MPC500 - monitoring external synths...

Just to clarify on a previous thread: Even though you are in record mode, the mpc500 will not record until you press the "do it" button on the top right. You can simply do some basic monitoring.

PhaisonBelam wrote:You can actually monitor external devices on the mpc500 while listening to your sequence. Here is how:-

1. Press mode + Record
2. Press play

You sequence will now play and signal sent to the input on the mpc500 will also be heard.

It's not as easy to use as the 1000 but it works. I use it all the time.

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yeah behringer mixers do have their faults, but just for your purposes (monitoring, basic level control) , it would serve you well, no doubt. you'd be surprised at the size of the 500 compared to the 1000. the 500 is tiny, so that and a small mixer would be about equal size, even though its 2 different pieces of kit.

regardless, i think you'd have more options with the 500 and a mixer, but there are some things about the 1000 that make it a better choice overall

what are the advantages of the 1k over the 500?

well you got 4 more pads, so 16 more samples at a time total. you gotta graphic screen with autochop, and the one that i really like is the 4 assignable mix outs. you can also install jjos and make it like a 2500 software wise, which is nice. you also have spidf i/o (digital input n output) on a 1000. the 500 is still amazing, its the only mpc i use, but just lettin you know, thats a few advantages the 1000 has over the 500.

akai's site has an mpc comparison chart. you can download the pdf version and look at all the technically specs that differ between the 2 models

Hi Folks

I also hope there will be an audio-thru feature added to a future OS update.

I use an MPC500 and a microkorg with a small behringer mixer. But I travel alot due to work and I dont want to take the mixer and extra cables.
Also the behringer is not battery operated. I have used a small battery operated mixer sometimes but volume level with just headphones is poor (or else it distorts badly).
It seems a shame that two great battery operated devices should need a mains powered mixer (seems good battery operated mixers are rare, if they exist at all).
Of course the quality of external sound while in (limited to) record mode is excellent as far as I can tell

All I want to do is to be able to play the microkorg at the same time as muting tracks, changing sequences ect. I would of thought such a feature would be maybe more relevant to a battery operated device than the MPC1000 (which I understand has this ability, but is more likely to be used with some kind of external mixer).

So heres hoping akai can fix this for the future

until then The 500 is still a fantastic product, in spite of bugs

If you just want to mix two battery powered line outputs and they both have volume controls anyway into a headphone mix then get a cheap battery headphone amp (or make one, its only a few components) and splice two jack cables together into it. Or am I missing something?

I tried splicing together two audio outputs a few years ago using signal splitting connectors. I used my microkorg and my trusty old yamaha QY70.
It would work for about half a second then the QY70 would stop producing any sound until I disconnected the microkorg.

My father has a friend who is a sound engineer, he suggested I should not try this again as it might damage something. I think the QY70 may have some protection built in to stop an input signal (the korg signal) being sent to its output (which is effectively what I was doing when I spliced the cables together).

I will still use my s**tty headphone mixer for now, but it means more batteries and cables.
Its just frustrating that the mpc500 almost does the job without an external mixer (in record mode only). I am not a software expert but I cant imagine that it would be the hardest upgrade to add to a future OS. The new band pass and low pass filters(which I love by the way ) would have been a far bigger job to write I would think. Thats just pure speculation on my part though.

That is very odd. I can't really see why that would happen, most cheap line mixers just connect the outputs internally through a variable resistance which would then go to an op-amp to bring the signal back up to a line level.

But yeh the DSP code for monitoring the input is literally just

output[sample] = output[sample]+ input[sample]

Yea, I have a line resistance mixer also, its passive (requires no power supply)
Its VERY quiet even at full volume. I have been considering getting a headphone amp from the same manufacturer (Rolls), but that would mean more hardware and cables (but possibly better results than my sh*tty mixer)

I think the reason its so quiet is even with the volume turned all the way up on the variable resistors, there is still a fixed 10k fixed resistor on every line input (20k in total because they are stereo). I guess the fixed resistors are to protect the inputs from each other, perhaps

My shi**y mixer has the line inputs going directly to the inputs of an amplifier circuit, so they are buffered from each other by the amp (the same as most normal mixers I think). But then the amp circuit must consume a little power (battery) even when the volume is not being amplified.