A few teething issues?

I have just got an MPC 2500. I have a few dissapointing conclusions that need explaining to me, I would really appreciate anyones thoughts; (I come from a PC/Cubase/VSTi background so hopefullly its just some time until I have mastered it!) Please forgive the essay!

1) Programs; when I chopshop a sample like a drum beat, it offers to turn it into a 'program', when I record a scratch loop or a bassline which I want to play as a loop on a track (not chopped), but it is not availble to sequence, as it is not in a program yet. How do I use programs properly? (direct record is ok, but when holding a Bass guitar, you end up coming in too early or late. When you play that loop back with the other sequences, it comes in late and continues to play even after I have pressed Stop!...eh?)

2) Beat making; I used to use a Yamaha A3000 sampler, I loved it because it sounded huge, the samples could be sent via Recycle! direct to a 'Program' that I could sequence to my hearts content; the hits would ALWAYS play 32 Polyphony, and never overloaded or distorted when two or more hits played together.
I was gutted to find that so far ALL of my beats behave as if in Mono only (even though its set to 'Poly') meaning that you cannot layer drums. Do I have to use another 'track' in the sequence to layer properly?

3) the 'famous' shuffle quantise of the MPC; I expected way more parameter/option control (the shuffle is from 50% to 75% only- what about straight 16's? or less than 50% shuffle? seems very two dimensional in the sense that the only 'grooves' I seem to create are either a shuffled 16, or a similar shuffle but in 16T beats. I have played around with 8s, 32s etc but they really don't make much difference. What am I missing here?

Overall, my beats are sourced from good samples (vinyl/wav etc), I know my patterns and how to sequence a great drum track, but most beats sounds clipped, slightly 'off' in timing and very 'unstable' sounding overall, with the 'groove' template often making the beat sound less 'gelled' than tieing it all together how you'd expect.

Your thoughts please....

1) Go to mode-> program and press f1. In this screen u can assign a sample manualy to one of the pads. Just highlight the field and scroll through ur samples u have in ur Ram. If u want to stop a long sample that continues to play after u have pressed the stop button u have to press 3 times stop rapidly after each other.

2)Are u sure the program is in poly? (program-> params, right upper corner). Because if the program (not just the pad) is switched to poly u can layer up to 32 sounds in the sequencer without any trouble.

3) That's all there is. Don't underestimate it's power. Try different settings and u will find ur way. I like to double the BPM and play without quantise for swing.

4) If ur samples are normalised they might sound distorted when the main volume (in Other) is set to 0db. Make sure the start points of the sample are truncated properly. Maybe it's the quantising why ur samples sound off. Don't forget it takes some practice to be fully able to control the mpc to ur liking.

i didnt fully understand/know how to answer questions 1 and 3. as for question 2, i know u said ure samples are set to poly but did u check that the program itself is set to poly and not mono??? u can find it at the top right corner of the parameters tab in the programs section. when u chop up a sample and create a program from it, it usually makes the program mono.

if i understand question 1 correctly, u need to add that scratch/bass loop to a program, but 1st edit it in the trim section, so that when u play that bass sample it doesnt come in late. oh and i press stop twice to get samples to stop.

hope atleast one of them points helped

ok menco explained it nicely,
i misread question 3, but yeh in order to get the perfect "swing" and bounce to my drums, i dont use quantize, sometimes on everything but mostly on hihats...learned that ish from that black milk video thats floating about. i hate the quantize on the 2500, the 2000xl's in nice but i always found the 2500's to be a bit robotic

just practice a lot and make this forum ure homepage lol....both will be very important in determining ure progress on the MPC

OK, thanks for the quick responses! (appreciated)

I realise I am probably asking too many questions at once, apologies!

1) Programs; I have created a Program of loaded drum hits (some layered too!) and they now play back perfectly, in POLY, recorded to Sequence 1, Track 1, (called Program01) so all good there now, thanks!

The main question on Programs is; How to create more of them?

I select a new track; 'Track 2', (in Seq 1) load up some more sounds, I assign them to pads also.

I go to Mode>Program, but a 'New Program' or 'Create' option isn't available.
I can only add to the current program, (the just completed program I made (01), or some other program option that I do not understand similarly named "Pgm: No.1", the only other option is 'OFF'.

I need to turn the next set of samples into a Program in order to use them in the song right? But how do I do this?

(I should mention I am aware that you can create an entire songs parts mapped over the 64 available pads on the 1 program!) Thanks

glitchcentre wrote:OK, thanks for the quick responses! (appreciated)

I realise I am probably asking too many questions at once, apologies!

