MPC 500 is NOT multitimbral? WTF??!??

I'm blown.

Follow me...

On the MPC I created a drum kit and some other programs with samples and percussion and assigned them to seperate tracks. I recorded some patterns using the pads and captured them via MIDI into Cubase. The first thing I noticed when I tried to play them back was that the tracks didn't respond to MIDI volume changes.

There is no volume parameter for tracks in the MPC 500.

Quite annoying but I could work around it by adjusting the volume of each pad seperately or by converting track volume to velocity.

Then I noticed that even though the MPC was receiving data on all channels (set to 'ALL' in MIDI/SYNC mode), it wasn't routing that data to the appropriate tracks in the MPC.

All incoming MIDI data gets routed ONLY to whatever track is selected in TRACK mode.

HUH???!!!??

I tried tapping some patterns into the MPC's sequencer. Everything played back properly. This defeats the purpose for me though. I plan to use the MPC's sequencer on stage but when I'm making beats at home I use Cubase.

What piece of gear in 2007 is NOT a multi-timbral sound source? I guess this is what happens when you assume. The 500 is the first MPC I've ever owned. Are they all like this? It seems like Akai doesn't intend for the MPC to be controlled from another sequencer. The manual details how to use it to sequence other instruments and also how to trigger its sounds from another controller but it's not possible to play multiple MPC tracks simultaneously from another MIDI source. The MIDI channel setting in TRACK PARAMS only determines the MIDI output of each track, not what channel that track is supposed to receive on. The SYNC parameter only determines whether the MPC sends MIDI Clock or locks into it from an outside source.

I've had my MPC 500 for about a month and I'm using v1.1 of the O.S. Am I missing something? Any possible workarounds using sys-ex data or specific controller messages? The architecture of this machine is simple to grasp and the manual is comprehensive. I experimented with 'Soft Thru' but it seems clear to me that this issue is not a bug, it's a feature (or lack thereof).

I was really excited to cop the 500 because I intended to use it as a nice MIDI controller for virtual instruments, an addition to live shows, another sound source for beat-making and a portable composition tool. 3 out of 4 isn't bad but it's not good enough for $600+. I'm pretty disappointed now, and I haven't even explored the polyphony issues that others are reporting.

I guess I should email Akai but from looking around these forums they're pretty slow to turn user requests into O.S. update features.

i think there is a setting for single or multi recording, and that would solve your problem. i was just messing around with a 500 this morning and saw that setting in there. i don't have one in front of me but look for it in the menus somewhere...

peyote wrote:i think there is a setting for single or multi recording, and that would solve your problem. i was just messing around with a 500 this morning and saw that setting in there. i don't have one in front of me but look for it in the menus somewhere...

Track or Sequence parameter? Anything you could identify in this?

http://www.akaipro.com/documents/MPC500 ... terMap.pdf

Never came across a setting like that and I went over the machine with a fine tooth comb.

try midi/sync-> soft thru

although i'm not exactly sure if that'll do what you're looking to do. i know the mpc2000xl can do something like you ask but the 500 i was on had no midi connections so i couldn't test the midi at all

also you are saying it is not multi-timbral, but that is not the problem you describe. i have posted a possible solution to your problem, that doesn't have much to do with being multi-timbral. i don't use multi-timbrality on the MPC really

peyote wrote:also you are saying it is not multi-timbral, but that is not the problem you describe. i have posted a possible solution to your problem, that doesn't have much to do with being multi-timbral. i don't use multi-timbrality on the MPC really

It's multi-timbral when using its own sequencer, but not when controlled by an outboard sequencer.

Multi-timbral = ability to play multiple patches/programs simultaneously, no?

I tried the 'Soft Thru' setting. From the results that were also supported by the manual, that seems to only control outgoing MIDI to other instruments, not the ability for the MPC to respond to multiple channels of incoming MIDI.

ok well then maybe the MPC500 is not multi-timbral. i've never used any of the multitimbral functions on the 2000XL either. i have done midi dumping, where i play a multi-channel midi file into the mpc and record that onto multiple tracks. once that is done you can assign the tracks to whatever. that may help you.

honestly i think most people use the internal sequencer on the MPC. if you aren't using is i suggest maybe another, more powerful, cheaper sampler, and one of the pad midi controllers.

good luck

peyote wrote:honestly i think most people use the internal sequencer on the MPC.

That seems to be the case. It's always been marketed as a rock solid sequencer and it used to be called Midi Production Center. I guess neither Akai nor any users ever thought it necessary to use it with another sequencer.

I haven't decided how to proceed. Keep it and wait for updates while using it for other purposes? Get rid of it?

I've already got an ASR-X and a Boss SP-303. I only use the 303 for drops and fx in my dj sets. The pads aren't that great to play live and the sequencer is rudimental. The ASR-X is too old and big to come out of the house anymore and SCSI is a dying technology. I either sample and chop in the machine or transfer samples by floppy. It's serviceable as a drum pad controller though and it still has the ill filters and fx.

