capabilitys of the USB connection on MPC500

Hi before you go "TRY IT OUT"/"READ THE MANUAL" thanks to Millenium Music being wierd I wont get getting my USB cable for a while.

But after seeing some glitch warnings on here, and also experiencing my first glitch (after 3 plays with the thing) I would like to ask

what does the USB connection do? is it the same as the on board memory or CF slot?

can I back up absolutely everything to it? can I basically use my laptop to store my work and samples, and load them up to the MPC500 with ease when it comes to working on a beat after a good nights sleep?

please help me out, I am getting paranoid about this thing already

Read the manual!

Just messing, the USB connection can only be used to acces the CF card on the MPC. You can not connect directly to PC and save files there as it was an external harddisk. This is due to hardware, so no can do.

As Eimer's answer could seem a bit confusing, let me clarify a couple of points:

YES, you CAN use USB connection to back your current projects to your laptop (and I highly recommend to do so regularly, by saving an entire memory as a project into a new folder and then copying this folder to the hard-drive in your laptop).

When you connect USB cable and enable the connection in Load or Save mode in your MPC, the CF inside your MPC card-reader is displayed as a removable drive by the OS in your computer. Nothing less, nothing more. So, you can freely create, copy, paste, move, delete files there, as you please. But you won't be able to send midi data or real-time audio to your laptop via USB. It works to transfer files ONLY.

Remember to eject the removable drive correctly from your OS after you finish transferring files. In MacOS it is done simply by dragging the removable disk icon to trash. Refer to the manual on how to do it in Windows (as I don't remember exactly how it is done). NEVER unplug USB cable without properly ejecting the removable disk, as this can cause permanent data loss or damage (which is similar).

I hope this helps. Please, note that all this information I got after reading MPC 500's user manual, so I'd like to agree with Eimer in encouraging you to read it. It has everything you need to learn how to work with your MPC and will save you time and effort, cause instead of writing here and waiting for answers you can concentrate on making beats.

Good luck!