New user Very Basic Questions & Comments

Just got he MPC5000 and the MPC500 is out for repairs because I bend a pin in the CF slot after owning it for less than a week.

Comparison: Right off the bat the 5000 pads have a much nicer feel. The 5000 is much easier to use because of the screen size and ease of intuitively navigating around.

I have read the Quick Start Guide and have started on the Reference Manual. Sure wish there were a Beat Making for the MPC 5000.

Questions: Please speak slowly because this is all new to me!

1. Strategies for Saving: I have been playing around making up sequences, songs, 7 samples and want to save my creations. I suppose that I can save the entire memory to HD or CF, but all I really need to save are the sequences & songs with programs and samples pertaining to those sequences. Maybe I am thinking about this all wrong. I am used to working with PT where I save a session and I save all of the sequences, audio, and mixing all in one place so that it can be exported, archives and reloaded being sure not to have any files missing. I guess I am asking what your workflows are for saving, organizing, and archiving.

2. Synth and Programs: I brought up synth program on some tracks and made some changes to the synth for the tracks. Are these changes that I made on the particular synth track going to change my program from where I go the synth tracks?

About saving: First of all i change the name of the programs, so the name of the program isnt " program 1 "
then i make a folder for the seq and programs. Then when i save i always save the programs first by going to Save A Program" then i go to " Save All Sequence and Songs". To load everything i just find the folder press "Do it" or f6. it will then load the programs and the sequence.

Jaytim3 wrote:About saving: First of all i change the name of the programs, so the name of the program isnt " program 1 "
then i make a folder for the seq and programs. Then when i save i always save the programs first by going to Save A Program" then i go to " Save All Sequence and Songs". To load everything i just find the folder press "Do it" or f6. it will then load the programs and the sequence.

Yes, this makes sense and sounds like a good workflow. My only remaining question is -- Are you sure that your samples are going to be hanging out with your sequence songs and programs. I presume that one of the save processes that you mentioned also saves the samples from which the programs are constructed. I am just trying to make sure that in years to come after moving files around, archiving, crashes, etc that my samples will be connected appropriately.

I realize that I am not 100% clear about what a PROGRAM is. I do understand that the PROGRAM assigns the samples to pads. Does a PROGRAM actually contain the samples or does a specific PROGRAM reference samples located elsewhere?

midnightsun wrote:

Jaytim3 wrote:About saving: First of all i change the name of the programs, so the name of the program isnt " program 1 "
then i make a folder for the seq and programs. Then when i save i always save the programs first by going to Save A Program" then i go to " Save All Sequence and Songs". To load everything i just find the folder press "Do it" or f6. it will then load the programs and the sequence.

Yes, this makes sense and sounds like a good workflow. My only remaining question is -- Are you sure that your samples are going to be hanging out with your sequence songs and programs. I presume that one of the save processes that you mentioned also saves the samples from which the programs are constructed. I am just trying to make sure that in years to come after moving files around, archiving, crashes, etc that my samples will be connected appropriately.

yes ofcourse if u saved the program along with the sequences it should "hang out" with your sequences and songs.
the reason i have them all in one folder is that if you load the folder it will load the sequences and program at once. U can still load only the sequence and use a diffrent program. It will just play the samples in the other program as u played it with the pads....

midnightsun wrote:I realize that I am not 100% clear about what a PROGRAM is. I do understand that the PROGRAM assigns the samples to pads. Does a PROGRAM actually contain the samples or does a specific PROGRAM reference samples located elsewhere?

...if u just try exploring alittle and read the Read the F Manual your will understand more...
when u have assigned samples to the program and save the program in a specific folder u will see that the MPC will save the programs along with the samples. Its almost like its copying the samples to another folder... if there is something u wonder about that u actually can try yourself then try yourself before asking. As u can see no other ppl replied to this thread, because this is something you can try out yourself. If your lucky enough ppl will reply to you saying to RTFM or go to www.tweakheadz.com.

Jaytim3 wrote:

midnightsun wrote:I realize that I am not 100% clear about what a PROGRAM is. I do understand that the PROGRAM assigns the samples to pads. Does a PROGRAM actually contain the samples or does a specific PROGRAM reference samples located elsewhere?

...if u just try exploring alittle and read the Read the F Manual your will understand more...
when u have assigned samples to the program and save the program in a specific folder u will see that the MPC will save the programs along with the samples. Its almost like its copying the samples to another folder... if there is something u wonder about that u actually can try yourself then try yourself before asking. As u can see no other ppl replied to this thread, because this is something you can try out yourself. If your lucky enough ppl will reply to you saying to RTFM or go to http://www.tweakheadz.com.

I have spent many, many hours RTFManual. I have also spent many hours trying to figure out this machine experimenting and trying things Many hours. I am making significant progress I am sure that you take for granted your fund of knowledge and skills on this machine. I also appreciate your constructive helpful comments. On the other hand, your implication that I am expecting to be spoon fed and not doing my part is short sited and just not accurate. I got my first tape recorder about 50 years ago and haven't stopped since. Beat Making is something that is absolutely, totally new to me. These machines are totally foreign to me and I am really obsessing with trying to just understand. I have been fortunate enough to keep computer wizards in continuous employment (IT) to keep my business digital equipment running; therefore, I am staying up with the times buy not by virtue of my fund of knowledge. Since, I want to create beats it is now just me, the MPC, the Manuals, YouTube "how to videos", this forum, and high motivation to reach the point of creativity, and some helpful people along the way.

Again, your help is greatly appreciated if you chose to offer it. Finger wagging I can do without. I think that the manual leaves something to be desired. I really think that BEAT MAKING ON THE MPC500 was the far superior to the manual that came with the MPC500. I am going to be first in line to purchase BEAT MAKING FOR THE MPC5000.

I have the 5000 a few weeks now. As i read the manual a second time hands on with the 5000 writing stuff down that Akai can improve i must admit that the manual is not always clear. Especially starting from zero.

Your question is legit. I too was confused about the saving, but I figured it out myself. What I wanted was to make programs with references to the samples on my drive so a could make a program of i.e my snare library without copying them. .......You can't.

CoinUp! wrote:I have the 5000 a few weeks now. As i read the manual a second time hands on with the 5000 writing stuff down that Akai can improve i must admit that the manual is not always clear. Especially starting from zero.

Your question is legit. I too was confused about the saving, but I figured it out myself. What I wanted was to make programs with references to the samples on my drive so a could make a program of i.e my snare library without copying them. .......You can't.

Now that I have learned pretty much how to save I am getting a bit more liberal with experimenting and just trying things. When I first purchased my MPC500 a couple of weeks ago I accidently erased the demo samples on the CF. I now appropriate backups.

I think that this machine is absolutely spectacular. The quality of the converters are better than I expected. Having the 8 analog channels out is a very nice feature. This evening I was tracking electric guitar onto the HD and while monitoring I thinking I was perceiving some strange phasing issues. I am not quite sure how that can be unless I am monitoring the signal simultaneously before and after it hits the processor. I imagine that I will sort this out all in good time.

Are you recording the guitar parts in mono or stereo? Might make sense to go mono. I know that many other MPCs are not sample accurate, which can cause drifts/phasing issues and you might be experiencing this on the MPC5000.

For phasing issues maybe turning off the input thru helps.

CoinUp! wrote:For phasing issues maybe turning off the input thru helps.

Bingo..... turning off the input thru solved the problem.