Don’t want to play the samples from the keyboard

Hey
I’m new to the Mpc world so I’m sorry if my question is too basic..

I want to play the mpc key using splits and layers of plugin instruments while using the pads to play some short samples. The problem is that a pad is just a MIDI note, so every time that I play a specific note on the keyboard I’m triggering the sample assigned to the equivalent pad..
is there a way to avoid this? can I ask the mpc to play the samples from the pads but not from the keys?

Or is it possible to assign the pads to some real low notes (like a C-3, or something like that) so that I can use the full usable range of the keyboard without inadvertently triggering samples?

Thanks