File Structure on the MPC 500

Hey,

i just got me a MPC 500 off eBay and spent the whole morning resetting it and deleting the really bad sounding samplepacks the previous owner left on it. I have worked (and still do) at home with maschine and the mpk series, so i'm not new to sampling but to beatmaking without a computer.

while i was browsing through the samples the previous owner left me with i discovered, that they were really unstructured, just like a bunch of files just thrown in different folders called "xxx sample pack..." and so on and i figured that with this very limited usability (small screen etc.) that the mpc 500 offers you probably need a good file structure to not mess up your workflow spending hours browsing through unsorted samples.

So, whats your best way to keep a good structure on the mpc 500?
Do you create Folders for Sampletypes like a "Kick" and a "Snare"-Folder? Or do you create folders for drumkits/samplepacks that belong together? Or is there another way the mpc handles this stuff?

I would appreciate your help on this one!

Personal preference for sure.

You sound like you like shot organised so the best way for you would be having everything in its proper place for easy access.

I'm a messy **** so don't really care.

That being said I def have kick, snare etc. folders. Just not necessarily neatly filed with easily identifiable names.

It's easier to have my shit on my PC and just use a CF card reader USB thing so I can drag and drop why I need for a project/ month or whatever.

Put that card in the pc or connect it thru the mpc's usb port.

On your computer it's way easier to order your files and put them in folders and to delete unwanted stuff.

I have some breaks and kits filed in the same folder.
I also have seperate folders for kicks and snares etc. for loose one shots.
Like mastasteez already said, that's all up to you how you want to organise it. As long as it makes sense to you.

i have everything organized so i can go right to whatever i need.

i have a breaks folder, a kicks folder, hi hat folder, bass folder, etc.

also i have a "chops" folder where i put all my sample chops

i save all my projects/programs separately as well


like someone posted above, its way faster to do this organized via usb or just put the cf card in a reader and do it all on the pc

I organize folders by the songs I make for them. One folder can be the pieces to one of my tracks. But when its all burned to disk and circulating the internet, then I delete everything.

I'm sportsman like that. The fish I catch, take a picture of my trophy then throw it back in the vast sea of samples so another producer can flip it. I will not give samples anymore, you gotta find them like I did

Ill-Green wrote:I'm sportsman like that. The fish I catch, take a picture of my trophy then throw it back in the vast sea of samples so another producer can flip it. I will not give samples anymore, you gotta find them like I did

So the $1000.000 question now is: what do you use for bait ?

Menco wrote:

Ill-Green wrote:I'm sportsman like that. The fish I catch, take a picture of my trophy then throw it back in the vast sea of samples so another producer can flip it. I will not give samples anymore, you gotta find them like I did

So the $1000.000 question now is: what do you use for bait ?

A twenty sack and a hot cup of three bags of earl grey. You'll hear instrumentals within the instrumental. I once made a bassline out of chiming bells.