How can we improve our favourite toy ?

Morning all.

ok just some more thoughts on my favourite (heh (only) xmas present this year)

1) I dont think we're going to get a jjos style alternate for this. Not any time soon. So while I appreciated the huge difference is using jjos on my mpc1000 v the usual akai os Im going to learn to live with the standard one on the mpc 500

2) Where I think things could be better is using a program on a pc that controls programs on the mpc500. Something like Beat Butcher - but would be ideal would be the ability to use more of the sequencing capability of the mpc 500. I freely admit Im no programmer - but if there are any out there listening - I think such a program would be appreciated.

3) I took the plunge and got recycle - but I note that it wont load rfl (refill) files. Does this mean that I have to get recycle to open up these files ? Its no disaster if so (I used to use Reason) but it would be ideal to have these features in one program

4) The line out issue - as I don't have the hearing ability of Superman I've ordered a pre-amp. Hopefully this will sort things out.
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Having worked in IT for nearly 20 years Im familiar with the whole balance of users asking for more features balanced against the manufacturers trying to keep people happy without making the rest of their product line redundant. But there is a LOT of scope to improve workflow on this box.

I know that there's already a post with requests to Akai to change what they can in the mpc operating system - but Im coming to this from a different angle. I just reckon it will be easier to work around the limitations of the software of the mpc using pc/mac stuff rather than akai to basically redesign their product.

5) finally - does anyone know the easiest way of converting wav samples to wave samples that work on the mpc - I know that only certain sample resolutions work on the box - I just spent a couple of hours collecting some great samples (in WAV) format from the web only to have my mpc refuse to load them.

Anyway - just some initial thoughts - from a still very happy mpc 500 owner.

Mark.

Google Audacity, its free and I say ur able to change the Wav with that.

Yeah, use Audacity to change the sample and bit rate of WAVS. I don't know what they need to be at since I always sample instead of load sounds, but I'm sure it will work.

probably 16 bit 44.1 khz thats the standard I always have to convert to my audio projects when I need to make cd's.

for recycle the easiest option is after you have chopped your file, export it as type akai, then load that into bluebox (freeware program editor for mpc1000 it works on 500, google it) then on the import bluebox will ask if this was made on recycle, click yes (obvously) then you can save the program out and drag it (along with the chopped samples) to your cfcard and you are done.

The line out isnt that bad, try adjusting the headroom in the "other" mode, if it starts to clip you need to lower it, if you need more volume you can just gain on a mixer, however you might just find that a certain sample, say a kick for example has too much low end mud and is just clipping the shit out of stuff. I mean we're getting into the engineering side of things here and its beyond the scope of a simple explanation. But honestly if you need to gain it too much its going to gain the noise too, better to use the right samples and less headroom in "other" mode in the first place imo. I think the default is -12db, i run mine at -6db.

Standard 44.1khz 16bit wav files already work, if you have problems check the format of the wav you are using, and if its 44.1 16bit then it probably has some codec on it, they need to be uncompressed pcm.

There really isnt much scope for using a PC to program/edit the sequencer etc, since you have to dismount the USB everytime you connect etc. I cant see anything which would improve (my) workflow in this area, and believe me I have spent a long time thinking about it.

In terms of beat slicing, I am obviously working (slowly) on BeatButcher, and a newish feature in it is the ability to properly manage your library with tags and stuff, with the ability to pick a random bunch of samples of a certain tag (say "kick") from your library or whatever, and load onto the compact flash card. Also will include auto convert to correct format at some point. Its nothing revolutionary but its all little things to improve the flow.

I did talk briefly with another member of the forum about the possibility of a secondary hardware device to perform beat chopping on the move, and some of you may have seen me start a beat chooper for mobile phones. I suggested that instead of a standalone waveform display/chopping bit of hardware he implement say bluetooth->compact flash and then with a beat chopping program on your phone and an MPC you would be sorted on the go for graphical chopping.

Other than that I have racked my brains for a long time and come up with very little pheasable projects. I did try and make a I track extractor which would solo tracks on the MPC and record them one by one to remove the monotony of ripping audio tracks from the MPC, however because Akai are shite at implementing MIDI you cant do that. I also wanted to make a MIDI hardware device to convert a keyboard into 12 levels data, but again this isnt possible, because Akai dont allow you to get to 12 levels stored data (even if you export as a MID file!).

And yes, running it through a preamp does nice things to the output.

5) finally - does anyone know the easiest way of converting wav samples to wave samples that work on the mpc - I know that only certain sample resolutions work on the box - I just spent a couple of hours collecting some great samples (in WAV) format from the web only to have my mpc refuse to load them.

i havent downloaded audacity yet, looks pretty sweet. ive been converting my m4a files from garageband to wav files in itunes.

kinda sleezy but it works...

prefs> import settings> import using wav incoder>

highlight a file in itunes> advanced> create wav version.