Need some help with my "old" 500

Hey!

I've had my mpc500 for about a year now, but i've been using it only maybe 50 times which is a shame.. The reasons for that are: Bad pad-sensitivity, major bugs (whole songs dissapear), and bad workflow.. I think the last mentioned is something you guys could help me out with..
I try to describe my workflow to you guys so you can give me advice, how to improve it.

So first of all i almost always start with the drums. I check out my samples and assign them to pads. Then i play around with kick and snare until i come up with a beat that suits me. Now i record that to one track but delete the snare from it and play it again into another track. Then comes the hh and so on.. All to different tracks.
After the drums i usually start with the bass in a different program obviously. If i use short single note samples, i usually use the 12 notes function. If it's a longer sample with several notes i would probably pitch shift it to different notes and assign those to the pads. (still no better way than pitching and manually timestreching?)
With the other components of a song i pretty much deal with like with the bass.
In between i might play around with effects or the slider.

I'm well aware that i'm only scratching the surface of the potential the 500's got. So i'd ask you to share your tricks and your way of producing.

I also have some concrete questions: Has someone found a way to change the volume of a whole track? If so, is it possible to use the slider for it? Is it possible to record sliderchanges over a sequences length? For example slow incresion of volume that takes over two sequences? I hope you don't mind if i post this here since it might be possible to find this in the manual, (Lost mine) but how do i work with a midi-controller-keyboard with the 500. I know how to plug it in obviously but nothing happens when i play eventhough i change a pad to midi instead of drum and the track to midi too..

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english..

First of all u need to upgrade the software and download the manual in PDF format from www.akaipro.com

The workflow u discribed is similar to anyone else's workflow. Pitching and timestretching has to be done manually in the 500
I would recommend u to use it with software for faster and better results. Just use the USB. Every kind of sample that's 16bit 44.1khz in wav. format can be dragged to the mpc's cf card once connected to ur pc.
Like I said, go check to manual on that. There's also a freeware for the 500. It's designed by one of the users on this forums. It allows u to make mpc programs on the pc.

Using a midikeyboard shouldn't be that hard. Just plug it in, hit the right track in ur track screen, and u should be able to play the sounds of the program which is assigned to that track.
Make sure u've assigned the right notes to the pads. (programm-> not assignment, it's in the manual)

supasnashbuhl wrote:Hey!

I've had my mpc500 for about a year now, but i've been using it only maybe 50 times which is a shame.. The reasons for that are: Bad pad-sensitivity, major bugs (whole songs dissapear), and bad workflow.. I think the last mentioned is something you guys could help me out with..
I try to describe my workflow to you guys so you can give me advice, how to improve it.

Bad workflow is down to you, not the machine. There are a few bugs in there, but you need to work with them, not let them work against you; learn how you make them happen and then don't do it! Not perfect, but that's just how it is.

So first of all i almost always start with the drums. I check out my samples and assign them to pads. Then i play around with kick and snare until i come up with a beat that suits me. Now i record that to one track but delete the snare from it and play it again into another track. Then comes the hh and so on.. All to different tracks.
After the drums i usually start with the bass in a different program obviously. If i use short single note samples, i usually use the 12 notes function. If it's a longer sample with several notes i would probably pitch shift it to different notes and assign those to the pads. (still no better way than pitching and manually timestreching?)
With the other components of a song i pretty much deal with like with the bass.
In between i might play around with effects or the slider.

Sound's to me like your 'workflow' is pretty fixed there, chap. I'd switch it up and try something different! What kind of music do you make?

I'm well aware that i'm only scratching the surface of the potential the 500's got. So i'd ask you to share your tricks and your way of producing.

You certainly have only scratched the surface. RTFM! Have you learned the in & outs of the sampling section? Have you learned the step sequencer? You really need to think outside the box, else you're just going to get stuck in the same loop over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and... well, you get the picture.

I also have some concrete questions: Has someone found a way to change the volume of a whole track? If so, is it possible to use the slider for it? Is it possible to record sliderchanges over a sequences length? For example slow incresion of volume that takes over two sequences? I hope you don't mind if i post this here since it might be possible to find this in the manual, (Lost mine) but how do i work with a midi-controller-keyboard with the 500. I know how to plug it in obviously but nothing happens when i play eventhough i change a pad to midi instead of drum and the track to midi too..

Thanks in advance and sorry for my bad english..

All of this is in the manual - read it. You can get it online -> http://tinyurl.com/dbxkmj

Haha! Thanks for the link to the manual. What do you mean with the ins and outs of the sampling section? I've learned the step sequencer, but for some reason rarely use it.. As what comes to production techniques i found this really cool tipps and tricks thread. I usually make something like hip-hop and dubstep..ish stuff. Wouldn't say my hip-hop-beats are of the traditional type, although i'd love to make a really cool oldschool lords of the underground type beat but somehow i end up doing something completely different. Then i'm frustrated and stop after i got like two sequences made so my mpc's full of tiny segments of song's witch i've started but propably never finish. I think it all comes down to sampling in witch i have lot's to learn since i used to make many many beats with reason and used lots of synthies and presampled drumhits..

Finding the right sample, the way you record and how u manipulate the sample is already half the beat. It just takes time and experience.