 JBL Eon15-P1 powered speakers, a room full of records, Sony MDR-V700 headphones and a M-Audio FireWire Solo Audio Interface that I got for free.

I dont have my own computer but plan on getting a macbook real soon. So programs are out for now. Can someone help a newbie out?

beatboxx wrote:Do I need to buy a keyboard to get different synth sounds, guitar riffs and bass lines?

synth sounds and other noises can be sampled from records and other sources the same way as drum sounds - to use them in the mpc make a program with them and then play around with the 16 levels function, the autochromatic program, the filters, effects and lfo. you might want a simple midi keyboard to play synth sound melodies a little easier as on the pads. if you really like many different sounds and want to tweak them a lot, then you might look for a real synth or a sound module (rack synth). there are so many of them out there from a few bucks in the pawn shop to several thousand if you like some real analog sound and that makes a recomendation a little hard till you specify your needs.
and look up midi if you don´t know what that is, because you will need it!

peace jo