Buying an MPC 500. Some advice?

Im gonna travel and I cant bring my computer and all stuff so its a perfect opportunity to buy and learn and mpc. But I dont have much time before I travel so I wanna make sure I have the stuff I need with me.

First of all: The AC adaptor. I will buy european version but Im travelling to america. Is it safe to connect it to a regulare 220->110 volt (or whatever)?

Also. Besides the memory expansion, is there something else Im gonna regret I didnt bring?

I want to be able to sample of cd players and iphones so I assume an RCA to "Big jack" adaptor is enough?

Thanks in advance

My advice to you is buy one, i walk with mine daily, I play a beat on the bus or train or where ever I may be, there isnt much I dont like about it but I would write a ting on that in a minute. And hear what? certain man would say there is no point to it these times here, but by the same logic, how cum there are so many different musical instruments any way, cop dat I would say.

When i walk with mine i keep batteries and 1/4 jack to 3.5 adaptors, a 3.5 to phono ( which i use mostly for hijacking the sound system in the lecture hall at uni, that system can tump) and either set of senheizers.

heggemon wrote:First of all: The AC adaptor. I will buy european version but Im travelling to america. Is it safe to connect it to a regulare 220->110 volt (or whatever)?

You'll have to get an adapter specific for the US. It's not very expensive.

heggemon wrote:Also. Besides the memory expansion, is there something else Im gonna regret I didnt bring?

Get the 128MB internal RAM upgrade (I got mine here http://www.ebay.com/itm/EXM128-Akai-MPC500-MPC1000-MPC2500-128MB-Memory-RAM-/140633579138?pt=Keyboards_MIDI&hash=item20be6a1e82), and a couple CF cards. I use a 4gb sandisk extreme with no issues.

heggemon wrote:I want to be able to sample of cd players and iphones so I assume an RCA to "Big jack" adaptor is enough?

I would also add a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo to 1/4" (big jacks) and 1/4" to 1/4". That would cover all your bases.

im in the exact same position. except im travelling australia. all ive got is the 500 and a laptop (which i only use to record the beats into). id suggest getting some sort of hard carry case though. yknow how it is on the road with bangs and stuff. dont wanna break anything. ill post a pic of my portable set up later

Thanks dude. I ordered one right away. You saved me like 50 bucks right there!

One more thing thought. I read that the 500 doesnt support "choppin". Do I need to edit my samples on a computer before? I often take a track and cut out the drums and all stuff from it. Is that possible with just the mpc?

Thanks for the answers I really appreciate it

No waveform view. You can chop your samples on the 500 you just have to kick it old school 80's style and use your ears and numerical frame data on the tiny lcd.

If you do prefer to chop on the computer or have just so many sample the 500 is too slow there's the free MPC Maid. You can chop on there, assign pads, set pad parameters and save in the 500 format.

http://mpcmaid.sourceforge.net/

Metatron72 wrote:No waveform view. You can chop your samples on the 500 you just have to kick it old school 80's style and use your ears and numerical frame data on the tiny lcd.

If you do prefer to chop on the computer or have just so many sample the 500 is too slow there's the free MPC Maid. You can chop on there, assign pads, set pad parameters and save in the 500 format.

http://mpcmaid.sourceforge.net/

Thanks but the whole idea is that I want to be able to make beats from scratch with the 500 alone. Sounds good, ears are more important than eyes.

I guess Im set. Getting the 500 on monday for sure!

Thanks and peace out



edit....


Actually.... About stereo input. Do I need to fork the output from a source into the L and R inputs or a single one is enough?

heggemon wrote:Actually.... About stereo input. Do I need to fork the output from a source into the L and R inputs or a single one is enough?

If the source is mono you can just use the L input (from L-output if available), but most likely it'll be stereo so you should have a Y-cable handy just in case.

bring extra batteries, or get rechargeable ones if you can. it lasts maybe 5 hours on battery power.

Ill keep that in mind. It arrived today, and Im surprised how easy it is to learn the machine. I love it after just 3 hours with it! But one thing that I dont understand is why the sound quality gets terrible if I go past "3 o clock" on the master volume. On max volume it sounds almost "bit crushed". Is that how its supposed to be? To clarify: The volume doesnt seem to get louder past 3 o clock. Just more destroyed. Especially the bass. Might be my crazy way to connect it to the monitors. It goes from 2 "big jacks" into 2 rca, then into 1 big jack and into my soundcard. But it sounds delicious until I turn it up too much.

Thanks for all your help.

Yeah you can do a 5 track EP with a 500 with vocals and all. Chopping can be done in all kinds of ways. First is the Extract feature. You set your Start and End points in Trim Mode, then scroll over to Extract and assign the extraction to a pad. Go back and set the next Start and End points repeat and wash. Or you can copy a sample to several pads and adjust the start and end points individually, but you must rename them or you'll be adjusting the points for all pads at once. Or you can resample your chops, which is playing a long sample and resampling the parts you want.

Search for my Ninja Methods thread for an easy ride with the 500. And contribute, I haven't used the 500 in a while but I'll find something new.

Thanks but editing is fine.. I just wondered about that volume thing. And also trying to find out how to turn of that jog wheel sound.

Hold MODE and press OTHER, there you should find the Master volume setting. Maybe the last user had it up max, I keep mine at -3dB.

Get the manual and tutorials here on this site.

Thanks that was the issue.

I have problem with saving though. Seems that if I save the whole memory, it will move my files from the memory card to a new location?

Cuz after a few beats some drums werent available anymore.

When I save it says: replace file, even though its a new name for sure.

Cant make sense out of that part of the manual.

The manual is a google translation of japanese. The thing is, you have to save at all times and especially after little tweaks and changes. Save Entire mem. always. The saving sucks so always save or you'll lose something and fast. Bugs still roam in 1.31. Faggots at Akai don't wanna support it anymore. That said, they're a bunch of merry bitches if you ask me.