Thinking bout getting the 500

Hey everyone,

I was youtubing the other night and am into hiphop and dj-ing and all that and now i've found out about the mpc-stuff. I immediatly wanted one of those things but dont really know what i need. I've got 2 turntables with lots of vynil and a mixer. Ive got a PC, a keyboard and 2 cd-players(denon). If i want to buy lets say the mpc500, what else will i need to make beats. Do I need synthesizers or anything? Hope someone can help me out. thanks in advance!

r_eradus wrote:what else will i need

a few months reading through this forum

Star with something simple to use and master that.i leaned on my xl so the mpc is the best thing for me(i´d can do anything with my eyes closed).But if you already have a pc you also can go for the software way.Get reason,cubase(for recording),a trigger finger.and you´ll have avery powerfull set up.as far getting a synth,it depends what kinf of music you want to make:electronic or sample based(no matter what you choose they are very usefull for bass lines or some noise).A lot of people will tell you that you need original vinyl ,but with the internet you´ll have access to an inmense collection of mad sounds(money it´s important and nobody it´s going to pay us for our tracks,at least for now).The mpc it´s not a bad choice ,in fact that´s my choice ,for me nothing can beat that,but nowadays computer are very powerfull.No matter what you get,be a master of it.Don´t waste any more time and work hard.

Thank you for your answer. That helped me out quite a lot. I think i'll go and get the MPC-500. So you're saying that with my MPC-500, PC, Turntables and say, Reason Software..I'm basically all set to begin creating beats and all that? Hope you can answer that then im 100% helped out here. Thanks!

I HAVE THE 500,iT´S GOOD NO DOUBT BUT COMPARED TO MY XL IT´S A LITTLE HARD TO USE IF YOU NEVER HAVE OWN AN MPC BEFORE.IT OPERATES A LOT LIKE A 60.I THINK THE BLACK 1000 IT´S ABETTER OPTION(VERY SIMILAR TO THE XL BUT MORE PÒRTABLE).FOR THE SOFWARE REASON IS AMAZING (MPC AND REASON IT´S KILLER COMBO).ALSO YOU´LL NEED A RECORDING PROGRAM(CUBASE IT´S EASY).ANOTHER PROGRAM THAT I LIKE A LOT IS ACID(SIMILAR TO LIVE BUT EASIER).WITH ALL OF THIS AND A LITTLE WORK AND PATIENCE YOU´LL BE MAKING DOPE BEATS IN AMINUTE.REMENBER THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IT´S TO MASTER YOU EQUIPMENT.LOCK YOURSELF IN YOUR BEDROOM AND START TO WORK!

Thank you for the advice and all. Ive bought myself a 500 and so far im glad i did. Could you tell me how i can use the mpc in reason? Or how can i chop my samples that ive put in the mpc via turntable?

Sometimes my recordings like snares are a bit off.. the sound comes like half a second after i press the pad. How can i fix this?

Thanks again

r_eradus wrote:Sometimes my recordings like snares are a bit off.. the sound comes like half a second after i press the pad. How can i fix this?

read the manual. clue: sample start point trim

I don't think you'd need Reason. You could chop your samples using Recycle, then load in the chopped wavs from Recycle into the MPC500 via USB, or just by dumping them on your Flash card from the computer and then loading them from there into the MPC.

I'm considering getting a MPC-500 because of being able to use it with batteries when I think of a great idea anywhere it hits me. Yet, I have a few questions...

1) With the Akai OS, is it similar to operating my MPC-60 II with the 3.10 upgrade?

2) How does it compare to the Roland SP 404?

3) The EXM-128 memory. Is it just a regular SO-DIMM that can be purchased from a company like Crucial? Or is it Akai Hardware Proprietory?


Thanks in advance!!


Mad Cherokee

the answers to all those questions are in the fourms...

here's a link to the 500/404 thread

http://www.mpc-forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=77326

/too lazy to find more, but they're there