DJStylus wrote:That seems to be the case. It's always been marketed as a rock solid sequencer and it used to be called Midi Production Center. I guess neither Akai nor any users ever thought it necessary to use it with another sequencer.

I haven't decided how to proceed. Keep it and wait for updates while using it for other purposes? Get rid of it?

If you want a fully featured sampler, buy one, or buy an MPC4000.

The MPC500 isn't a fully featured sampler, and wasn't supposed to be one.

I don't know why you would expect it to be.

yamaha Ax000 series can be found for wikkid cheap
as can old Sx000 stuff

i've wanted to check out the s5000 or s6000 for a while, they seem pretty nice...

SimonInAustralia wrote:If you want a fully featured sampler, buy one, or buy an MPC4000.

The MPC500 isn't a fully featured sampler, and wasn't supposed to be one.

I don't know why you would expect it to be.

Is multi-timbral functionality really only reserved for top level gear? It seems to be a basic feature in every MIDI instrument on the market for the last couple decades except for the most bare bones products.

An MPC 500 definitely isn't supposed to be as powerful as a 4000 but it has way more features than other comparable samplers. Having 48 MIDI tracks takes it way out of the toy/sketchpad category. What I'm trying to do is in no way a significant functionality jump beyond it's stock capabilities. It just seems like something that was forgotten.

It's not like I want to score the next Peter Jackson film in Dolby 5.1 on my 500. I just want it to play incoming MIDI simultaneously on multiple tracks.

peyote wrote:yamaha Ax000 series can be found for wikkid cheap
as can old Sx000 stuff

i've wanted to check out the s5000 or s6000 for a while, they seem pretty nice...

After a little research I see your point. Those units seem to have aged well. No pads though. That's probably why they were never on my radar when I first started making beats years ago, even though I had friends that were just moving on from the Akai rack mount samplers at the time.

These days you might as well spring for software if you're looking for something in that niche.

DJStylus wrote:An MPC 500 definitely isn't supposed to be as powerful as a 4000 but it has way more features than other comparable samplers. Having 48 MIDI tracks takes it way out of the toy/sketchpad category. What I'm trying to do is in no way a significant functionality jump beyond it's stock capabilities. It just seems like something that was forgotten.

It is a very basic sampler compared to modern rack mount samplers. I do not see that the sampler side of the MPC500 has 'way more features than other comparable samplers'.

The MPC series has always had very limited sampler features, designed more as a drum sampler that a full featured sampler, at least until the MPC4000 which has the features of the Z8 sampler.

Having 48 tracks is a feature of the sequencer side of the MPC, not the sampler side.

It is a 48 track sequencer, with a very limited sampler, and a pad control surface.

If you want a fully featured sampler, buy a rack mount sampler and hook it up to the MPC, that's what the MIDI out port is for, and that's why it has a builtin MIDI sequencer.

SimonInAustralia wrote:It is a very basic sampler compared to modern rack mount samplers. I do not see that the sampler side of the MPC500 has 'way more features than other comparable samplers'.

What class would you put the MPC 500 in then? For the purposes of most people I know it's matched against the Boss SP series.

- pads to bang on
- some filters and fx, maybe LFO's if you're lucky
- sample in or load files from media
- sequencer of some sort
- send MIDI out to control other stuff

I wouldn't compare it to modern rackmount samplers because those are specialized units and the MPC is a multipurpose workstation.

SimonInAustralia wrote:If you want a fully featured sampler, buy a rack mount sampler and hook it up to the MPC, that's what the MIDI out port is for, and that's why it has a builtin MIDI sequencer.

All I wanted to do is control the MPC from another sequencer. Is your point that this is high level functionality only reserved for "fully featured samplers"? I'd still like to know if all MPC's lack this capability or if it's just the 500.

You're confirming the other conclusion I reached. An MPC is intended for use as a sequencer first and foremost and not as a sound source.

But I've got a box (ASR-X) that is much older but comparable in function to the MPC 500 except it's multi-timbral. I still don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same from an MPC. The SP-1200 was multi-timbral and that's ancient now.

DJStylus wrote:You're confirming the other conclusion I reached. An MPC is intended for use as a sequencer first and foremost and not as a sound source.

But I've got a box (ASR-X) that is much older but comparable in function to the MPC 500 except it's multi-timbral. I still don't think it's unreasonable to expect the same from an MPC. The SP-1200 was multi-timbral and that's ancient now.

I do not know what the designers of the MPC500 intended for it's use, but to me it seems that they are really designed to be used with their internal sequencer, as the centre of a MIDI system, and not really as an external sound module for another external sequencer.

I would guess that the MPC4000 might allow what you want, as it is supposed to be the Akai Z8 sampler engine in there, but I'm not sure if any of the other 'lower' MPC models do.

Maybe it is possible for Akai to program the MPC500 OS to work the way you need it to, but I don't know if there is any way to get such requests through to the programmers and the people that make such decisions at Akai.