Perfect Mate

The 500 is all about portability,so now i need a small midi controller,or synth
I've been looking at the Micro Korg, cuz its small and can be powered by battery
And the Akai LPK 25,a midi controller

Now,even tho I'm a noob ....I do understand the basic difference
The Korg is a mini synth with built in sounds...etc
The Akai is a controller...a extention of the mpc

What works best

Do the MK, it's a great synth and you can hook it up as a controller. People will tell you it's a toy and other bs like that but it's got muscle. It was my first synth and I still have it six years later, and I still haven't run out of room to run with it.

Keep in mind it's not a sound module, it's purely electronic. You won't get anything even close to an acoustic instrument out of this.

"Keep in mind it's not a sound module, it's purely electronic. You won't get anything even close to an acoustic instrument out of this"

No real acoustic sounds huh?
that may be a dealbreaker,
If the MK has to use the piano and strings sounds from sampled sounds within the 500
Why pay the extra money,when a 50-100 dollar controller will do the same thing?

Guess i need to go to the music store and play the MK to check the sounds.
I've never really been a fan of Korg, always liked Yamaha and Roland much better, but as far as I know they have nothing like the MK.
What type of music is the MK best suited for....electronic rave type stuff?

The MicroKorg XL does have some 'instrument' samples in it, so you can get some fairly decent keyboard/brass and other sounds out of it. At heart though, it is a virtual analogue synth though...

However, with a program like MPC Maid, there is nothing stopping you from taking instrument samples, creating programs that you can then play using the Micro Korg (or XL), this way you could have the best of both worlds and not have a third piece of gear (unless you go for something like a kaoss pad mini, which is a great addition to those two).

Anyway, good luck. I love the portability of the battery powered devices together... but whatever floats your boat.

I kind of remember Roland creating a small footprint sound module a while back that had maybe 64mb of sample memory and quite a few of the accoustic/orchestral patches. Still not battery powered, but maybe something you could throw in a backpack with the MPC and use when you've got an outlet. I cannot for the life of me remember what it was called though.

I'd say:

Controller - Axiom25 or 49
Synth - Used R3 (If you're in the MK price range)

If I get the MK,does anyone know if it can sample sound,
And does anyone make a battery powered controller?

chap23 wrote:If I get the MK,does anyone know if it can sample sound,
And does anyone make a battery powered controller?

The MK is purely a synthesizer, it will not sample (but your MPC can do that). And can be battery powered and can be used as a controller.

Its starting to sound like the MK,is what im looking for,
But it seems like i would be using it as a overpriced controller.
so i guess nobody make a reasonably price battery operated controller

If all you want is a battery powered controller... you could look for Novation SL 25's used on eBay or Craigslist or something. They are battery powered, but I don't think you'll get out of it what you want for use with the MPC 500, though I could be wrong.

NearTao wrote:If all you want is a battery powered controller... you could look for Novation SL 25's used on eBay or Craigslist or something. They are battery powered, but I don't think you'll get out of it what you want for use with the MPC 500, though I could be wrong.

In my home studio,I've got a Motif es rack,a 49 and 61 key midi controller
But with my work load and family life,im only in the studio on the weekends,but i play with the 500 every day...indoors,outdoors you name it and she is right there with me...lol

So i thought if the Mk could come close to giving me what the Motif does thats all i need.
just dont wanna waste money....I work too hard to just give it away,but Im not cheap either...work hard play hard is my motto...so if the MK its a real synth, Iwant it,

The mk is a real synth in the way that a virtual analogue is a real synth. So you won't be playing sampled instruments, but it can fill in well for strings, organs and electric pianos. Where it really shines is in it's hands on subtractive synth nature and it comes with a decent range of effects to further craft your sounds.

Good luck in your decision!

Personally I'm in a similar state as you... Lots of mpc 500 use, but everything else is lucky to see more than a handful of hours of use a week. My mk xl included. Not because it isn't capable, but because I've found the iPad to be bit more useful/portable in my workflow. Plus it has many other uses.

So for now, I'm totting around the mpc, kaoss pad mini and my iPhone/iPad. Waiting on a kaossillator to show up and see how that fits into my workflow. I'm thinking that since I mostly sculpt sounds for a while and then sample them on the mpc for sequencing/usage it should work out pretty well.

microKORG XL does have good sample-based patches of real instruments like piano and organs, unlike the original microKORG.

But for portability, at this point I would say iPod Touch or iPad.

emptysea wrote:But for portability, at this point I would say iPod Touch or iPad.

can you recommend some apps though?

emptysea wrote:microKORG XL does have good sample-based patches of real instruments like piano and organs, unlike the original microKORG.

But for portability, at this point I would say iPod Touch or iPad.

How do you use a ipod Touch or iPad with the 500