Switching sequencer track from MIDI to DRUM - does it work?

I'm looking at buying an MPC500 primarily for use as a live sequencer to replace a 20-year old Roland W-30.

Here's what I want to do:

I use Sonar as my studio sequencer and my intention is to construct tracks using Sonar that trigger other hardware synths and the MPC via MIDI.

When I've finished my track, I save it as a MIDI file and then load it into the MPC.

What I want to know is if I change the MIDI track that plays the MPC in my Sonar project from "MIDI" to "DRUM" will that play the MPC sounds from the MPC?

Thanks in advance,

Gary.

garyw wrote:What I want to know is if I change the MIDI track that plays the MPC in my Sonar project from "MIDI" to "DRUM" will that play the MPC sounds from the MPC?

The "midi" and "drum" in the mpc indicates which sequence type you want.

You can play the sounds on the MPC from an external sequencer.

eimer wrote:

garyw wrote:What I want to know is if I change the MIDI track that plays the MPC in my Sonar project from "MIDI" to "DRUM" will that play the MPC sounds from the MPC?

The "midi" and "drum" in the mpc indicates which sequence type you want.

You can play the sounds on the MPC from an external sequencer.

Cool. So I can play the MPC sounds from a sequence in Sonar. That's one piece of the puzzle.

If I then save my Sonar sequence as a MIDI file and transfer it to the MPC using USB, the track that "played" the MPC before is a MIDI track. When I load this MIDI file as a new sequence (assuming I can), can I change this particular track to be a DRUM track so it still plays the MPC sounds locally?

As far as I know the only difference between DRUM and MIDI comes down to how the sequence info is displayed on screen. Otherwise it makes no difference and has nothing to do with the sound source the sequence is routed to.

As long as the midi file is placed into a track running the same program it should work fine.

garyw wrote:

eimer wrote:

garyw wrote:What I want to know is if I change the MIDI track that plays the MPC in my Sonar project from "MIDI" to "DRUM" will that play the MPC sounds from the MPC?

The "midi" and "drum" in the mpc indicates which sequence type you want.

You can play the sounds on the MPC from an external sequencer.

Cool. So I can play the MPC sounds from a sequence in Sonar. That's one piece of the puzzle.

If I then save my Sonar sequence as a MIDI file and transfer it to the MPC using USB, the track that "played" the MPC before is a MIDI track. When I load this MIDI file as a new sequence (assuming I can), can I change this particular track to be a DRUM track so it still plays the MPC sounds locally?

I think that you have misunderstood my last post in how it works, but yes it can be done quite simple. You have to choose a program if you want to play internal, and turn off the program and select a midi track if you want to sequence something outside the box.