1) Programs; I have created a Program of loaded drum hits (some layered too!) and they now play back perfectly, in POLY, recorded to Sequence 1, Track 1, (called Program01) so all good there now, thanks!

The main question on Programs is; How to create more of them?

I select a new track; 'Track 2', (in Seq 1) load up some more sounds, I assign them to pads also.

I go to Mode>Program, but a 'New Program' or 'Create' option isn't available.
I can only add to the current program, (the just completed program I made (01), or some other program option that I do not understand similarly named "Pgm: No.1", the only other option is 'OFF'.

I need to turn the next set of samples into a Program in order to use them in the song right? But how do I do this?

(I should mention I am aware that you can create an entire songs parts mapped over the 64 available pads on the 1 program!) Thanks

I just spent 10 seconds to pick up the manual and look in the table of contents. It's the first item in the Program chapter.
Do you have a reason why you haven't done this?

I suggest you read the manual from start to finish. It's not rocket science.

If you've lost your manual or don't have one, download 'MPC2500 - REFERENCE MANUAL' here -> http://www.akaipro.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/1115/tt/5 (you can put any nonsense in for user details for the download).

Please do this before asking for any more help like this or you are likely to just keep getting RTFM

glitchcentre wrote:
3) the 'famous' shuffle quantise of the MPC; I expected way more parameter/option control (the shuffle is from 50% to 75% only- what about straight 16's? or less than 50% shuffle?

50% swing on the MPC IS IN FACT straight 16's. 50% means no swing at all.

[quote="jimmie"]

OK, you have me there, call it '3am tired eyes and learning/reading overkill??'
To be fair I have mastered most of the other areas in the space of 24hrs via reading the manual, just missed this one...

OK I understand.

I guess with so much hype surrounding the MPC's groove quantise and shuffle prowess, I am just dissapointed with how it performs overall, and its limited function, that's all.

When viewed against an automated shuffle or groove template on a DAW it clearly looks/feels different;
But on the 2500 is sure don't sound better/different.

Perhaps I should of got a 2000XL instead??

glitchcentre wrote:OK I understand.

I guess with so much hype surrounding the MPC's groove quantise and shuffle prowess, I am just dissapointed with how it performs overall, and its limited function, that's all.

When viewed against an automated shuffle or groove template on a DAW it clearly looks/feels different;
But on the 2500 is sure don't sound better/different.

Perhaps I should of got a 2000XL instead??

JJOS2XL has a STRENGTH setting which shifts your hits towards the quantise value by whatever percentage you select (0-100%), which is DA BOMB! I wanted this from day one of getting mpc (Iterative quantise in Cubase).
So if you have TC set to 1/16 (I normally double my tempo to double the resolution so set quant to 1/8), swing set to 56% and STRENGTH at 60%, when you bang in your beats they will keep a certain degree of un-quantisedness whilst still being quantised slightly. Did I mention,... this rawks!
Loosen and tighten the STRENGTH of your quantise as you see fit... e.g. maybe less quant on hats.

Have just upgraded to free JJOS and now I get audio pops every few seconds....whats up??

glitchcentre wrote:Have just upgraded to free JJOS and now I get audio pops every few seconds....whats up??

Strange.. Never heard that 1 before.
Have you turned ur machine on whilst pressing the erase button?

JJ site sez:
"
When you change OS, please switch on a power supply, pressing the ERASE button first.
Please press the ERASE button until a main screen is displayed.
If this operation is not performed, MPC may freeze or it may crash.
"

Also bear in mind that projects done on the AkaiOS may not sound right if loaded into JJOS.

Yeah saw the notice on thier site; it is an Akai made patch and seems to be to cause- the pops are not present on some new seq's. Cheers

to create a new program...


MODE > PROGRAM

you can turn the wheel while highlighted on 'Pgm:' and switch to OFF

then hit the WINDOW button and hit F3 for 'NEW' and name your new pgrm

Just trying to chop some stuff up on jj free- its not remembering my chops!! (WTF??)

I did a simple 4 chord sample, it remembers the chops, then I tried a few drum loops, spent ages zooming in, getting just right; but when I create a program out of them the samples are being split incorrectly...anyone know why?
(when in Trim mode, it has all the individual chopped samples, (incorrectly sliced...brrr!)

having to wait for my paypal before upgrading to xl but if this is a sign of things to come..??