Make sample loops follow tempo ?

I'm planning to by a mpc 500 for using it everywhere.
I have never own a MPC and need to make some points clearer before buying.

I'll use it to launch samples during live performance with my band.

I may need to launch a sample that have to be synched with the band. For exemple, the sample have a tempo of 120 BPM. If it happens that the band is playing à say 124BPM, if I launch the sample it may mess up a little...

The problem is : is it possible, just before launching the sample to tap the "actual" tempo on the mpc so that the sample will be time streched to fit the actual tempo of the band ?

I have read a lot and it seems that patch phrases may be the way to go.
1) Can the MPC500 load the PP files (that I can prepare with an external software) ?
2) Will it work (tap tempo before launching) ?
3) what will be the sound quality ? I have read that with PP the quality is not that good. Does somebody have an exemple on a musical sample (not just drums) ? The tempo adjustement should be small (5-10% max)


Thanks in advance for any answer

Sylvain

Tap tempo will be hard to do and it will not automaticly timestretch, best thing to do imho is to let your drummer play along with a clicktrack thats sync with the mpc, that way the mpc and drummer are both in the same tempo.. now you only need to timestretch the samples before the gig.

I honestly dont know a thing about patch phrases and if the mpc500 will eat it, my first guess is no.

64hz wrote:is to let your drummer play along with a clicktrack thats sync with the mpc,

Yes be we do not want that at all. I'm in some kind of jazz/swing band with singers. Our song can include a lot of tempo variations which can change from on gig to the other depending on inspiration, length of imrovised solos etc...
Thus we cannot program a tempo track... That's why I was thinking of patch phrase from readings in this forum.

64hz wrote:I honestly dont know a thing about patch phrases and if the mpc500 will eat it, my first guess is no.

I thought have read somewhere (but cannot remember where because of my progressive Alzheimer Disease ) that the MPC 500 could load patch phrases but make them. However since I'm trying alone to make things clear for me with only online resources (no friends of mine have an mpc). Ijust have spend a few minutes in a shop to play with the mpc500 with the supplied samples/programs...

I'm waiting for confirmations.... Than 64Hz for your answer (which is no good news for me).

Found this with google

Pros: Short learning curve for the professional user. Can merge effects 1 and 2. Patch phase playback. Compact and lightweight. Loads sequences and sounds from other MPC models. Backlight switch reserves the battery life. PC or Mac USB connection.

Maybe some good news after all?

I think the 500 can just play patch phrases created by the bigger mpcs...cant actually create a patch phrase tho... I don't do patch phrases but I remember readin this somewhere

Exactly, the 500 only can PLAY a patch phrase. They can be created on a 2500 or 1000 and then loaded to the 500.

Roland SP's can timestretch sequences and songs on the fly though. The 500 seems to concetrate on the timing of pad strikes rather than the sample itself.