MPC5000 reviews, bug reports and fellow user support on the most recent standalone, hardware MPC from Akai
By pietermeij Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:39 pm
Hi,

I searched this forum for the following problem and I found some related topics but I am still confused...so I hope someone can help me.

Here it is: I understand that you can save the entire memory of the MPC5000 by using the "save project" feature. The default name is Project 001.PRJ. Now I want to save different projects. But I am not able to create other projects, say Project 002, Project 003, etc. Whenever I try to change the name of the project when saving, it returns to it's default name Project 001.PRJ.

I found a workaround by first creating a new folder (which can have any name I like) and then saving the Project 001 in that folder...so I end up with different folders and different projects.

I have spent hours and hours to see if I am doing something wrong but I really don't know. Is there no way to create a Project 001, a Project 002, etc.? And...which you can save without creating a folder?

I hope someone can look into this.

Thanks and greetings,

Pieter
User avatar
By otobot Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:24 pm
Yes, the best way is to save each project to its own folder.
Makes sense too.. you want all files associated with a project in the project's specific folder. For examples 2 different samples or programs belonging to different projects could have the same name... how you wanna save them in the same folder?
Same goes for the project files of a DAW like Pro Tools, Logic or Cubase, etc. Best practice is to have different projects in different folders/directories.

Also why do you want to save all projects in the same folder? Is it really that hard to move out of the current folder, create a new folder and save your new project in there?

You can also work with sub-folders.

Having a good folder structure for projects and samples also makes file management and backup/restore much easier.
By pietermeij Tue Dec 13, 2011 9:35 pm
Hi Otobot!

Thaks for your response.

No, no it is not that hard to create a new folder for every project.

It is just that at first I did not know that I had to create a new folder for storing a project.

Because when you are saving the "entire memory" the default name for the project to store is Project 001...but at this point you are able to change the name into say Project 002, Project 003 and so on...So I had the impression that you could easily create new projects but it seems that a project is always named Project 001. Because even when you change the name it still returns to Project 001.

Anyway...thanks!
By dustymaestro Wed Dec 14, 2011 9:05 pm
No, theres a trick to that. If you had a previous project, for some reason it wont change the name. I change the name of the second folder.

I just change the name adding another place value. Basically if your project is 1 rename it using 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and so fourth.
Last edited by dustymaestro on Thu Dec 15, 2011 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
By pietermeij Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:13 pm
Hello!

Well...I still don't get it...maybe I am overlooking some very basic stuff here or maybe I just don't understand how machines like a MPC deal with files.....

I have read and re-read the manual but maybe I should try to explain what I think must be possible:

The point is...the manual says nowhere that you first have to create a folder in order to save a project (the entire memory of the MPC).

So this is what I thought must be possible: I insert a brand new CompactFlash card and I format the card.

Now I am working on a sequence and I like to save the sequence....I choose the "save entire memory" option and the MPC , by default, comes up with the following name "Project 001" . Fine...I keep this name and save the entire memory to the root directory of the CompactFlash card. I did not create a folder, I just saved the project.

Next day I load this project back into the MPC...after a lot of editing, loading new samples and creating a new sequence I want to save this too as a new project...but I don't want to overwrite the original project...I want to keep that one as well.

So, again I choose the "save entire memory" option and once again the MPC presents me with the "Project 001" name...now at this stage I want to change the name, say I want to change it to "Project 002". So I press the "+" button and I enter the name field where I can change the name...however when I do this and press "enter" the MPC still shows the "001" extension.

And when trying to save the project now to the root directory of the CompactFlash card it will do this but it also "destroys" my original project by overwriting it.

Is this because of the 001 extension? What am I doing wrong?

Sorry if these questions seem silly but I just don't understand this.

Thanks,

Pieter
By dustymaestro Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:43 am
Project Name: Project 001

New Folder: New Folder

Make New Folder: Yes



Change the name of "New Folder" to whatever you like. It really doesnt matter what the project name is.
By pietermeij Fri Dec 16, 2011 11:39 pm
Hi dustymaestro,

Thanks again...now it makes sense to me!

The point is...I am working with synths and all that gear for years now....but this one really puzzled me! I even worked at a music store as a salesman of these things...must be a symptom of getting older :-)

Pieter
By King Kwashe Wed Dec 28, 2011 8:11 pm
Listen,

Spend the time to create folders to save each project in i.e. Entire Memory. Take it from me there is no fun in saving all your projects in one folder, eventually your gonna want to recall a program a sample etc. and your screwed if you have them all in one folder. The guys who sample know what i mean even more, because now each folder contains all the stuff you sampled for the project.

even better you can copy a project folder and go on another MPC5000 and open it